1 1 European Union Congress of Adapted Physical Activity Conference 2012. 2 3 MR O'FLYNN: Hello everyone. 4 5 Hello everyone and good evening. 6 7 Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for your attention. Before I start perhaps a little bit 8 of appreciation for our musicians, weren't they wonderful? 9 10 Good evening to you all, a Céad Mile Failte as we say in Irish, 100,000 welcomes. 11 12 That's a lot of welcomes! 13 14 But it's an indication of how happy we are that you're here, joining us for what is a 15 really big day, the first time Ireland hosted the European congress of Adapted 16 Physical Activity. 17 18 Because of this folks, it's the big time! 19 20 You are attending the main APA event in the world this year! Over the next three days 21 we'll hear from 33 countries, there are five fantastic keynote speakers to be heard, 22 plus a number of exciting invited guests. 23 24 There are in addition no less than 70 oral presentations, many of them practicals, of 25 real, solid, day-to-day value to PE teachers, coaches, physiotherapists, carers and 26 parents. 27 28 For that after all is what we're here for. To help make a difference in people's 29 lives. 30 31 My name is Niall O'Flynn and I'm a member of the steering group of the CARA centre in 32 Tralee. It's a national centre promoting the increased participation of people with 33 disabilities in physical activity, sport and physical education. 34 Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 2 1 Every year 500 children and adults with disabilities take part in our APA programmes. 2 We're proud of that. And we're very grateful for the support of the Department of 3 Justice, Equality and Defence, the Irish Sports Council, Bord Failte and of course 4 the steadfast backing of the Institute of Technology, Tralee, your host for this 5 European congress. 6 7 Our thanks too to the European Federation of Adapted Physical Activity, for their 8 wisdom in awarding this congress to Ireland! 9 10 As you can see, Ireland may be bust, but we're not broken and we can still throw a 11 bit of a party! 12 13 So welcome to you all, delegates, speakers, guests, in just a few minutes we'll hear 14 from one of Europe's key figures in the discipline of Adapted Physical Activity, the 15 President of EUFAPA, Dr Martin Kudlacek, but first I'd like to introduce a man that's 16 a long time supporter of the CARA centre, an academic who put APA at the heart of his 17 college. 18 19 Ladies and gentlemen, your host over the next three days, the President of the 20 Institute of Technology Tralee, Dr Oliver Murphy. 21 22 DR MURPHY: (Welcomes delegates in Irish language). 23 Members of the governing body, public representatives, invited guests, 24 representatives from partner agencies and delegates to the conference welcome. 25 26 We are delighted to have you here to participate and share in this European Congress 27 of Adapted Physical Activity. 28 29 The Institute of Technology Tralee, in association with CARA, and the Irish Sports 30 Council and the Department of Justice and Law Reform, is pleased to host this 31 conference in Killarney this year. And it was mentioned previously, this is the 32 first time the event has been held in Ireland. 33 34 I know that many of you have travelled from quite a distance to participate in this Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 3 1 conference and this serves to remind us all just how important events like these are. 2 3 Over the next three days a comprehensive programme comprising of keynote speakers, 4 workshops, lectures have been organised and all the details are in your conference 5 packs. 6 7 However, life is not all about work. Now I don't normally say this when I'm 8 addressing staff in the college I say work is very, very important! But, to balance 9 what will be a very interesting and stimulating conference, we have also included 10 opportunities for you to relax and experience the culture and natural amenities that 11 the Kerry region has to offer. 12 13 We hope you will also avail of these. 14 15 I also hope you will enjoy our night of traditional music, which we have for you 16 following this ceremony. 17 18 (Irish: I know you will enjoy it) 19 20 Thank you very much. 21 22 MR O'FLYNN: Thank you Dr Oliver Murphy. Our next guest is a great friend of IT 23 Tralee and a leading advocate for APA. Quite simply, without his support we wouldn't 24 be here tonight. 25 26 Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm Irish welcome to the president of the 27 European Federation of Adapted Physical Activity, Dr Martin Kudlacek. 28 DR KUDLACEK: Hello, thank you very much for your kind introduction. 29 30 It's lovely to be here. I feel like I am at a family reunion, once a year we always 31 have a big family reunion, my grandfather was from 7 children, so it's quite a big 32 family, almost, maybe a little bigger! So I feel like I am at a family reunion and I 33 hope we all have fun. 34 Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 4 1 As it was said by the President of IT Tralee, it's very close to what we do in Czech, 2 we work hard and we also party hard, to keep a balance, and the balance is very 3 important! 