Recreation - WHAT IS ADAPTIVE SPORTS

While sports and recreation activities have a value in everyone’s life, they are even more important in the life of a person with a disability. Adaptive sports and recreation activities have a rehabilitative influence, teach independence, and are a way to help include someone who may otherwise be excluded from these experiences.

The adaptation of sports, whether on a recreational or competitive level, is to offer the activity, as close to it’s original counterpart as possible. Though only gaining in popularity worldwide in the past 40 years, adaptive sports have existed for more than 100 years. What are the most popular and the hot adaptive sports today? Ask ten different athletes or coaches and you will receive ten different answers.

One thing for sure is that individuals with disabilities have more choices of sports and more adaptive programs than ever before. The myriad of sports one can find in their own community is can be endless, whether it be tandem cycling, canoeing, alpine skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, sailing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, ice skating, horseback riding and so much more.

Vermont Adaptive takes great pride in offering creative and innovative adaptive sports and recreation programs throughout the state. We focus on our clients “abilities” rather than their disabilities and encourage family members and friends to participate in activities alongside our clients so that they may learn the adaptive techniques and offer support and more creative ideas.

Participating in adaptive programs is not always easy. Adaptive equipment can be quite costly and can be difficult to obtain and trained coaches and instructors can be equally difficult to obtain. Yet with collaborative efforts between resources of coaches, elite athletes, sharing of equipment and training tips all things can become possible. For more information about techniques and equipment used for adaptive sports please check out the "Techniques & Equipment" page on this site.