Sports
Education Camps Objectives
·
Provide educational workshops to blind and
visually impaired youth in Maine and surrounding areas related to health,
fitness and sports programs.
·
Provide youth the opportunity to meet world-class
elite blind athletes and learn about overcoming obstacles, the importance of
discipline, staying in school, etc..
·
Provide youth an opportunity to participate in a
variety of sports, which they might ordinarily be excluded from in traditional
settings.
·
Provide blind and visually impaired athletes
with the necessary skills to compete on an equal basis with their sighted
peers.
·
Further involve the local community as
volunteers at events, which in turn will promote the abilities of youth with
disabilities.
·
Be better prepared for competition in USABA local, national, and international events,
including the world games and Paralympics.
Eligibility
·
Students between 3rd grade and senior
year in high school
·
Documented visual impairment or blindness
·
Desire to learn and engage in physical
activities as a peer and role model to others participating
Goals:
·
teach visually impaired and blind youth various
adapted sports
·
encourage youth to better participate in school
physical education classes
·
encourage overall physical well- being
Outcomes
The MOBALE/SEC has not only served as an excellent
opportunity to involve blind and visually impaired youth in sports, but because
of our affiliation with Western Michigan University, we are also able to use
the events to conduct a great deal of research on the youth served through the
camps. The research done at the SEC's has shown that the skills learned at the
camps have had a continuing positive impact on the lives of these youth. In
fact, more than 45% of students who attended sports education camp for two consecutive
years participated on their home school sports teams. In addition, 80% of these
youth participated in their school physical education programs, compared to 27%
of blind and visually impaired youth overall.
The research conducted following the 2001 SECs shows that
the number of questions answered correctly on the sports knowledge survey
increased from 5.8 at the pre-camp assessment to 7.3 at the post-camp
assessment. On the sports attitude questionnaire, youth who were returning to
the camp for the second time were 42.1% more likely to respond positively to
the statement "I know how to change a sport so I can play." This
shows that not only are these youth learning skills at the camps, but also they
are able to apply what they have learned to help adapt sports to their needs in
a school or extracurricular setting.
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