Excited to introduce our sixth Founder Story that features the team behind Theraplay.TV including Zachary Fook, Shannon Lovell and Emma Lofting!
Theraplay.TV is a virtual program that builds the capacity of young people of all abilities as they play and interact with Yogacise, Ballet Fusion, Play Warrior, Pop n Lock’n, Cheer Club & TheraChill.
Learn more below…
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoYPY0jspeI[/embedyt]
A time-coded transcript of this video is available for download and the script is also available below.
Zachary Fook, Executive Producer Theraplay.TV [00:00:05]
Opportunity for a child, in its simplest form is being able to attend a local dance, football or sports club and build lifelong friendships alongside their teammates.
I’m Zach, the Executive Producer of TheraplayTV.
Nearly 10 years ago, I met a six year old girl with cerebral palsy who’d been turned away by three dance schools. At the time, I had no idea of the systemic barriers she was up against. At some point in time, when the sporting and recreation bodies designed grassroots programs, they reverse engineered the process from the professional athlete backwards.
In order to change the game, we had to change the rules by starting with the six year old girl with cerebral palsy and designing forwards.
We’ve created entry level programs that have leveled the playing field for young people of all abilities everywhere.
When covid hit, we used it as an opportunity to start filming our classes, so we redesigned our classes in five minutes, easy to follow videos.
We then added animation and interactive features and coined the term ‘Theratainment.’
Shannon Lovell, Content Director, Theraplay.TV [00:01:01]
Participation in meaningful physical activity helps to increase positive mental health whilst reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases.
My name is Shannon and I’m the Content Director at Theraplay TV.
Theraplay TV has been designed to address the systemic challenges by removing physical requirements of the tasks, social and cognitive demands, reduced availability and adequacy of local community programs.
Emma Lofting, Artistic Director, Theraplay.TV [00:01:43]
Sometimes the dance and sporting world can be very competitive and our young people with disabilities might feel out of place or not welcome.
I’m Emma the Artistic Director at Theraplay TV.
When I started working with children and young people with disabilities, it not only made me happy, but it positively impacted their lives and made them happy too.
And then Miss Emma became an important part of mine and their daily lives. And right now I couldn’t imagine doing or being anything else.
And so being able to create a platform through Theraplay TV that really promotes the idea that anyone can access and participate is really what motivates me to continue to create content.
Zachary Fook, Executive Producer Theraplay.TV [00:02:03]
Remarkable’s network is like no other, and the community aspect is something you can’t get anywhere else. We can grow and learn from each other, but most importantly, support each other.
Emma Lofting, Artistic Director, Theraplay.TV [00:02:13]
I think it’s made me appreciate the small things the day to day and really believing in the concept that anything is possible.
Meet Theraplay.TV at our online Demo Day on Tuesday the 13th of July! Registrations are essential.
