Our local delivery partners Wolverhampton Wrestling Club have launched a project to engage autistic children in sport and physical activity.
The project is inspired by head coach Ranjit Singh’s 21-year-old son who has autism, but whose upbringing in the diverse and supportive environment of the wrestling club has enabled him to flourish inside and outside the sporting arena.
Based at an inner-city Sikh gurdwara, Wolverhampton Wrestling Club (WWC) is one of the most multi-cultural sporting venues in the country. Participants of all faiths, cultures, backgrounds and sporting abilities are welcome through the doors to join the ‘family’.
International-standard wrestlers from across the world train there alongside beginners and juniors. The club has a strong community focus and runs programmes that target crime prevention, violence reduction, wellbeing, education and training.
Neurodivergent children and adults face many barriers to getting involved in sport and physical activity and they are also hugely over-represented in criminal justice, with 70-75% of young people in the system having speech, language and communication challenges (often undiagnosed).
The autism project at WWC is therefore greatly needed, and also dovetails perfectly with Levelling the Playing Field’s common goals; to increase the number of ethnically diverse children taking part in sport and physical activity, and to prevent and divert children from becoming involved with the Criminal Justice System.
Ranjit’s son Jaiden is now in his last year at college. He is a wrestler and boxer and competes for Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club, regularly winning medals in 200m, 400m, 800m and shot put.
“He trains every day and is very physically strong,” says Ranjit (pictured above, centre). “It gives him that wellbeing and makes him feel good. It makes him feel like he’s achieved something.”
Ranjit, who was recently selected as one of 14 Hometown Heroes for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, added: “It took me about two years to get him truly comfortable, but wrestling has developed his confidence and his social skills to such a level that he will now train with anybody.
“He’s learned to interact with other people, understand them and they understand him. Everybody knows my son here. He is so sociable with everybody and it is sport that has developed that.
“I can’t say enough about the effect sport has had on him and so many others here. That’s why kids who come from a wide spectrum are very comfortable with us. If we’re comfortable, the kids sense that and they feel comfortable. Very quickly they want to come back.”
Building on the experience of his son, Ranjit started engaging autistic children in boxercise classes and wrestling at the gurdwara, with specially trained staff leading the sessions.
Ranjit tells the story of a 13-year-old who, on his first visit, said he wasn’t confident or strong enough to go on to the wrestling mat. "Within 20 minutes, one of my coaches started doing a few exercises with him, just a little bit of light physical activity,” he says. “Next week, he came back and has been training with everybody. The parents were so chuffed. They said to me, ‘We want him to be a part of this club’.
“We have autistic kids and our elite wrestlers in the same session. Everyone is friendly. It’s one big family and anyone new coming in is part of this family. That’s just the way it is here.”
WWC already runs programmes to engage local youths involved in gangs, violence and crime, so Ranjit is well aware of the pitfalls that exist for children in his community. Autistic kids are not immune to these dangers – indeed, their special needs make them even more vulnerable.
He says: “I know this inside out because of my son. I’m very wary. I have to be very careful about who he makes friends with because he’s very vulnerable. He needs keeping out of harm’s way.
“Autistic children are especially vulnerable to peer pressure. They want to make friends, but sometimes they find them in the wrong places and people can take advantage of them.
“It’s easier for them to get themselves into trouble because they’re not aware that they’re actually causing trouble. They see some people as ‘their friends’, but these people don’t always mean well. They’re much more vulnerable to getting exploited.”
Ranjit’s ambition is to use his extensive networks to partner with other organisations across the country and take the pilot autism project nationwide.
Justin Coleman, Alliance of Sport Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, said: “It's so inspiring to have a project, organisation and leadership team focused on autism in a contact sport environment. I have lived, learned and qualified experience of autism from a parent’s, practitioner’s and research perspective, so listening to Ranjit’s lived, learned and qualified perspective is empowering and heart-warming.
“As parents, Ranjit and I know how vulnerable autism can make children and the families around them. As practitioners, we know we need to completely adapt our approach to be 100% person-centred and work at the pace of the individual, as no two children are the same. We also know that research is moving forward at pace to be able to add evidence-based weight to these approaches.
“Ranjit and his team are enabling autistic children to find a safe space that will keep them physically active, give them a sense of belonging and will ensure they are far distanced from any involvement in youth justice."
WWC have been part of Levelling the Playing Field for several months now and run their assigned LtPF session on a Saturday morning, engaging local ethnically diverse children aged six to 18 in wrestling (‘tag wrestling’ for the younger ones).
The club has been running for 49 years and its environment is widely admired for its equality, inclusiveness and diversity. They offer not just wrestling and pro-social programmes, but grassroots football, tennis, golf, cricket and archery clubs as well as a wellbeing hub.
As well as Ranjit’s new ‘Hometown Hero’ status he was selected last year as one of the Football Association’s 23 Lionhearts, an initiative which highlighted the work of grassroots sports organisations helping their communities during the Covid crisis.
“The awards are nice but it’s not what I’m doing it for,” Ranjit says modestly. “The reward for me is helping and bettering somebody, which is what we do on a daily basis. It’s not for me, it gives the rest of the guys here at the club some recognition, which they truly deserve as 90% of our staff are volunteers.
“We just have this vibe which is friendly and comfortable. When progressing them, we never rush and take very small steps, because everybody is different. We can just sit and have a chat, no problem. It’s a wonderful place for any young person to be.”