Wheelchair sports have come a long way since the first organized sporting event for people with disabilities in 1948. From tennis and basketball, to rugby, and even surfing, there are now dozens of specialized sports that people who use wheelchairs can enjoy. Today, athletes who happen to have disabilities compete in both Olympic Games and professional leagues around the world.
An adaptive surfboard is designed to accommodate people with physical disabilities and limitations. These surfboards have unique features that make it easier for individuals with disabilities to participate in the sport of surfing and enjoy the ocean. In this post, we will explore what an adaptive surfboard is, its benefits, and where you can get one.
Wheelchair rugby is a fast-paced and highly competitive sport that is played by athletes who happen to have disabilities. The sport combines elements of traditional rugby, basketball, and handball, and is played on a standard-sized basketball court.
This month, we want to highlight the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs. The American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP) is a nonprofit organization that aims to promote and provide adapted sports programs for individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities.
Whether it be short or long term, with various degrees of seriousness, injuries and disabilities make it difficult to participate in the daily activities we find both necessary and enjoyable. Adaptive sports can be a great way to get yourself out there, and come with great physical and emotional benefits. In this article, we’ll provide tips on how to get started with adaptive sports, and how you can have a smooth and enjoyable experience.
Coastal Adaptive Sports is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, with our focus on promoting adaptive sports for people with disabilities. While we offer programs in various sports, surfing has become one of the most sought after adaptive sports activities for our community.
If our plan has worked, you will be aware that we have thriving surfing, biking, and basketball programs here at Coastal Adaptive Sports. But, did you know that to our knowledge, there is no adaptive softball program in the Grand Strand area? This is quite surprising since adaptive softball is so popular nationally. There is even a WORLD SERIES! So…Coastal Adaptive has founded the first area wheelchair softball team.
One of the burgeoning areas in adaptive sports is adaptive golf. Like most other sports, golf has its physical requirements that are prohibitive to people with certain disabilities. Well, that’s just not going to fly with a few folks in Myrtle Beach and its surrounding areas. So, they have worked hard to create opportunities and connect people with disabilities with area resources.
Coastal Adaptive Sports offers activities and leagues in several sports (Basketball, Cycling, Kayaking, and Wheelchair Games), but surfing is our most visible and most supported by various organizations and lots and lots of great people. We would love to give a shout out today to one of our most foundational resources in our surfing endeavors – Ocean Cure.
Some of the best memories from childhood are from camps and other group activities during the summer months. Those events are perfect for meeting new friends and doing activities that are not easily found or joined other times. At Coastal Adaptive Sports, we know that often a camp with modifications and mindful design and planning can be a huge thing in the life of a young person who happens to have disabilities. With that in mind, we want to give our athletes info to help them find an awesome adaptive sports camp in the Carolinas.
If you haven’t been to Charleston, South Carolina before, you may not know what a precious gem we have here. It’s old, it’s new. It’s traditional, it’s forward thinking. It’s beautiful, diverse, storied, and classy yet with both a hospitable and gritty spirit. It would be hard to think of a better place to embody the complexity of the modern South. In regards to the priority of Coastal Adaptive Sports - which is to see more access to activities for each person with a disability - we find the same hunger for progress by some to make the beaches in Charleston County accessible for everyone.
One of the blessings we have in the adaptive sports world here in the Grand Strand area is a spirit of cooperation. If you’ve read the blogs over the last several months, you’ll notice the improvements to access and opportunity for people with disabilities are not Coastal Adaptive Sports acting in a vacuum. Many wonderful people and organizations have rallied with vision and conviction to share their labors, resources, and support with us. Through this collective effort, one of the successes is gaining beach accessibility for those who need modifications. In addition to Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach has made similar progress in expanding beach access.
In our mission at Coastal Adaptive Sports to bring opportunities to people with disabilities, we benefit from the vision and work of others. One of the areas we are so thankful for is the improvements to beach access. Last month we highlighted the wheelchair accessible beaches in Myrtle Beach. This time, we want to offer some info on resources and opportunities here in North Myrtle Beach.
One of the many changes that have come for people with disabilities is through beach accessibility. This is certainly true for the beach-going people in Myrtle Beach. Ramps, specialized wheelchairs, paths, and other provisions have radically changed the seaside experience for many traditionally underserved people. Let’s take a look.
Coastal Adaptive Sports draws inspiration from the enthusiasm of our athletes and our volunteers, as well as the efforts of other adaptive sports organizations. Getting to serve so many sports, locations, and variations in athlete abilities in the country, organizations work hard to provide fun, safe, empowering, inclusive, effective opportunities. Well, we want to be like them when we grow up. So let’s look at 5 Awesome Adaptive Sports Organizations and a couple great resources to volunteer or find activities for a person with disabilities.
2021 gets a bad rap. Like every year, we were probably a little too optimistic on a global or national level. But…with the challenges on our plate locally, 2021 was triumphant. Let’s take a blog and look back. You may call it a summary, update, year-in-review, overview, or conclusion, but much like in 2022, we can do better. Let’s call it a Round Up!