4 5 Actually we were joking with the speaker, when I first met Pat Flanagan who is a very 6 important person and inspiration to me, it was when I tried to draft him to our team, 7 don't worry I didn't want to draft him to work in the Czech Republic, because his 8 Czech is not very strong! 9 10 But I wanted to draft him to a project we were preparing called European Standards in 11 Adapted Physical Activity. But we were not successful at that time, and he actually 12 drafted me and our Czech team, to his project called Epact and that was an 13 interesting experience and I have learned a lot. 14 15 During the National Congress of Adapted Physical Activity in 2008 I told Pat over a 16 glass of Guinness that I would be happy if European Congress of Adapted Physical 17 Activity is held in this lovely town. 18 19 And here we are, at the European Congress of Adapted Physical Activity in this lovely 20 town, beautiful nature, lovely people, great music, I love it! Good beer, we can 21 argue if it's better than Czech but when I'm in Ireland I think the Guinness is the 22 best! 23 24 And I hope we'll enjoy this lovely conference and I would like to thank Pat and his 25 strong team for preparation of this congress. At the beginning. So thank you very 26 much. 27 28 MR O'FLYNN: Dr Kudlacek is that correct by the way, is it good? 29 30 Just before we came in I asked the good doctor how exactly do you pronounce your 31 name, it's almost inevitable you'll get it wrong. He said a good way to pronounce it 32 is: "Good luck Czech," so it's our good luck you're here! 33 34 Our next speaker also from IT Tralee, Head of Department for health and leisure, Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 5 1 ladies and gentlemen, Aileen Kennedy. 2 3 MS KENNEDY: How are you all. I'd like to begin by welcoming you all to the EUCAPA 4 conference here in Killarney and an Irish welcome particularly to all of you who 5 travelled from the far corners of the world, of which there are many tonight. 6 7 The IT Tralee has transformed the landscape in Ireland in terms of capacity building 8 and empowerment to facilitate the inclusion of people with disability in PE, in 9 sport, in fitness and in recreation. 10 11 The health and leisure department at the Institute of Technology Tralee and it's 12 associated programmes have a local, national and international reputation for 13 excellence and innovation, of which we're very proud in the IT. 14 15 We were one of the first higher education colleges in Europe to run an under graduate 16 degree programme in APA. IT Tralee has been offering courses of study in APA since 17 1998. 18 19 In 2007 we began the first specialist honours degree stream in Adapted Physical 20 Activity. The health and leisure department offers five honours degree programmes 21 alongside the honours programme with Adapted Physical Activity, we offer programmes 22 in massage, in fitness professional, in sports development, in PE and in wellness. 23 24 The ideological basis underpinning the programmes was, and remains, visionary in that 25 it focuses on the concepts that have a deep rooted evidence base and emerging 26 disciplines, including positive health, well-being and physical flourishing. 27 28 Graduates emerge from the programme with a strong theoretical basis for the 29 relationship between health and leisure that is rooted in a positive, in a strength 30 based approach, in a skill-set that will enable them to work with individuals and 31 groups, forging well-being and competence to develop and implement policies with 32 well-being at the core. 33 34 The introduction of the APA programme, with the unique mix of practical work, of Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 6 1 tutorial support and theory in all of the modules, consolidated the health and 2 leisure department at IT Tralee as the main source of training and development of APA 3 in Ireland. 4 5 IT Tralee conceived of and hosted the inaugural national APA conference back in 2003, 6 with the title of: A Right to Access. 7 8 Three further successful conferences followed in 2005, in 2008 and in 2011. All of 9 which were delivered in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council who have been a 10 fervent supporter of the work at IT Tralee for many years. 11 12 The programme is innovative in its approach to teaching methods, community 13 engagement, learning accreditation, relevance and breadth of skills. 14 15 The programme engages significantly with local and regional communities and 16 organisations. Annually over 500 participants take part in 20 different activities, 17 supported by 150 of our students. 18 19 The programme is delivered in partnership with many different services which cater 20 for a wide range of people with disabilities in Kerry, in Munster and nationwide. 