(WXMI) — Grand Valley State University and Mary Free Bed brought kids together for the 40th Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp.
This is our 40th anniversary. It's been around a long time, a lot of things have changed over the years we've grown from 10 to 12 campers 40 years ago to 52 campers this year," Maria Besta of Mary Free Bed said. "This camp is a camp for kids with physical disabilities. They're here not only to learn how to play sports but to make friendships and feel confident and empowered by being able to do all the wonderful things that they're able to do this week."
"I just like the atmosphere, all the sports and you don't have to like be super competitive, you're going to have fun with each other," Camper Cole Connelley said.
"It shows them they can play sports just like their able-bodied family and friends do. And that's what's so important about making you feel like you can do the same things as everyone else," Besta said. It means so much to them to know that I can play basketball, I can play tennis using a wheelchair I never knew I could. All the instructors use chairs themselves. So they're being mentored by people who have the same disabilities."
This camp is purely for fun and building relationships. He's made such good friends here that have been consistent year after year after year. That has been a critical piece. It gives him a week of being fully independent at night and in the dorms, which is practice for college, he'll be going to college and another year and that just adds another layer of independence for him and getting him ready," Cole's mom April Connelley said.
"When they come to practices when they come to camp, they're learning that there are other people that are just like them, and that's a really good feeling to know that we all have something connected," Besta said.
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