With Toronto’s winter approaching, the Canadian Chinese Autism Awakening Center (CAAC) held its last outdoor soccer activity for Autistic children on Sunday September 30th between 10:30am and 12:00 at Terry Fox Park in Scarborough. The event was jointly organized by CAAC and the Toronto Chinese soccer Association，and was aimed at providing a happy experience of playing soccer by running and cooperating with teammates for children with ASD，which might consequently lead to nurturing for their well-being and helping with alleviating ASD. In total, around ten kids participated in this training，including two who originated from Southeast Asia。
A very friendly and professional tutor was provided to teach the kids. Even though it was only involving simple actions such as warming-up, dribbling and running after the ball, they are extremely challenging for Autistic children having different levels of severity of social and linguistic malfunction. However, they finally managed to accomplish them, with the tutor’s patient instruction, as well as the parents’ constant encouragement. All the kids remained committed until the end and received a reward from the tutor, which perfectly ended the activity.
It is believed that exercise is beneficial for addressing ASD and playing soccer can not only release stress and improve concentration, but also develop the ability of teamwork, which is very critical for ASD treatment. As a result，CAAC is planning to set up a football club made up of autistic children and will continue to work with the TCFA on indoor soccer training during the winter time, as long as they are able to obtain enough funding. Providing more and better helpful activities and training for children with ASD concerns is always its goal.