Bridging allied health & sport
Qualified Occupational Therapists who understand both child development and the culture of sport work alongside coaches and volunteers, on the same grounds where the rest of the team trains.
Sense Sports Foundation
Where sport meets purpose.
We deliver sports-based Occupational Therapy programs embedded right inside local clubs — so neurodivergent and disabled children can find their team, on their terms.
Programs across Australia & New Zealand.
About us
Sense Sports Foundation: where sport meets purpose
For many children, sport is simply part of growing up — the Saturday morning game, the muddy boots, the team huddle, the shared elation of a goal. But for neurodivergent and disabled children, that world has too often remained just out of reach. Not because they don’t want to be part of it. Not because they aren’t capable. But because the systems around sport were never designed with them in mind.
Sense Sports Foundation exists to change that.
Who we are
We are a not-for-profit built on a simple but powerful belief: every child deserves to experience the joy of being part of a team.
Our story began in 2015, when rugby Olympian Jesse Parahi and Occupational Therapist Carlien Parahi founded Sense Rugby — a vision for what sport could look like when allied health and inclusion were placed at its heart. That vision grew rapidly across Australia and New Zealand, until the Sense Sports Foundation was established in 2026 to carry the mission forward at scale.
Today we deliver sports-based Occupational Therapy programs embedded directly within local sporting clubs, supporting neurodivergent and disabled children to participate meaningfully in the communities that exist right on their doorstep.
How we do it
We bring therapeutic expertise into sporting environments — rather than expecting children to adapt to clinical settings before they can access sport.
At a pace that works
Children start in a safe, supported environment and gradually transition to broader club activities and larger events. Because the introduction happens on their terms, those moments are earned, celebrated and remembered.
Real therapeutic outcomes
Many children show meaningful gains in emotional regulation, social connection and gross motor skills — learning to manage the excitement, disappointment and unpredictability that sport naturally brings.
For clubs & coaches
Building club and coach capacity
Inclusion in sport cannot rest on the shoulders of children and families alone. We provide structured club training and professional development that equips coaches, volunteers and administrators with practical, evidence-informed strategies to include all neurotypes.
This is not about lowering expectations — it is about expanding a coach’s toolkit. The skills needed to reach a neurodivergent player are the same skills that elevate everyone on the team. Clubs that partner with us don’t just become more inclusive. They become better at coaching, full stop.
Request a program for your clubThe skills needed to reach a neurodivergent player are the same skills that elevate everyone on the team.
Safe spaces that build long-term connection
At the heart of our model is the creation of safe, supported spaces within existing clubs — genuine entry points that honour each child’s pace and build toward full participation over time.
Regular participation means belonging to something: a routine, relationships, and an identity beyond diagnosis. Every session, every drill, every team moment is a step toward a child becoming a genuine, long-term member of their club.
Families finding their place
The impact reaches well beyond the children. The sideline at a Sense Sports program is a space where parents meet others who truly understand, where the conversation doesn’t require explanation, and where watching your child laugh and run and belong is a feeling shared by everyone present.
This incidental peer support — organic and profoundly real — has become one of the most treasured aspects of what we do. Families who arrived feeling alone often leave with a community.
Technology
A platform that connects everything
Underpinning everything we do is a purpose-built software platform that brings our entire network together in one seamless place.
For families, it provides a dedicated portal with resources, program information and a safe, moderated forum — facilitated by our therapists — so the community that forms on the sideline has a place to keep growing.
For our therapists and providers, it is the operational backbone: connecting practitioners across regions, enabling real-time debriefing and shared learning, and tracking participant outcomes week by week. Rather than waiting for an end-of-season review, our team is learning and improving in real time, together.
- Family portal & resources
- Safe, moderated community forum
- Therapist debriefing & shared learning
- Outcome tracking across every program
- Training that keeps the team aligned
- One connected organisation, two countries
The full circle
From participant to coach
Participants who began as nervous newcomers have gone on to gain employment as coaches and mentors within our programs — returning to the clubs where they first found their footing and helping the next generation do the same.
For many, this is not just a personal milestone but a genuine career pathway, one that emerged directly from their own experience of being included, supported and seen. It speaks to the power of belonging, and of a community that genuinely values what each person brings.
Across Australia and New Zealand
With programs operating across multiple locations, we are scaling a model that works — not by replicating a one-size-fits-all approach, but by embedding deeply within local clubs and responding to the unique needs of each.
We are growing because families need us, because clubs are ready, and because the evidence is clear: when given the right support, every child can find their team.
We are Sense Sports Foundation. And sport is for everyone.
See our locationsGet involved
Find your way in
However you want to be part of it — as a family, a provider, a club, a volunteer, a partner or a supporter — there’s a place for you here.
Join a team
For your child or young adult to take part in a program.
Deliver a program
Become a Sense Sports Occupational Therapist or provider.
Request a program
Bring Sense Sports to your sporting club.
Volunteer
Lend your time and energy on the ground.
Partner or sponsor
Explore partnerships and sponsorship opportunities.
Donate
Help more children find their team.