Location and general information
Access to Sport - 
Children with disabilities - 
Personal developmentContext
Many children in Corona, California are disabled, including 12% of students in the Corona-Norco unified school district. Despite this, there are no structured, year‑round inclusive sports programmes, and unified sport opportunities are rare. As a result, many children are deprived access to the developmental, social and emotional benefits of sport.
Disabled children are often excluded from team play, watching from the sidelines rather than participating. Many families report that their child is never chosen or always left out, which leads to social isolation, low confidence and poor mental health.
The barriers to sport are multidimensional:
- Physical: No adapted equipment or inclusive football programmes.
- Social: Low awareness, stigma and exclusion.
- Emotional: Fear, anxiety and repeated experiences of rejection.
- Structural: Transport issues, limited funding, inaccessible facilities.
Project goals
Kicking Barriers aims to change this by creating a culture where every child belongs on the field.
- Expand access to inclusive football
- Train local coaches in inclusive practices
- Build children’s confidence, empathy and teamwork skills
- Strengthen community awareness
- Create a replicable inclusive sport and social-emotional learning model
Project content
Deliver a one‑year integrated programme combining inclusive football training, social-emotional learning, coach development and community advocacy.
Inclusive football sessions
- Run 36 adapted football sessions for mixed-ability teams using inclusive rules and equipment
- Complete safeguarding and risk assessments and track attendance
Coach training and mentoring
- Develop and deliver three inclusive coaching training sessions
- Train ten local coaches and provide ongoing mentoring and practical support
Ability Avengers programme
- Organise 36 sessions that combine social-emotional learning with football as part of the Ability Avengers programme, educating children about disabilities
- Carry out baseline and endline assessments to measure growth in empathy, confidence and teamwork skills
Community engagement
- Host three inclusive community matches
- Reach 300 parents, caregivers and teachers through events and outreach activities
- Collect feedback and document shifts in attitudes
Documentation and replication
- Produce a detailed inclusive sport and social-emotional learning methodology and develop guidance materials
- Document the success stories of three children who have previously experienced exclusion
- Package the model for use by schools, clubs and community organisations
Partner
