When Steve Eischens was little, he loved to play tee-ball and other sports. Steve was born 10 years ago with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair in his daily life. As his local leagues became more competitive, Steve became an observer rather than a player, watching his able-bodied twin brother and the other kids play ball.

When he was 8 years old, Steve’s mom Karen Eischens found information about wheelchair sports teams through Courage Center, and Steve joined wheelchair softball and basketball teams. “It’s very neat to see his spirit soar out there on the basketball court,” Karen says. “He is able to play to his abilities and isn’t hampered by his disabilities.”

“When a kid with a disability sits on the sidelines of sports, they often sit on the sidelines of life,” says Sharon Van Winkel, program director for sports and recreation at Courage Center. Courage, headquartered in Golden Valley with facilities in St. Croix and Duluth, provides services for people with disabilities that allow them to lead active, healthy lives.

Van Winkel says that when children don’t have the chance to compete and prove their abilities, they can suffer from depression, obesity, and a variety of health problems. They may not learn how to take responsibility and advocate for themselves in other parts of their lives. When children do participate, she says, they learn to set goals, be assertive, interact socially, and develop a variety of other skills that will benefit them on the difficult road of growing up in a society that isn’t entirely comfortable with disability. “Until the world is ready to accept people with disabilities with open arms, we’re going to have a challenge,” Van Winkel says.

Through Courage Center, Steve has the same access to sporting opportunities as his twin brother. Karen has noticed that he has more self-confidence and is in better physical shape since he started playing adapted sports. “He does have some respiratory limitation, but his doctors have said that playing basketball is the best thing he can do,” she says.

“All kids come in to Courage Center with hesitation at first. It can be a scary thing,” Van Winkel says. “And parents are apprehensive because they don’t want their kids hurt physically or emotionally, but when [these kids] come here, their lives are turned around.”

Van Winkel says that younger children can do well integrated into mainstream sports through little league and recreation centers, but as their peers mature, they often find themselves left behind. Van Winkel says her philosophy is that kids with disabilities truly have the opportunity to excel when they participate in athletics with other kids with disabilities. “They find real strength in being with people like them,” she says.

High school sports

Michael Sack is an active 10th grader and a member of South High School’s adapted soccer and hockey teams. Michael has been playing sports since he was old enough to hold a bat. The fact that he can’t hold it quite the same as other kids his age has never impeded the enthusiasm of this tow-headed boy with an infectious smile.

Sack has participated in a swimming club at Courage Center since he was in 5th grade. He competed in his first meet last year, winning 3rd place in freestyle by swimming a length of the pool in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. “Sometimes, when you’re the only one in the pool, it feels nice,” says Sack. “When I swim, it feels like freedom.” In the water, he is able to move without the constant companionship of his motorized wheelchair, which he uses because cerebral palsy limits the use of his arms and legs.

Often, kids with physical disabilities undergo numerous surgeries and hospital stays throughout their lives. For Sack, this has been one of those years, and he hasn’t been able to swim since having surgery this fall. He missed the first few months of school; but, fortunately, he was back in time to play his favorite sport, adapted hockey.

The fast-paced game looks similar to indoor soccer and is played in a high school gym, using the lines of the basketball court and goals a bit smaller than a regulation hockey net. Each team has seven players on the floor, at least two of which must be in wheelchairs. Most wheelchair players use their mass to play goalie or defense.

When he was in 7th grade, Sack’s speech therapist suggested he might enjoy adapted hockey, but there was no team at his middle school, so he traveled to South High to play. Over the next four years became one of the team’s most reliable goalies. “I like hockey because I like blocking the puck and because the other kids like me playing on the team,” Sack says. “If I was the coach, I would say, ‘Put the puck in the net and you will win.'”

Sack enjoys playing not only because he is a devoted sports fan, but also because it is a social activity. Kids with disabilities often interact more with adults than children: doctors, physical therapists, teachers, parents, and caregivers are their constant attendants. Playing sports offers them the chance to just hang out with a group of teenagers.

Adapted high school sports are strong in Minnesota in part because they began here, started by a group of people with disabilities including South High teacher Jim Christy. When Christy was in high school in Minneapolis in the late 1960s, he was told that he couldn’t participate in team sports because of his cerebral palsy.

In the 1970s, when Christy was studying recreation and park administration at the University of Minnesota and working as an educational assistant at a local high school, he decided to do something to change that. He and Bob Anderson, a high school classmate, rewrote a copy of the NCAA hockey rules to create an adapted hockey game.

“We rewrote them for kids in wheelchairs, kids that didn’t have legs, kids that didn’t have arms, kids who couldn’t hold the stick,” Christy says. “We tried to be fair to everybody.”

Their next challenge was to convince another school to compete against them, and with the help of many people in the disability community, the sport grew. Later, they wrote rules for adapted softball and adapted soccer. In 1992, Minnesota became the first state to officially sanction adapted high school sports, giving the sports the same credibility as other varsity sports, including the awarding of letters. It is still the only state where adapted high school sports are recognized at this level.

The Metro Association for Adapted Athletics emphasizes on its web site that “Adapted Athletics are interscholastic sports that are just as competitive as football, hockey, or any other high school varsity sport.” Adapted sports state tournaments are well-attended events, packing the stands of the enormous Stillwater Area High School gym.

Despite this history, many high schools outside the immediate Twin Cities metro area do not have adapted sports team. Christy says that if parents want their kids involved at a high school level, they must “talk to athletic directors and ask how their child can have the same experiences that they offer girls’ basketball or boys’ hockey.”

A number of other local organizations coordinate adapted athletics teams. The Minnesota PowerHockey League is a competitive sports league for people in power wheelchairs who may not possess the upper-body strength to participate in other adapted sports. Sled hockey is played by quadriplegics, amputees, and others who want to play hockey on the ice. There are quad rugby teams and wheelchair basketball leagues.

Active families

Beyond team sports, there are other opportunities for kids with disabilities to enjoy physical activity. Many area fitness centers have arm-powered bicycles and personal trainers who have experience working with people with disabilities. Some, such as the YMCA and YWCA, will work with parents who want to get their children involved in mainstream recreational activities.

Recreation is also important as a family activity. Having a child who uses a wheelchair or has difficulty navigating over uneven ground doesn’t mean you can’t explore the wilderness together as a family. Minnesota offers an amazing expanse of wilderness throughout the state and the state park system has been working to make these beautiful locales accessible to people with disabilities. Many already are accessible and offer an amazing opportunity for individuals and families to enjoy the outdoors together. The Paul Bunyan Trail in Brainerd is fully accessible, and both Gooseberry Falls and Grand Portage State Parks offer accessible hiking trails. Whitewater, Great River Bluffs, and Rice Lake State Parks offer accessible campsites. “Accessible” usually means that there are paved paths and handicapped-accessible bathrooms.

Wilderness Inquiry is a local organization that offers canoeing, snowshoeing, and dog sledding trips that are fully accessible. The organization also offers outdoor skills workshops for families of children with disabilities. Wilderness Inquiry works with the PACER Center and the University of Minnesota to conduct Project FIT (Families Integrating Together), which teaches families who have a member with a disability the skills they need to participate in outdoor recreation activities together as a family.

In Minnesota we have the most expansive adapted sports and recreation programs of any state, offering a variety of opportunities for parent and kids to choose from. Whether through specialized programs or through mainstream programs adapted to fit their needs, disabled kids can play team sports, take gymnastics, dance, and do yoga; they can ski and go camping. Most importantly, they can have the same chances as other kids to meet each other on the basketball court, the hockey rink, or the tee-ball field – as kids and as athletes.