23
BRINGING ADAPTIVE
SPORTS TO BROWN
One place in particular that we realized needs to support the existence of adaptive sports is here at Brown, as well as at other colleges across the country. Most people are totally unaware that there is a lack of adaptive sports, because they do not even know that many adaptive sports exist in the first place. When several section members played amputee soccer in the OMAC, students stared and were quite confused about what was happening. Discussion with these observers revealed that these students had never heard of adaptive soccer, nor had they ever even seen people with disabilities in the Brown athletics facilities. Conversations with our friends about our project revealed that the Brown student body is quite unaware about adaptive sports at all. Clearly, in a community that prides itself on knowledge and inclusiveness, adaptive sports are a dimension that is seriously lacking. .
Fortunately, Brown students’ lack of knowledge did not necessarily imply a lack of interest. Many friends were interested in hearing more about various adaptive sports and even wished that they had been able to try them as well. One thing that we could improve on if we were able to do this project again would be to invite the more
members of the general student body. .
ELI WOLFF
& HIS ADVICE
adaptive sports at the intramural level. By offering adaptive sports as intramurals, such as seated volleyball and wheelchair basketball for the entire student body, the numbers required to play would be fulfilled. In individual sports, such as swimming, track and tennis, he proposed that people with disabilities should be able to play on the existing Brown teams, as competitions for people with disabilities in these types of sports often already exist. However, they are still quite rare, especially as they have yet to be recognized as official NCAA sports, which is an important step in increasing their prevalence. Wolff showed us that although sports for people with disabilities are currently rare or non-existent on college campuses, steps can be taken to address this deficiency. Eli also recommended integrating these sports into mainstream culture. He worked at these efforts via petitioning ESPN to give out ESPY Awards to athletes with disabilities as well. The 2014 Sochi Paralympics are the first Paralympics that will receive NBC television coverage. By giving attention to adaptive sports, just as able-bodied sports get, people will begin to be less ignorant about adaptive sports. Our section’s magazine is a great tool to incorporate adaptive sports into mainstream culture like Wolff suggested. Many groups at Brown publish magazines and sports magazines are extremely popular nationwide. Our magazine is a step to show that adaptive sports demand the attention that able-bodied sports receive as well. .
Eli Wolff is a Brown graduate and former member of the Brown University Men's Soccer Team. He has seen success on both able-bodied teams and Paralympic teams. He is very involved with the Paralympics and the inclusion of adaptive sports, especially for youths, and has worked with the United Nations at their Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In his lecture at Brown University, Eli discussed ways in which we could increase awareness and accessibility of adaptive sports at Brown. Due to a lack of mass numbers of people with disabilities, especially at Brown currently, he recommended starting by introducing adaptive sports for people with disabilities and people who are able-bodied. A key first step in this process would be the introduction of