We’ve heard a lot from participants and volunteers who have been enjoying the adaptive surfing events through Coastal Adaptive Sports - and that’s totally awesome! But this month we decided to shake things up and put the spotlight on one of our amazing adaptive basketball players: Devin Reynolds. We spoke to Devin’s mother, Brandy Reynolds, who was more than happy to tell us about Devin’s experience with Coastal Adaptive Sports.

Can you tell us a little about yourself, please?

Brandy: My name is Brandy and I have two children: Devin, who is about to be 18, and a daughter, Tinley, who is 16. My husband David is a firefighter paramedic for Horry County. We’ve lived in Conway for about 7 years now. I have cerebral palsy, and we found out about 3 years ago that Devin has a genetic disease called Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). He played a lot of sports when he was a kid and he became sick right after his 15th birthday. He had a bone marrow transplant that saved his life.

How long has Devin been participating with Coastal Adaptive Sports?

Brandy: Devin has been doing stuff with Coastal Adaptive Sports for about 2 years now. He does surfing with Brock and Ernie and all those guys, and he plays adaptive basketball as well.

Can you describe Devin’s first experience with Coastal Adaptive Sports?

Brandy: He was surfing before he played basketball, but he loves basketball - it has to be his favorite sport. We found out about Coastal Adaptive Sports through one of our social workers at Duke. We were starting from 0 - we knew nothing about adaptive anything or how to get involved because we had no need for it before. So our social workers got on the internet and helped us find things in our area. They knew Devin liked basketball and they got us in touch with the organization.

What’s Devin’s favorite part about the adaptive basketball program with Coastal Adaptive Sports?

Brandy: He loves the camaraderie, the guys; just being able to be with them and talk to them and just play. He loves to be with the guys. It’s an amazing community. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a chair or not in a chair. It’s just one big family - it’s great. We just love it.

What would you tell others who are hesitant about signing up for a program with Coastal Adaptive Sports?

Brandy: I can understand the hesitation - it can be a scary thing if you’ve never done it before. But being a part of the organization and knowing what I know now, I’d tell them to just put yourself out there. The people are very kind hearted and will welcome you with open arms. It’s just a great organization to be a part of.

How has Coastal Adaptive Sports helped Devin and your family?

Brandy: It’s given us something to look forward to during a time where we weren’t sure where we were going to get our positivity from; it’s definitely given us a positive outlook when we needed some positivity the most.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Brandy: If you’re new to the community and you’re looking to get involved, don’t be shy about reaching out to Coastal Adaptive Sports. Reach out, because for all the events, basketball, surfing, bike riding; there’s always something going on and it’s just amazing. It’s a great organization and just the idea of feeling welcome and loved and coming in and having open arms and people welcoming without thinking twice about anything is a great feeling.

To learn more about Coastal Adaptive Sports, visit our about page or contact us with any questions you may have. Also, be sure to check out our blog to read about more of our other awesome participants and volunteers!

Wanna get involved? You may also volunteer to help out with a Coastal Adaptive Sports event by clicking here.