![\"WHEELCHAIR](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/wc1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMarch 1 is International Wheelchair Day and to mark the occasion Football Victoria spoke with one of our wheelchair football players about what the program means to her and the impact it has on the community.<\/p>\n
Wheelchair Football is a modified version of the game that gives everyone the chance to play in a friendly, supportive, and inclusive environment. It allows people with physical or multiple disabilities to compete in a team sport and is open to anyone who uses a wheelchair, whether electric or manual, independently or with assistance.<\/p>\n
Jo McKenna first began playing Wheelchair Football in 2012 after a friend recommended the program, and she hasn\u2019t looked back as the sport has provided her and her teammates with a true place of belonging.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you have a disability or not, and if you can, it shouldn\u2019t stop you if you would like to do something,\u201d McKenna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust go ahead and do it and just enjoy it. Whatever problems you have or whatever stress you have, at least it\u2019s gone for a few hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just cheer for everybody, if they kick the ball or score a goal, even if I am the goalie and am supposed to stop them, I\u2019m still cheering for them. It\u2019s more than winning, we see the goal as being there and having fun. Kick a ball or don\u2019t kick a ball, it doesn\u2019t matter to me, because I had fun anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More than a decade into her time playing the sport, she shows no signs of stopping, motivated by the community\u2019s positivity and the warm, welcoming environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is lovely there, everyone is so friendly, you can approach anyone and talk to anyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all sort of in the same boat, and we all enjoy playing and we always support each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve made lifelong friends. Even when we are not playing, we keep in touch all the time. It\u2019s like a family now because we have been doing it for so long. We have become a family with all the coaches, the parents, the carers, everybody. It\u2019s really something to look forward to every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she had regularly played as goalkeeper in previous seasons, McKenna moved into the midfield last year, find the back of the net on more than one occasion!<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was very good (scoring) because I was very, very nervous to play out of the goals, but once everybody was cheering for me and everything, I was glad I did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Wheelchair Football is always looking for more players and McKenna encouraged anyone who is interested to come along and watch or have a go.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust come and watch it, give it a try and if you don\u2019t want to, you don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCome and have a look and just watch the game, see how everyone is playing and just watch the game, see how everyone is playing and just talk to people. Have a go at it and see if it\u2019s right for you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people will love it. Everyone should have a go. I know all the members on our team love it, otherwise we wouldn\u2019t be there. We all look forward to the season starting in May.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wheelchair Football Page<\/a>\u00a0 Learn more about the Program<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 1 is International Wheelchair Day and to mark the occasion Football Victoria spoke with one of our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,75148,85],"class_list":["post-506991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-football-victoria-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}