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SOCIL is providing adaptable sports for people with disabilities
By: Donovan Varney
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Gage Miller grabs a football off the ground, spins around and hands it off to a friend who tucks it into his lap before wheeling off.
Miller uses a wheelchair and has been playing adaptive sports for more than three years. Now, the 23-year-old is showing others like him they can be a part of a team.
“I felt happy. Like when I played football, I felt like I was a Buckeye,” Miller said.
Thanks to the adaptive sports program the Southeastern Ohio Center for Independent Living (SOCIL) offers, Miller can play football.
Now, SOCIL is expanding its services so people in Athens County will get the same athletic opportunities as Miller. Its program offers a variety of sports from football and basketball to pickleball and cornhole.
The nonprofit hosted a palooza on Tuesday to share information about the program. Visitors came to the Athens Community Center to learn and try adaptive sports.
“A lot of times people just don’t know that wheelchair basketball, wheelchair football, pickleball can be adaptive, cornhole can be adapted,” McNelly said.
Most of the sports utilize a specific wheelchair adapted to make it easier for people with disabilities to play.
According to SOCIL Independent Living Advocate Jeff Williams, the wheelchairs can cost over $3,000 and SOCIL provides them to athletes for free at their events.
Williams has been coaching adaptive sports for six years, and he says the benefits go beyond just athletics.
“You just see them blossom,” Williams said. “They get more confident in themselves; they’re willing to try new things.”
Not only are the sports new and fun, but they’re a good workout.
Josh Fox was a volunteer at the palooza, and he noted how adaptive sports provide exercise that is often difficult for some people with disabilities to get.
“I’ve played adaptive sports today for 30 to 45 minutes. I’ve sat in a wheelchair, and I was able to break a sweat getting rid of my lower extremity, but still pushing that wheelchair,” Fox said.
SOCIL believes participating in these sports helps the community grow.
Ally Hughes, a volunteer at the palooza, said she thinks it’s important to use events like these to bring people of all types of abilities together.
“It’s very easy to see that we’re all very integrated in this space, so why aren’t we doing this more often? It’s great for everybody and a lot of fun,” Hughes said.
As athletes with disabilities continue to adapt sports to their needs, it’s SOCIL’s goal to bring others the same joy they bring to Miller.
For more information on SOCIL’s adaptive sports program, visit SOCIL.org.