Programs

Offered for young children from ages 3-11 with various orthopedic disabilities. This is the fastest growing part of our Wheelchair Sports Program. The early goal with Futures is to develop a love for movement through cooperative and nurturing games, activities and challenges. These ‘lead-up’ skills are key building blocks to encourage participants to challenge themselves in the physical realm. We use a variety of interactive activities to involve the athlete’s circle of family and friends, and integrate them with activities that are performed from the child’s view.

For example, family and friends may be put into sports wheelchair along with their child and asked to participate. This is an incredibly difficult task and suddenly the child with the disability becomes the expert and the parent the student, learning how to wheel in what appears to be a simple exercise, but those who are new to a wheelchair, experience first-hand find how difficult it is to maneuver productively. This exercise is important on two levels: it is an eye-opener for the family/friend by heightening the level of awareness of how difficult simple movement and activities are for a child with a disability. It also builds self-esteem, the child lights-up with the knowledge that they are in fact, the expert.

This level of programming is offered for youth ages 11 to 18; they are provided with the opportunity to apply the lead-up skills they’ve learned through cooperative games (in the “Futures” Section) into a competitive setting by joining an athletic team. At this stage, the athlete transitions from a nurturing, cooperative environment to a more competitive setting where each team is out to win.

Individuals are often paired with older and more skilled veteran athletes whose skills surpass their own. This is has proven an effective mechanism to challenge the new athletes and to enhance their level of play.

This program is made up of veteran athletes who have graduated from the Varsity team. Each athlete is in school and serves as a role model for the Futures and Youth Athletes through mentoring. This continued sense of family and camaraderie is a critical success of the overall program, and a major reason why Rancho’s athletes are substantially better in the classroom than participants in other programs. Our adult mentors are able to give back and serve as positive role model for the younger kids. Similar to the able bodied population, it is important for people with disabilities to stay active and healthy by incorporating movement and sports into their daily routine, as lifetime physical fitness behaviors are important to the well-being of all, regardless of disability.