Pokemon Club

Last Friday I went along to a Pokémon club that was being run in a local community Hall. Elaine who I met many years ago through the NCT has recently started this Pokémon club. Her elder son who is on the autistic spectrum enjoys playing Pokémon and she had found a Pokémon club on the outskirts of Leeds. She regularly took her son to this club which he enjoyed both playing Pokémon and meeting other like-minded children who shared his hobby. However because it was such a distance it was difficult for these friendships to last outside the meeting so she decided to set up her own club more locally. Her club has been running since July on Friday evenings.

The evening I went along there were eight boys ranging from about 7 to 15 playing a Pokémon game on their DSes. There was lots of chat both from the children playing and the parents sitting at one end drinking cups of tea and coffee.  It was a lovely atmosphere and the children moved happily around the room interacting with each other.  The club is running through the school holidays as she feels it is important to have some continuity. Some sessions have had over 20 children attending and she is confident that come September when people are back from their holidays the numbers will rise again. She said it was lovely to see children returning week after week.  The first time they came they may not have been confident enough to join in and spent most of the time sitting with their parent but by the second or third time they would walk in confidently and sit down at a table to play with other Pokémon fans. This club is not exclusively for children on the autistic spectrum but for anybody who enjoys Pokémon.

It was not a game that my daughters ever got into. I think it appeals more to boys, but what I felt was so positive was that all the children whether they are on the autistic spectrum or not were enjoying each other’s company and talking and playing Pokémon.

I was amazed to find that one of the boys there had travelled nearly an hour to get to this club, but I’m not surprised that once you have been to the club that you return. The atmosphere was lovely, it was so welcoming, friendly, calm yet fun. Perhaps I can persuade my girls to take up Pokémon.

Here’s the link to the club       www.harrogatepokemon.co.uk