Yaiza Fernández Palacios – Graduate and doctor in Marine Sciences, practising at the Ecoaqua institute
May 2023

Mariona Masdemont Morente – Co-founder and director of Play&Train

“We offer sports' activities to disabled people, both tourists and residents”

We wanted to find out more about Play&Train, and the best way was to meet with the co-founder, Mariona Masdemont, so that she could tell us about it and reply to our questions.

Tell us more, please...

In 2008, we created Play&Train as a non-profit public entity association dedicated, amongst other things, to activities aimed at people with any kind of disability, such as physical activities, outdoor activities and sports. In 2011, we arrived on the island of Fuerteventura intending to provide family breaks with camps for people who came to the island and then, in 2014, we started organising activities for Fuerteventura's population. At present, we still organise the camps. They last one or two weeks, and we also have an inclusive programme for children in the municipality of La Oliva, all year long and during the summer, that consists of out-of-school activities, from Monday to Friday, during the afternoons, that include swimming, table tennis, surfing and therapeutical dancing. Also, from Monday to Friday, we have a programme of basic training to help access to employment for people who have a mental disability in the municipality of La Oliva. Furthermore, on demand, we organise sports' activities with tourists, with various equipment, to provide access to beaches, for example.

You organise a wide variety of activities. Do you have a centre where people interested can go to?

Yes, we have one, and we are actually moving to a new location in Corralejo in calle Alcaudón, which will be completed towards the end of February, beginning of March. This is where we will organise the overnight stays.

It is therefore a large place?

Yes, it is, and we currently organise the training programme in Corralejo, but the location isn't adequate, and we will also move soon to the old school in Villaverde. The councillor told us that we would be able to move very soon.

Tell us about the camps, what is their objective?

The objective is for people who attend to become more autonomous without their family environment. They are in a new environment, where they socialise and improve their communication skills. We also work with sports such as surfing, kitesurfing, cycling in some cases, and more concrete mobility skills, etc. The main activity revolves around the beach, but it is complemented with other activities, depending on the profile of the person.

How many people can you welcome per camp?

Before the Covid pandemic, our groups were bigger, but we have now reduced them to a maximum of six people, plus the instructors.

And how does it work out financially, do you get financial support?

For the Play&Train activities, the families cover 40% of the cost of the activities, and we look for financial support for the remaining 60%. For the camps, a private foundation provides financing and for people from La Oliva, the families don't have to pay anything, it is all financed by the ayuntamiento. At present, there are about 30 families registered and for basic training, until this year, we benefited from the support of Foundation La Caixa and now, we hope to get support from the Social Matters' services of La Oliva. We also get various kinds of support from the Disa company.

It would be good if you could extend your services to other municipalities...

It is our aim, and I have already had meetings with the other municipalities, as this is a project that can easily be replicated in other municipalities.

And how does it actually work?

If there are sports' schools within the municipality, we train new or existing instructors so that they can look after disabled people during inclusive activities where they can participate with the others. We also organise weekend camps with residents and activities on other islands. We went to Lanzarote to Charco de San Ginés to enjoy activities with canoes, and we also organised other activities in Las Palmas. In the future, we would like to organise snow-related activities in Mainland Spain.

What are the ages included in your programme?

From four years old until 21 years old, although we have had one exception with one older person.

What should people do if they are interested?

People interested can contact Play&Train through the website where they will see all that we organise on Mainland Spain and here, in Fuerteventura. And they can contact the representative on the island by e-mail on fuerteventura@play&train.org

 

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