In order to promote the sports culture of persons with disabilities, build team spirit, and implement the spirit of CRPD, Eden Foundation recently held the “2024 Eden Cup Community Workshop Tee-ball Game” at the Sulin Sports Center, New Taipei City, inviting Eden’s 22 small-scale sheltered community workshops and 1 day care center across Taiwan, with a total of 18 teams, more than 310 persons with disabilities, and 80 volunteers, in the hope of providing opportunities for the service users to communicate with each other and expecting to enhance social participation of persons with disabilities through sports events.
Eden's President and distinguished guests gathered to cheer for the Tee-ball athletes!
After half a year of preparation, the athletes with disabilities were ready for the long-awaited competition, which started with the baton swinging by Mr. Daniel Chen, the President of Eden and Ms. Mei-Chen Lee, the Director of the Social Affairs Bureau, New Taipei City Government, Despite sweating buckets, all the participating teams did their best to show off the results of their practice, while the athletes who were preparing for their debut on the stage did not stay idle, enthusiastically cheering for the field. Regardless of whether they won or lost, they all demonstrated the most precious sportsmanship.
Eden Cup Community Workshop Tee-ball Game allows persons with disabilities to enjoy the fun of sports events!
Grabbing the bat and cheered on by his teammates, En-Tang, wearing the No. 1 jersey, confidently stepped up to the batter's box. En-Tang is 28-year-old, from Taichung's Le-Ai Small-scale Sheltered Community Workshop, was shy by nature. When he first came to the community workshop, he rarely interacted with others and always spoke softly, not daring to express himself. However, under the guidance of the educare givers and through the design of many interactive activities, En-Tang gradually gained confidence. He is now able to talk to people easily, and has even been recommended by his educare givers to be a volunteer who accompanies the senior citizens at the care center every week.
En-Tang, from Taichung, confidently stepped up to the batter’s box.
“It was extremely tense!” En-Tang smiled as he shared his feelings about playing in front of so many people. He said that when he first came across Tee-ball, although he found the rules difficult to understand at beginning, after practicing, he realized that it was fun to play with others and learned the importance of teamwork. Shu-Hsien Liu, the educate giver shared that because of this competition, practice time was arranged every week, and different volunteers were invited to accompany the service users, so that they could exercise their physical strength in addition to their daily work, as well as interacting with different people, and that over the past six months, everyone's interpersonal interactions and socialization skills had improved a lot.
In addition, Kuan-Wen, who came all the way from Kaohsiung, is the flag bearer of Nine Fruits Small-scale Sheltered Community Workshop and one of the representatives of the athletes' oath. He has only been on the field for three months, and although he hasn't practiced for long, his educare givers have discovered his athletic ability, and he has quickly mastered his skills and become a core member of the team. Talking about his performance in the competition, Kuan-Wen said shyly, “It was okay, I had a lot of fun with my teammates!
Eden recently organized the Tee-ball Game for the Community Workshops.
Eden Foundation said that unlike ordinary baseball game, the gameplay and rules of Tee-ball are very suitable for persons with disabilities. At the same time, the organization also invited Tee-ball coaches to instruct the service users through the course arrangement, so that they can understand the rules of the game in a simple and in-depth way, and called for volunteers to be the sparring partners, so that the service users can feel the joy of the sport, cultivate the habit of sport and maintain their physical health.
The participating units were the small-scale sheltered community workshops of the cities and countries’ governments which operating by Eden, including Keelung City's Yi-Ai Community Workshop, Xinfeng Community Workshop, An-Le Community Workshop, and Qidu Community Workshop; New Taipei City's Hsin-Feng Community Workshop, Happiness Community Workshop, Tam-Sui Community Workshop, Nanxing Community Workshop, Datong Community Workshop, Peng-Fu Community Workshop, and Xindian Zhongzheng Disability Day Care Center; Taoyuan City's Dayuan Chia-Le Community Workshop; Taichung City's Li-Ai Community Workshop, Chiayi County's Chia-Le Community Workshop, and Chiayi City's Chia-Yang Community Workshop; Tainan City's Dandelion Community Workshop and Grapevine Community Workshop; Kaohsiung City's Five loaves and Two fishes Community Workshop, Nine Fruits Community Workshop, and Agape Community Workshop; and Pingtung County's Light of Grace Community Workshop, Joy Community Workshop, and Orange House Community Workshop.
More than 300 athletes from 23 units across Taiwan enthusiastically participated in the game.
Sports is not the right of any specific person. Over the past 43 years since the establishment of Eden Foundation, we have been taking care of persons with disabilities through a wide range of services, providing appropriate services according to the needs of everyone. We believe that with enough support, persons with disabilities can go out of their homes to enjoy a variety of recreational activities and create a unique and wonderful life.