The athletes who participate in adaptive surfing events, their loved ones, and the volunteers repeatedly say that the sense of community fostered at the large adaptive surfing events surprises them. That’s certainly true for Mary Skipper.
Many neighborhoods and schoolyards have basketball goals, the suburbs have gigantic soccer parks, and each corner seems to have an athletic gym. These are all underappreciated, often ubiquitous opportunities provided by resources and efforts of many people and businesses across the country. Such a concerted effort is so successful that most children and even adults enjoy the option of many sports. This is not the case for people with varying disabilities and that’s why Coastal Adaptive Sports exists. Well, one of the most exciting and most accessible sports to support is surfing. Together with The Adaptive Surf Project, we hold events through our Wheel to Surf program that helps bridge the gap for participants who happen to have disabilities.
In many places across the country a person can search “Adaptive Sports Near Me” and a bevy of sites will pop up. They will have pics of people having a great time, and if the Google algorithms do their job, there may even be something Near Them. It wasn’t always like that...
Coastal Adaptive Sports has a passion to bring sporting opportunities and recreational activities to people with disabilities in a way that is fun and lifegiving. Through our early existence, we have moved into multiple types of adaptive sports and activities. We currently have programs in these sports...
Many of you know Brian Shaw from his time with Coastal Adaptive Sports. If you've been around the adaptive surfing events, Wheel to Surf, whether as a participant or as a volunteer, you've likely seen him. Well, we'd like to bring this adaptive surfer into the light, even if it's just for a minute. We want you to get to know Brian's heart toward adaptive surfing and service in general.
Many people in the adaptive surfing community know Aubin Hooker. He’s often at surf events with Coastal Adaptive Sports with a welcoming face and enthusiastic attitude. But he does more in the area than help at events. He enjoys advocating for the disabled, particularly in regards to beach access, and he fights daily for the protection of the oceans we all enjoy.
It goes without saying that an organization is only as good as its invested parties. Well, Coastal Adaptive is blessed with many that are personally invested with time or talents or support. Abby Banks is one of those blessings. Let’s meet her and hear about her experience with adaptive sports.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for so many people across the world. But as things are slowly starting to get back to normal, people are beginning to look for things to do to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. If you’re searching for sports for people with disabilities in the North and South Carolina areas, then you’ll want to hear these 2021 updates from Coastal Adaptive Sports!
Did you know that, according to the World Bank, about 15% of the world’s population live with some form of disability? That’s around one billion people! Knowing this number certainly helps put things into perspective and makes it easy to understand the importance of sports for athletes with disabilities.
In our recent blog post, we talked about the benefits of adaptive sports. For participants, adaptive sports programs bring many great opportunities. But did you know there are plenty of great reasons to volunteer for adaptive sports jobs?
Of course, with a name like Coastal Adaptive Sports, it’s safe to assume that we offer, well, adaptive sports! And that’s true - we’re proud to offer several sports programs and events to the Grand Strand area, including surfing, basketball, biking, and more. From the outside looking in, most people understand that what we do is a positive thing, but have you ever really thought about the benefits of adaptive sports?
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.
Our interview series continues with yet another awesome adaptive surf volunteer, Andy Johnson! Andy Johnson currently lives in Lenoir, North Carolina, but is in the process of moving to Little River, South Carolina. He has a wife, Karen, as well as two kids; a daughter and a son. Andy has been a physical therapist assistant for about 20 years.
As we continue our blog series about our beloved volunteers and participants here at Coastal Adaptive Sports, we decided to highlight our friend and adaptive water sports attendee Mary Gainey!
So far, you’ve met Vann Horne and Jose Solorio - who are both very special to us here at Coastal Adaptive Sports. But this post will pay tribute to one of our influential adaptive sports and recreation volunteers - Kelly Dailey.
At Coastal Adaptive Sports, we love meeting new people through our events! And about 5 years ago, we met our long-time friend and adaptive surfer, Jose Solorio. We had the pleasure of interviewing Jose for our blog!
Without our volunteers, we wouldn’t be where we are today; that’s why we decided to do an adaptive sports volunteer spotlight of our friend Vann Horne!
Hello friends! With the world’s current situation, things have been a lot different for everyone.
You’ve probably heard about us through our popular adaptive surfing events called Wheel to Surf, but did you know that we also offer adaptive kayaking from time to time?
Coastal Adaptive Sports offers Wheel to Surf Events, which are adaptive surfing classes for those with a disability - learn more here.
The Coastal Chairmen, an adaptive basketball team who play wheelchair basketball, are working hard and have their eye on the prize.
Coastal Adaptive Sports offers adaptive bike rides for those with disabilities, using hand-cycles, side-by-side tandem trikes, and other adaptive bikes.
Learn all about The Coastal Chairmen - the local North Myrtle Beach wheelchair basketball team sponsored by Coastal Adaptive Sports.