Brandi Heather is hoping this weekend’s symposium at Red Deer College does more than just start the discussion on adapted athletes and physical activity for the physically disabled.
The Adapted Physical Activity Symposium is running through Saturday at the college and is being hosted in conjunction with the Steadward Centre for Personal and Physical Achievement and Alberta Sport.
“Our Special Olympics programming in Central Alberta is outstanding, so we know the need for programming for people with cognitive impairments is being well supported,” said symposium chair and RDC instructor in kinesiology and sport studies Brandi Heather. “But when you have a physical impairment or continued multiple impairments, we know that those children and adults and middle-aged people are not being included in physical activity.”
The symposium features keynote speakers like David Legg, the past president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee; Tanner Fandrey, a local paralympic skier and member of the Canadian Sledge Hockey Team’s development team; Donna Goodwin, a University of Alberta scholar in adapted physical activity; Ozzie Sawicki, Team Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games; and Kayla Cornale, para-athletics development lead at Athletics Canada.
There are 175 people from all walks of life registered to attend the symposium and take part in the discussions and demonstrations — not including four area schools that took part in an introduction to wheelchair rugby, para-athletics, sitting volleyball and goal ball at the college on Thursday.
“People who travelled all over the world with para sports are sitting in the same room as educators and students to talk about how we can be better,” said Heather.
The hope is to make parasports and activities more accessible to people in Red Deer and Central Alberta, especially with the Canada Winter Games coming to town in 2019. It goes beyond just grooming athletes for elite competition, it is about developing a healthy lifestyle for those who do have a physical disability. Sports can be a key element in the return to some normalcy for those who have suffered an impairment as an adult.
Heather said only three per cent of people in Canada with a disability are participating in organized sport, meaning 97 per cent are either not choosing to take part or the services are not available.
The Steadward Centre is based at the University of Alberta and provides research, teaching and service for those living with impairments.
“(Sport) provides a community and a social environment. It provides them an opportunity to learn from peers who had similar life experiences,” said Steadward Centre director Karen Slater. “Sport, especially if they identified as an athlete prior to having an impairment, they can re-identify with their athlete-self ... sport can be real important for re-integrating back into the society they once knew or creating a new community.”
For more information on local options, contact Brandi Heather at brandi.heather@rdc.ab.ca or the Steadward Centre in Edmonton.
jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com