Academy day a big hit

The ISPS HANDA Academy was in full swing during the ISPA HANDA PGA Seniors Championship providing a memorable day out for pupils and adults with a range of learning difficulties and disabilities.

Youngsters from Barndale House School in Alnwick (below) and Hexham Priory School plus teenagers from Percy Hedley Foundation (above), spent the day at Close House taking part in a range of activities.

Close House PGA Professionals Jonathan Lupton, Sally Hinton, Tim Cockill and Andy Scrimshaw joined ISPS Handa Academy programme co-ordinator and PGA Advanced Professional Craig Thomas, delivering a series of fun golf challenges from long putting to hitting balls in the nets.

Aside from the myriad of golf activities, all of them also got to see the stars of the Senior Tour in action and enjoy picnics in glorious sunshine.

Golf has many benefits and the ISPS HANDA Academy day also had a wider remit to the day for those taking part as Leanne Daley, post 16 tutor at Percy Hedley Foundation explained.

“Days like this are just fantastic for their social skills and it’s an opportunity to come to an event like this which they may not have had the chance to do before,” she said.

“To come and do some physical activity is a good thing. It helps their communication to come out and do something as a team.”

Golf is a popular activity at the Percy Hedley Foundation, which has already had pupils attend the PGA Academy at Close House, which is a centre for coaching blind and disabled golf having seen all of the pros recently undergo training to deliver coaching as part of the ISPS Handa Academy programme.

Leanne added: “Our PE tutor made the link with Close House and recently came with a group of four students, who were keen to have a go at the driving range.

“We do a little bit of golf within our sport and leisure and we’ve often been to the driving range at Gosforth Park but having made this link we are really keen.

“A group from Primary sight have been over, had a go at the driving range and today was a fab opportunity to come back, so we have a slightly bigger group having a go at everything.

“We have our own little golf event that we put on. But as part of the post 16 curriculum is a carousel of different sport activities. The students get to choose and golf is always one of the popular activities they do. Golf comes up again and again.”

Thomas, who has been at the core of the ISPS Handa Academy programme, said: “This was a marvellous opportunity for us to showcase the ISPS Handa Academy programme to some of the local school pupils and introduce them to golf and the pros at Close House.

“Golf is an activity that can be enjoyed by everyone at any level regardless of their disability. Everyone who came here enjoyed having a go at the activities, while the teachers who attended had an opportunity to learn more about Close House and the how the ISPS Handa Academy programme is promoting opportunities for people with a range of disabilities to enjoy the game.”

The ISPS Handa Academy was founded by Japanese philanthropist Dr Haruhisa Handa and aims to use golf to promote the ‘power of sport’ and break down barriers.