Athletes
in Training
Eruption Athletics creates exercise programs for the IDD
community in southwestern PA and beyond.
BY W.B. FRESA
Ryan Deyarmin working out on the Volcano
PADD.
C
Eruption athletes Amanda Diaz, Alex Blue and Alexis Ducouer working hard outside on a nice fall day.
all it kismet—Joe Jelinski and Chris Engler do.
More than 15 years ago as high schoolers from
Philadelphia, they were on a beach in Australia
with friends when a group of young kids
walked up to them and said, “We know you…
we train with you...we will see you guys around!”
Confused and a little befuddled, Jelinski and Engler didn’t
know what to make of it. But as the kids walked away, they
noticed all of them were wearing Special Olympics jackets.
“It was wild,” says Jelinski. “We just thought they were kids
having fun on the beach, joking around and saying hello to
people. Little did we know, seven years later, it would turn out
to be the impetus to the development of our Eruption Athletics
(EA) pilot program.”
EA is a company that designs exercise programs specifically
for people with intellectual development disorders (IDD). And,
as with most brilliant ideas, there is a combination of events and
passions that collided to form the EA epicenter. Jelinski, who
has always been an athlete and played professional soccer after
college, knows how to train for peak performance.
“There’s a formula—80 percent training and preparation, 10
percent practice, 5 percent competition and 5 percent rest,” he
says. Engler, who also has an athletic background in rowing, has a
brother, Andrew, with special needs. This encompassed the other
part of the idea.
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“When Chris’ brother was training for the Special Olympics,
we wanted to help,” recalls Jelinski. “When we learned there was
no physical training program for these athletes, we were shocked
and concerned. People with IDD are prone to different physical
issues, including obesity, which may be due, in part, to body
composition, lack of physical activity, side effects of medications,
or parents/caregivers who may be overly permissive or overly
restrictive with food and exercise. We knew we needed to do
something to help. That was the beginning of Eruption Athletics.”
Since the pilot program took off in 2009, EA has grown
substantially. It has multiple programs for the IDD community,
like the “Grow with the Flow” group and “Magma Chamber”
1-on-1 training sessions. It has also reached additional
participants through “Road Show” off-site and “Field Trip” on-site
training programs in addition to helping the parents of children
with IDD practice what they preach in their “EA-dult” training
classes.
EA has patented the Volcano PADD, a mat with colorful
numbers serving as visual cues, which helps support proper body
placement, spatial awareness, and movement lines. And, the
“EA-xercise for Everyone” inclusive and adaptive program license
model consists of adaptive equipment, adaptive progressive
curriculum, trainer certifications, ongoing support, and data
analysis. The program is being implemented by schools and