Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports
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Mission Statement
Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports mission is to support the community through provision and promotion of recreation, fitness, and competitive sports opportunities for people with disabilities.
About This Cause
Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports (SAAS) offers a variety of year-round adaptive sports programs designed to develop and enhance the mobility and athletic skills of persons with disabilities in order to enhance the quality of their lives, improve self-esteem, promote physical fitness and independence, and improve overall health. Participation in adaptive sports by people with disabilities has been proven to improve overall health and wellness. Participants report that being physical active improved their physical and mental health and reduced visits to the doctor. Participants report enjoying socializing more, having a stronger support network, and are more likely to say they look forward to the rest of their lives than those who are not active. To participate, disabled athletes need more than just a pair if tennis shoes – they need sports wheelchairs, tires and tubes. Disabled athletes need experienced adaptive sports coaches and appropriate facilities to train in. They need educational workshops in nutrition, physical therapy and stress reduction. They need peer mentoring on independent living skills and other topics to support their transition as a person living with a disability. They need encouragement and empowerment to overcome barriers. SAAS seeks to remove barriers to participation in adaptive sports for low income disabled community members. SAAS provides adaptive sports equipment for loan and offers adaptive sports and educational programs free or low cost in Southern Arizona. Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports (SAAS) is a team. Our team is always finding ways to create accessible opportunities for our athletes to engage in the abundance of sports opportunities available in our community—it may require some creative solutions but we are ready for the challenge! Each member of our team, which includes our athletes, parents, volunteers, board, and partners believes that SAAS exists to facilitate a change needed in our community—looking beyond one’s physical limitation and empowering them to focus on their abilities. The unique thing about SAAS is the transformation in our athletes—whether it be sinking their 1st basket in wheelchair basketball, the sense of accomplishment they feel in hand cycling 26 miles, the satisfaction they achieve through peer mentoring, or the empowerment they gain through sports skills. Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports (SAAS) provides year-round sports and recreational programs designed to develop and enhance the mobility, fitness, skills of people living with paralysis and other disabilities in order to improve the quality of their lives, build self-esteem, promote fitness, independence and improve overall health and wellness. SAAS offers year-round wheelchair basketball training and competitive opportunities for adults through the Tucson Lobos and Arizona Storm Women's teams . Recreational adult wheelchair basketball takes place Tuesdays & Thursdays 5pm - 8pm and Junior wheelchair sports is offered Saturday 10am - 12pm at the Donna Liggins Recreation Center 2160 N 6th Avenue in partnership with the City of Tucson Parks & Recreation. Wheelchair basketball improve fitness, agility, wheelchair skills, self-confidence, and provides emotional outlet and social engagement. SAAS offers wheelchair tennis clinics, play-days with match play. Wheelchair tennis increases fitness and provides an excellent social outlet for persons living with paralysis. SAAS hand cycling program offers loaner cycles, helmets and support volunteers for weekly rides around Reid Park and The Loop multi-use path in Tucson and Pima County. Hand cycling contributes to overall fitness, conditioning, well being and provides a sense of independence for participants. Our adaptive sports programs benefits adults & youth participants with spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, or stroke who would otherwise be sitting on the sidelines, not participating, inactive, shut-in and left out of recreational opportunities due to financial and physical barriers. SAAS provides loaner sports wheelchairs and adaptive cycles to participants who do not have the means to buy their own equipment (90% of our 1st year participants). SAAS seeks to remove barriers to participation by building our loaner equipment program and by providing many opportunities for people to engage in recreation and competitive sports. Other SAAS programs include: peer & family mentoring, outreach & education events, wheelchair repair/education clinics, resource & referrals, durable medical equipment loan, and housing / accessibility support.