This holiday season, athletes are teaming up with students with disabilities for some cheer and even a little friendly competition.
In Springfield, MO, a program called Champions Committed to Kids is inviting professional sports teams as well as those from local universities and high schools to play with children with illnesses such as cerebral palsy. The children are patients at Cox and St. John’s hospitals, which are running the program. The teams plan to involve the children in their activities and pay visits to them and their families for a whole season. The hospitals will select the children who participate, many of whom wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to play sports.
In Rutland, VT, a bowling alley recently held the annual Special Olympics Vermont sporting event called School-based Unified Team Bowling, which joins students with disabilities with nondisabled students. The program hopes to connect athletes of all abilities and has seen an increase in participation of 58 percent from last year, according to a Special Olympics official. Bowling is just one of 11 activities offered through Special Olympics’ Unified Sports, which runs five annual tournaments with students from 18 schools.
Therapists say sports can help children with disabilities in a variety of ways. “Sports and recreation is rehab at its best. Kids focus on their abilities, not their disabilities,” said inclusion recreation specialist Andy Chasanoff, MA, CTRS, in an article in ADVANCE for Physical Therapists. Participation in sports and recreation programs can also improve physical and psychological health and confidence and give children a chance to socialize.
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