taking A Stand
Therapeutic initiative Stand Up and Play is giving participants a renewed
sense of purpose and hope | by lee graVeS
J
Jamie Layman sat on
the practice green
at central Virginia’s Windy Hill Sports
Complex and placed range balls, one by
one, for his son to putt.
Kody, however, wasn’t using a putter.
A driver was strapped to his right hand
and he moved the club methodically to
strike the balls. And attached to his legs
and chest were straps in a three-wheeled
cart designed to help him stand upright,
something he can’t do on his own.
“It’s pretty fun,” says Kody, a 12-year-
old seventh-grader at Powhatan Junior
High School. Born with a rare congenital
disorder that turns joints like wrists into
hooks, Kody is a regular at Windy Hill
clinics. “The first time I was a little nervous,
but I ended up making a couple of putts.”
On the driving range, recreational
therapists from Sheltering Arms Physical
Rehabilitation Centers in Richmond helped
a young woman review settings on her
ParaGolfer cart. A former high school
golfer, Jennifer (her last name is withheld
at her request) hadn’t been to the range
for months. But as she gracefully swung an
8-iron, then a 7-wood, the balls increased
in distance and accuracy, eventually clearing
the 150-yard marker.
“She’s always had a pretty swing,” her
father says. “She can outdrive me and her
mother.”
Janet Phillips, a PGA/LPGA professional
at Windy Hill Sports Complex, watched
closely, giving Jennifer tips on the
positioning of her left arm.
“There you go––much better,” Phillips
said as another ball sailed straight and true.
“All my students would be jealous.”
Using adaptive devices, individuals with serious
injuries have an opportunity to enhance their wellbeing by taking their swings at the game as well as
participating in other sports.
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For Jennifer, getting her swing back in a
groove was only part of the exercise.
“This gets you out and away from
everything you deal with on a daily basis,”
she says. “And standing up on my own––that’s
one of the benefits that make me feel so good.
I don’t get that any other time.”
Jennifer, Kody and a handful of other
golfers at the clinic had that in common.
Disabilities confine them to wheelchairs. But
the Stand Up and Play Foundation helps
them get up on their feet and play sports,
thanks to an ingenious cart-like device.
Through donations from partners such as
DuPont, Sheltering Arms and Sweet Frog,
the Richmond area has two ParaGolfers, a
sports wheelchair suitable for users who have
walking impediments or inabilities. They cost
about $21,000 each and are for public use.
Through the leadership of Phillips, a Stand
Up and Play Foundation national board
member, and the vigor of volunteers, the
Richmond-area program has evolved into a
model for the country.
“That chapter has just exploded because of
a wonderfully dedicated group of volunteers,”
says Craig Cobine, executive director of the
foundation. The foundation now has mobile
units in 20 countries and chapters sprinkled
throughout the United States.
STAND UP AND PLAY FOUNDATION
FEELING OF ENGAGEMENT
AND EMPOWERMENT