21 22 These include services like Enable Ireland, St. John of God's, the Kerry Deaf 23 Resource Centre, Kerry Down Syndrome Society, the Brothers of Charity, Kerry Parents 24 and Friends, the National Learning Network, to name but a few. 25 26 Students also complete work practice placements locally, nationally and 27 internationally the IT Tralee have an established relationship with Hope Alaska 28 whereby students from IT Tralee complete work practice placements with Hope Alaska. 29 30 Our students volunteer with Campabilities, a national camp with organisation for 31 children with visual impairments, activities are planned and delivered by third year 32 students in partnership with local clubs. 33 34 We were the first centre outside of the US to run this camp in 2010, and due to its Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 7 1 success we have run it subsequently in 2011 and just recently over Easter in 2012. 2 3 The programme is delivered in partnership with many different services which cater 4 for a wide range of people. 5 6 The main aim of the APA programme is to provide our students with knowledge and 7 practical experience of working with people with disabilities in both a community 8 based and a school based setting, while giving the adults and the children that we 9 work with a positive, high quality experience of physical activity, of sports and of 10 fitness. 11 12 Our focus and our emphasis is always on ability rather than disability. And 13 providing quality, inclusive sessions for every client, no matter what their ability 14 level is. 15 16 IT Tralee have been particularly innovative in the inclusion of aquatic therapy 17 across our programmes as well as using the Hallow method of swim teaching for 18 teaching people with disabilities in the water. 19 20 IT Tralee facilitates training programmes nationwide in this method. IT Tralee is 21 leading the development of Hallow nationally as a method of including people with 22 disabilities in the aquatics area. 23 24 Staff are training to a high level and their further training the student groups. 25 26 IT Tralee has play add significant role in the recent development of the Hallow 27 Association. 28 29 IT Tralee is currently developing a masters programme in Adapted Physical Activity in 30 partnership we are happy to say, with the Palacky University in the Czech Republic, 31 hopefully, I am looking to see if Martin is there, to run in September. 32 33 For the first time in Ireland graduates emerged from higher education equip to 34 influence policy and practice, working confidently with people with disabilities in Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 8 1 the context of inter-professional and inter-disciplinary practice. 2 3 The graduates are also advocates and policy makers. Enabling the infrastructure to 4 emerge that will facilitate the attainment of social justice for this often 5 marginalised group. 6 7 The national centre for Adapted Physical Activity, the CARA centre at IT Tralee 8 emerged in 2007 as a direct result of IT Tralee APA programme and the recognition by 9 the Irish Sports Council that people with disabilities were not being afforded 10 similar access to sport as other members of the population, and that there were 11 deficits in terms of people and infrastructure that needed to be addressed. 12 13 The need for APA graduates is clear. Access to opportunity for participation in 14 sport, in physical activity, in fitness, in recreation, in play and in PE are human 15 rights, without appropriate training, there will not be people to facilitate the 16 inclusion of people with disabilities in such activities. The need for the provision 17 of training remains high. 18 19 Graduates of IT Tralee who have benefited from our programme now lead national 20 initiatives which increase opportunities for people with disabilities to get active 21 and to improve their health and their quality of life. 22 23 Many of the sports inclusion development officers located around the country, the 24 development officers in national sports bodies and leisure and recreation staff, 25 within the disability services are graduates of IT Tralee. 26 27 Over the next few days I hope we all share our knowledge and our experiences and that 28 we learn from each other and forge further partnerships for future developments in 29 the fields of APA. Enjoy, and I hope through this congress that we can shine the 30 light on Adapted Physical Activity. 31 32 MR O'FLYNN: Thank you Aileen that was a great summary of APA services in Ireland. 33 Your pride in the college programmes shines out and rightly so I think. 34 Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 9 1 Now to another great supporter of APA in Ireland, and a proud Irish man, resplendent 2 here in his green jacket. Ladies and gentlemen, please the Chairman of the governing 3 body of the Institute of Technology in Tralee, Flan Garvey. 