ALLENDALE, Mich. — More than 50 children with disabilities are participating in the Mary Free Bed Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp at Grand Valley State University, where they're learning and competing in 11 different sports over five days.
The camp, now in its 41st year, introduces participants to various athletic activities, including tennis and cycling.
"You get to do a lot of sports," said 10-year-old Will Schlaudt from Rockford, one of the camp participants.
Fellow Rockford resident ShenaLi Chin, 17, added, "Because I have friends and it's good exercise."
Maria Besta, Wheelchair Adaptive Sports and Recreational Therapy Manager, explained the importance of the program: "I think when they see a brother or sister play basketball, they want to play basketball, and it gives them a feeling of confidence, of empowerment, makes them feel good that they too can do things that anyone else can do."
Group leader Coleton Butterworth, who first attended the camp when he was seven years old, now helps mentor younger participants.
"Being a leader, it opened my eyes a lot with just being able to pass on my like, what I've learned in camp, and passing it on to the little ones," Butterworth said.
He emphasized how the camp helps children realize they're not alone in their experiences: "As a younger kid, I was never able to really even realize I thought that, you know, nobody's in a wheelchair. Nobody has disabilities. Nobody has like, no, I didn't know anybody. And so, coming to camp, it really was, it opened my eyes to be like, Oh, well, I'm just like this person."
The Mary Free Bed Wheelchair and Adaptive Sports Program is one of the nation's largest, serving over 1,700 youth and adult participants last year.
For more information about the program, click here.
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