Sports for EveryBODY
Sports for EveryBODY (SEB) is based upon successful Paralympic sport days in U.S. schools, offering a number of adaptive sports-wheelchair basketball, boccia, sitting volleyball for students of all ability levels to experience. Through SEB we are creating greater inclusion and diversity awareness while recruiting athletes and educating individuals about adaptive sports. Approximately 250-300 students/school/day will experience adaptive sports and disability etiquette to further understand what it means to live with a disability.
SEB takes place during a full school day. California mandates “at least 200 minutes of physical education every 10 school days in grades 1-6, and also requires daily recess. The state also mandates at least 400 minutes every 10 school days of physical education in grades 7-8 and for all four years of high school.”[1] SEB provides a minimum of 45 minutes for each class in order to provide all students with an adaptive sports experience consisting of:
Disability Etiquette and an athlete’s life story
Wheelchair Basketball-students are put into sports wheelchairs and learn the fundamentals of pushing
Boccia-students play with their non-dominant hand and are seated in order to simulate how people in wheelchairs play
Sitting Volleyball-depending on the grade students use a balloon, soft, or regular volleyball
Goalball-students put on blindfolds and pass a goalball around, and questionnaire is provided to each student to measure SEB impact. Data to be used for publication purposes.
SEB starts with the Disability Etiquette/Athlete’s story piece in which student assumptions are challenged through an athlete’s story and the wide range of adaptive sports. Students are then divided up into smaller groups and rotate through the above sports experiencing what it means to play adaptive sports. At the end of the session students are asked to fill out a questionnaire based upon their experience.
[1] California PE Requirements