4 5 MR GARVEY: Failte, Ciao! As Chairman of the governing body here in Tralee I want to 6 welcome you to Killarney, which is our neighbour, just down the road. And to thank 7 your president, Martin, for nominating Killarney, having inspected the country some 8 years ago. 9 10 He chose wisely, and we know that when you are finished here in the middle of next 11 week, you will have a will and a longing to come back. 12 13 We want to extend to you our openness, our warmth, our welcoming feeling for our 14 friends from across the world. 15 16 As Chairman of the governing body, we are very proud of our Adapted Physical Activity 17 centre, and CARA being nominated as the national centre in our country. 18 19 IT Tralee is one of the smallest institutes of technology in the country, but we know 20 it's the best! 21 22 And we're not boasting, we just tell it as it is! 23 24 A fact is always a fact. 25 26 We have a tremendous team, it was initiated as Martin said by Pat Flanagan some years 27 ago. 28 29 One problem we have here in Tralee is the heads of department worked so hard that 30 they last on average about three years. 31 32 And that is why we have three of the heads here right now, we have Pat himself, who 33 has stood the course. We have our president registrar, Michael Hall and our 34 president head who just spoke there Aileen Kennedy. Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 10 1 2 So the bets are on that Aileen won't last four years! 3 4 So you know, if you want a good bet, they'll take a bet each way. That's being a 5 little frivolous, I was at a conference in Paris last year, I was most impressed, 6 most impressed and to say that we are proud as a governing body of our members here, 7 the Niamhs, Ursulas, Thomas, Linda, all those who put the programme together, is to 8 put it very, very mildly, we are intensely and fiercely proud of that team. 9 10 We know there is no team to match them, as there isn't, when I wear the green, Kerry 11 is known the green and gold, and by the way, I want to tell you, that you will see 12 Ireland at it's best in the month of May. 13 14 It's never greener than it is in the month of May, there is a lovely, light green 15 colour on the leaves on the trees and foliage all around and flowers in bloom, never 16 at it's best, the days long and the nights get long as Martin will verify as well! 17 Here in Killarney, I guarantee you, I don't care how long you stay up, I'll stay with 18 you! I promise you that, Martin asked last year in Paris, he asked for three things: 19 He asked for good Guinness, he asked for Irish music and he didn't ask for rain by 20 the way, but he did ask for Irish dancing and that kind of warmth that we have here 21 in abundance. 22 23 You have picked the best spot in Ireland. If not the best spot in the world. 24 25 We hope you enjoy your stay here, we know you will and that you will leave with a 26 feeling that this is one of God's special places, and that is why of course we have 27 so much rain in Ireland. 28 29 Some of your countries experience a lot of drought, we haven't that problem. And you 30 pay people to water your flowers and water your shrubs and so on, but we just leave 31 it to the man above and he does it all, and he does it often! And that is why we are 32 so green. 33 34 I just want to welcome you, hope you enjoy and we look forward to sharing our Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 11 1 expertise with yours and your experiences and we just hope you will have a wonderful 2 weekend, we look forward to welcoming you in every way possible. 3 4 And we know in a very short few years that EUCAPA will be back in Killarney. 5 6 MR O'FLYNN: Flan Garvey, a proud Irish man and a fluent speaker of multiple 7 welcomes! 8 9 It reminds me of the joke about Irish have colonised the world but we haven't always 10 learn to speak other languages, it's said that an Irish man is partially fluent when 11 he can order a drink in another language. He is fully fluent when he can order a 12 drink and say, my friend there will pay! 13 14 And finally tonight, a man who needs no introduction, but he deserves the warmest of 15 welcomes, he is the founder of the CARA national APA centre, the driving force behind 16 APA in Ireland and the man most responsible for bringing us altogether tonight, it's 17 Pat Flanagan. 18 19 MR FLANAGAN: Good evening. Welcome. 20 21 It's lovely to have a pre-conference reception which is packed to the doors, that we 22 don't have enough space, so thank you for coming to the early reception and for 23 arriving at conference early to engage with the process of EUCAPA Congress 2012. 24 25 We are absolutely honoured and delighted, when Martin indicated an interest that we 26 might be able to host it and then when we made the submission that they agreed that 27 IT Tralee and Kerry could host EUCAPA, it's a great honour and to see such quality of 28 speakers and presenters and poster presenters informing and enlightening us 29 throughout the weekend. 