Adaptive Sports Day held at the Student Activity Center Thursday

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Freemont senior Allie Kooistra prepares to toss a medicine ball to her opponent in attempt to score a goal for her team while all members remain blindfolded while playing goal ball Thursday evening during Adaptive Sports Day in the Student Activity Center. (Victoria Zegler/Staff Photographer)

Students raced across the basketball courts in the Student Activity Center in wheelchairs as they participated in Adaptive Sports Day Thursday night.

Wheelchair basketball was just one of the four sports set up for students to try at Adaptive Sports Day, part of Disability Awareness Month this October. For the second year, Adaptive Sports Day was held to show students common adaptive sports by giving them the opportunity to participate.

The other sports played included goal-ball, where students were given a blindfold to simulate blindness, adaptive golf and sit volleyball.

Mary Lou Schilling, assistant professor of recreation, parks and leisure services, said she set up the event to encourage students at the Student Activity Center to try different adaptive sports commonly played by disabled individuals.

Macomb junior Janel Herrick reaches to hit the volleyball over the net to her opponents while playing sit volleyball Thursday evening during Adaptive Sports Day in the Student Activity Center. (Victoria Zegler/Staff Photographer)

“It’s a good opportunity for (therapeutic recreation) students to not only try out the equipment, but also encourage others,” Schilling said. “We feel very fortunate that we have (the equipment) to train our students on how to use the devices, and then they can work with individuals with disabilities.”

Schilling said the therapeutic recreation department has many other devices for the disabled including hand-cycles, an assortment of skis and a handicap-accessible golf cart with a rotating seat.

Monroe senior Casey Harris, a therapeutic recreation major, tried all the sports and found goal-ball to be the most difficult. Harris said Adaptive Sports Day was a great way to have fun and educate students about different adaptive sports.

“The most difficult one was goal-ball. It’s really hard to tell where you are in the room and you’re skeptical about being blindfolded,” Harris said. “As a therapeutic recreation major, I think it’s really important for everyone to know about adaptive sports and to be more accepting of adaptive sports in general.”

Grandville junior Kyle Stevens was playing basketball in the Student Activity Center when he decided to try a few games of wheelchair basketball. Stevens shot the game-winning basket while he was playing, but said the sport was much more difficult than he expected.

“I had a good time, but it’s definitely harder than it looks trying to dribble,” Stevens said. “I didn’t do as well as I thought I would do. The shot at the end was one of few shots made.”