Disability

Objectives & environment

• To enable disabled athletes to reach their potential.
• To integrate athletes with a disability into mainstream Karate clubs.
• To provide competition opportunities for athletes with a disability.
• To increase the number of coaches working with athletes with a disability.
• To provide quality training and coaching courses for coaches working with athletes with a disability.

Pathways

The WKGB ensure pathways and opportunities exist for disabled people in Karate. Those include

1. Competition
2. Coaching
3. Referee & Judging

WKGB programmes are inclusive, competitive opportunities for disabled
Karate-ka are available, and talented disabled sports people are identified and their development supported.

Education & Training

WKGB coaches teaching athletes with a disability are suitably qualified and competent to coach at the level that the athlete is participating. To this end the WKGB seeks to:

• Improve the skills and knowledge of WKGB Coaches to effectively deliver Karate for the disabled.
• Source, provide and/or design high quality training to satisfy current and evolving training needs identified within the structure of the WKGB Athlete Development programme.
• To improve the quality and quantity of WKGB Coaches in regard to coaching disabled people by working in conjunction with Disability Sport Wales.

Competition Opportunities

The WKGB provides competitions throughout the year, that athletes with disabilities can participate in:

• WKGB Closed
• WKGB Youth
• WKGB Open
• North Wales Open

WKGB also provides a pathway for all of its members to participate in the British Karate Federation 4 Nation & International Open events.

In February 2014 the World Karate Federation (WKF) announced that for the first time in its history, categories for Athletes with Disabilities will be included in the WKF Championships.

In both 2014 and 2018, Wales' very own Darlene Foster won Silver at the WKF World Championships and EKF European Championships respectively.

Referees & judges

The WKGB provides National & International Referee & Judges pathways via its Referee Development Pathway to all of its members.

Equality & Inclusion

The WKGB Board are collectively continuing the process of development of opportunities for athletes with disabilities and reviewing and revising all current policies in this regard.

In order to demonstrate its commitment to Equality & Inclusion issues the WKGB invited Disability Sport Wales to attend all WKGB Board Meetings.

The WKGB are delighted to announce that Disability Sport Wales has accepted the WKGB offer, and now attends all WKGB Board meetings.

WKGB Squad Sessions

All WKGB Squad sessions are held in facilities that can provide suitable access and provision for athletes with disabilities including wheelchair access.

Dates of squad sessions are circulated to WKGB Association chief instructors in advance of designated dates.

All WKGB national coaches have undertaken suitable training in order to coach athletes with disabilities.

WKGB Disability Statement

The WKGB is committed to the provision of inclusive coaching and equality of opportunity for athletes with disabilities in Karate.

Sports Equity is about fairness in sports, equality of access, recognising inequalities and taking steps to address them.

The WKGB Board is working closely with Disability Sport Wales on equality issues, which has involved staff and senior executives in meetings and undertaking training.

The Board has already done a considerable amount of work in the area of equality and intends to continue to do so.

The next target for the board is to revise and amend its National Development Plan in conjunction with Disability Sport Wales.