The purpose of the adapted section this month will be to provide readers with information about disability sport summer camps across the United States.

Summer camps are a great opportunity for students to learn new sport and fitness skills, and to make new friends. Summer camps also provide an excellent training opportunity for adapted physical education teachers, and adapted physical activity professors, to learn new disability sport activities and to network with other adapted sport professionals.

This section will be divided into five parts. Each part will feature information about disability summer sport camps in various geographic locations throughout the United State. These camps are by no means an exhaustive list. If the camps described here do not fit your needs, then you should be able to find a suitable alternative in your area by completing a quick web search.

Two web sites that offer search engines for adapted and special needs summer sports camps are The Camp Channel and KidsCamps.com.

Brent Hardin
Adapted Section Editor

Oklahoma State University Camp

Cowboy Wheelchair Basketball Camp is in its 1st year of providing exceptional instruction in positive team play while increasing basketball fundamentals. Athletes planning to attend this camp should be extremely independent, and have a strong interest in competitive basketball. Athletes will participate in a variety of drills focusing on both individual and team concepts, and will be instructed by a selection of athletes in various competitive levels of wheelchair basketball.

Oklahoma State University will offer the participant-athlete opportunities to grow physically, mentally, and emotionally through instruction with peers and the camp staff. Special emphasis will be placed on developing self-esteem and skills of self-determination. Cost: $350.

For more information contact Stacy Pinney (pinneys@okstate.edu) at
405-744-8538 , or visit OSU Adaptive Sports.

San Antonio Day Camps

Day Camps will be offered Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from June 5 – July 28, through the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department.

The Children’s Summer Day Programs will give youth ages 6 to 18, who have developmental disabilities and physical disabilities, the opportunity to participate in activities such as swimming, bowling, arts and crafts, physical and sports activities, and special events at or away from the site. Call 207-3048 for more information, and to request a registration packet.

Northern California Sports Camp

San Jose Parks and Recreation and Neighborhood Services presents this multi sport camp for youth with physical disabilities in San Jose, California from July 18-31. For more information about this camp, please call Deanna Cho at 408-369-6435, or email Deanna at deanna.cho@sanjoseca.gov.

The Endeavor Games

The 7th Annual Endeavor Games for Athletes with Physical Disabilities will be held June 8-11, 2006 in Edmond, Oklahoma. We are pleased to continue to bring you this event, and are looking forward to a continued increase in participation. In 2005, 308 athletes competed in ten sports, traveling from 28 states and three countries.

The Endeavor Games is truly an opportunity to bring all disabilities together to compete, very similar to the model of the Paralympics. In addition, the Endeavor Games provides a great learning opportunity for aspiring athletes to compete right next to elite and former Paralympic athletes. The Games are open to all athletes, regardless of age or ability

For more information contact Katrina Shaklee at: kshaklee1@ucok.edu.

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago presents two summer camp sessions this summer. Session one is from June 27 – July 29, and session two is from July 25 – August 26th. Activities at the camps include baseball, bowling, sailing, kayaking, swimming, rock climbing, cycling, water skiing, karate, yoga, golf, plus many more. For more information contact Janet Lutha at 312-238-5010, or visit RIC Sports.

Camp Black Hawk

Bear River Ranch offers a summer sports camp with 2 sessions in Rolla Missouri. This camp is for students with developmental disabilities, and offers activities with an adventure education focus, such as hiking, and scavenger hunting.

Session One is from July 26th – July 31st. This camp is for students age 21 and older. Session Two is August 2nd-7th and is for ages 5 - 21. For more information on Camp Black Hawk, visit Bear River Ranch.

Whitewater Wheelchair Sports Camp

The Junior Warhawk Wheelchair Sports Camp is in its tenth year of providing quality instruction, while focusing exclusively on developing basketball skills. Campers planning to attend this camp should be extremely independent, and have a strong interest in competitive basketball. Campers will participate in a variety of stations focusing on both individual and team concepts, and will be instructed by some of the best wheelchair basketball players in the world.

The cost is $425 for all campers attending the Junior Warhawk Wheelchair Basketball Camp, and $600 for the Junior Warhawk Wheelchair Sports Camp. These fees include room, board, instructional costs, insurance, camp clothing and administrative costs.

For more information visit the Whitewater website.

Building Baby's Brain with Exercise - It is perhaps one of the most perplexing child development issues of our time: How can a nation so obsessed with creating super intelligent children see the rate of learning disabilities on the rise? The answer, say some child development experts, is senseless-a lack of sensory stimulation. Read the rest...

Exercise and Children's Health - Regular exercise is an important health maintenance strategy for children and adolescents: It facilitates weight control, helps strengthen bones, and can improve cardiovascular risk factors. Mental health may also benefit. Read the rest...

Building Children's Brains - This is a VERY interesting article on how a child's brain develops, and how 'windows of opportunity' must not be missed during their early years.

The Human Brain - Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.

The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. In other words, use it or lose it.

Read the rest...

Buff and Brainy - Exercising the body can benefit the mind. This is part one of a two-part series on lifestyle and brain fitness. New research suggests that physical exercise encourages healthy brains to function at their optimum levels. Fitness prompts nerve cells to multiply, strengthens their connections, and protects them from harm. Benefits seem to extend to brains and nerves that are diseased or damaged. Read more...

Eat Smart - Foods may affect the brain as well as the body. Recent research is suggesting that what you eat can influence the function of your brain.

Building Baby's Brain: What Child Care Can Do. Where a child receives care is less important
than the quality of care she receives.

SpeedStacks 'In the News' - Brain Building, an experimental brain-building program. Experiences in the early years wire the brain, creating the connections that will be the brain's pathways to learning and behavior for the rest of the child's life.

Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain - This is a very good article discussing how the environment of a child during the early years directly impacts the development of his/her brain.

Developmental Rider Cycling Camp - June 22-28, 2006, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA), the Disabled Sports USA (DS/USA) and The National Disability Sports Alliance (NDSA) are playing host to the 2006 "Introduction To Bike Racing Camp" at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Find out more...

Freedom Concepts is a custom bike manufacturer for children and adults with disabilities. Their bikes are truly beautiful with every attention to detail made. The Discovery Series is perfect for children as young as 3 years of age. The Adventure Series suits teenagers to adults just fine. They also manufacture a tandem bike where the individual with disabilities sits up front and the parent, caregiver or therapist sits in back.

Ready Rider - the Ready Rider is a children's bicycle accessory that helps an adult teach a child to ride a bike. The Ready Rider training handle attaches to the rear axle of the child's bicycle and allows a supervising adult to exercise full control over the child’s bicycle while maintaining a natural vertical posture.

Wise Wheels was established in 2000 by Malcolm and Mary Jones to offer a service of supplying specialist cycles to children and adults with disabilities or mobility problems. Our aim is to match the individual or group requirement from our in depth knowledge of the available products.

Blackbird Designs has a system called the Quadribent that attaches two normal recumbent bikes to make a four wheel, side-by-side "Sociable Tandem" with independent gearing and pedaling. The recumbents can be detached for solo use.

Crank-It has a Mountain Quad with full suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, 14 speeds and more. It is on the expensive side.

Lightfoot Cycles has several four wheel models, from cargo to lighter weight touring versions, with lots of options. They also make trikes, and models for people with leg or arm disabilities, very heavy riders, and other special needs or uses.