30 31 To say the least I'm really looking forward myself to listening to the speakers, 32 going to poster presentations and hopefully learning a lot more about adaptive and 33 types of innovative practices used around about 33 different countries with people 34 attending or presenting the conference, I'm very honoured by your presence and we Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 12 1 look forward to an engaging experience. 2 3 Could I just quickly thank the IT Tralee, it was mentioned a number of times, but 4 presidents, including Dr Oliver Murphy and former president Michael Carmody were very 5 supportive of the APA programme at the start of it's, fledgling beginnings in 1996/97 6 and particularly our head of School of Science, Seamus O'Shea, who can't be with us 7 this weekend was particularly supportive when the idea came up that we could start 8 this area off and get an APA programme going. 9 10 So I'd like to thank them for their support throughout the year that is led us to 11 this fabulous event tonight. 12 13 Could I again just acknowledge and thank the delegates and speakers who sent in their 14 abstracts it was very high quality of application, very high quality of poster 15 presentation application and we really enjoyed the process with the scientific 16 committee going through all the different presentations and it was good to get to 17 know the names, I'm looking forward to meeting the people and putting a face onto the 18 names. 19 20 With that can I thank and congratulate the scientific committee, particularly Jose 21 Ferrera and Pauline Wilton who were particularly supportive of the process but all of 22 the committee who put a lot of effort in to review the papers and will be assisting 23 in the poster competition throughout the conference. 24 25 I'd also like to thank, before I finish, the organising committee of the EUCAPA 2012 26 conference, they have put in, it looks like about two and a half years ago we started 27 discussing and applying to EUFAPA for this conference and with the support of the 28 college, but a lot of people have put a lot of work in, could I just thank them for 29 their efforts, particularly Linda Raymond who you have all been in contact with, 30 Linda was our conference organiser and has facilitated a huge amount of the work that 31 has led to this event tonight so thanks to the organising committee, thank you very 32 much. 33 34 My final point is, something Martin alluded to, it really feels at this stage that Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 13 1 we're among friends, and everybody who we contact and everybody who we speak to and 2 people when they arrive are so friendly, in relation to engaging with us in the 3 Adapted Physical Activity, so as friends I'd like to welcome you to the conference 4 and hopefully we'll deepen those friendships and increase links and increase our 5 work. 6 7 One friend who just dropped in to us tonight is, who will be attending and opening 8 the second day of conference who is a good friend of IT Tralee and all things sport 9 in Ireland is Sean Kelly MEP, Sean called in tonight, thanks for that Sean, Sean is 10 also opening day two of our conference on Monday, we're delighted that you came long. 11 12 Also we have our Minister for Disability who will open the, official opening of the 13 conference tomorrow morning. 14 15 So, we look forward to a great conference, thanks for coming in your numbers to the 16 reception. We'll see you tomorrow morning. Good night and thanks very much. 17 18 MR O'FLYNN: Thank you Pat Flanagan and congratulations, this congress is after all a 19 culmination of years of his work and effort. 20 21 Thanks too to all our speakers tonight and to the Malton Hotel, musicians from 22 earlier and as Pat said to the organising committee, Linda Raymond, Niamh Daffy, 23 Ursula, Liam and all the team who spent most of the last year planning and preparing 24 for this congress. 25 26 Folks, enjoy yourself tonight. But not too much! In fact, it might be a good idea to 27 register this evening and allow yourselves some recovery time in the morning! The 28 registration desk will remain open for the rest of this reception, don't forget to 29 pick up your congress pack. 30 31 If you want to do it in the morning, registration is open from 8.30. 32 33 While you are there, can I remind to you sign up for any practical sessions you are 34 interested in, there is a limit to the places on the practical sessions and there is Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie 14 1 a practical session at every session over the next three days. 2 3 Also drop by the cultural desk to find out all about what we're calling the 4 extracurricular activities we offer. 5 6 Work hard, play hard as Martin said. That's the Irish way! 7 8 Good night, see you all at 9 am, thank you very much. 9 10 Event concluded 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Premier Captioning & Realtime Ltd www.pcr.ie