The Sports for Physically Challenged
program is designed for athletes ages 6 and
older who have an orthopedic, neurological or
sensory impairment. This could include, but
not be limited to, Spina Bifida, Spinal Cord
Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury, Osteogenesis
Imperfecta, Amputee, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cerebral
Palsy and Blindness.
As a general rule, potential athletes with physical
disabilities who are still in school are those
in the regular classrooms or the Orthopedically
Impaired classrooms (OI). A classification system
is used to determine an athlete's functional
ability in an effort to have each athlete compete
against athletes of similar abilities.
The Mesa Association of Sports for the Disabled
is affiliated with several national organizations
whose primary purpose is to provide sporting
opportunities to individuals with physical disabilities.
These include Wheelchair Sports, USA, Disabled
Sports, USA, National Disabled Sports Alliance
and United States Association of Blind Athletes.
You may visit their respective sites on the
disabled sports links
page of this site.
Sports training and competitions are offered
in season and occur year round. A medical release
is required to be completed before participation
can take place. This and other forms are available
on the
registration
page of this site.
The Desert Challenge Games is an annual competition
held in April for physically challenged athletes
in Arizona and surrounding states that provides
competitive opportunities in a variety of different
sports. Sports currently offered by MASD include
Swimming, Bowling, Wheelchair Basketball, Power
Soccer, Archery, Table Tennis, Cycling, Track
& Field and Boccia Ball.
For more information, contact:
susan.rossi@cityofmesa.org
or you may use the
Contact
Form on this website.
List
of Sports:
Adaptive
Golf
Archery
Aquatics
Boccia
Ball
Bowling
Cycling
Goalball
- MASD is currently
not offering goalball. Your may search the
usaba.org
website for more information.
Kayaking
Power
Soccer
Track
& Field
Wheelchair
Basketball
Physically
Disabled Fact Sheet