Wheelchair-bound athletes and sports enthusiasts were given a chance to shine during the Triumph Foundation’s 11th annual Wheelchair Sports Festival held in the Santa Clarita Sports Complex gymnasium Saturday and Sunday.
“[The] Triumph Foundation is here to assist persons with spinal cord injuries and paralysis triumph over their injuries,” said lead ambassador Michele Altamirano. “We’re here to provide support to individuals and their families. We’re here to show them that there’s a life after a spinal cord injury.”
Featured sports, including hockey, basketball and baseball, were all reimagined to fit the needs of the wheelchair-using participants, giving everyone a chance to take part.
“Our founder Andrew Skinner felt that there was a need in the community for people to be able to go out and try new things,” said Altamirano. “You know, unless you’re connected with somebody in a particular sport, sometimes you don’t know what’s available. So, slowly, we started with a few sports, and every year we seem to be adding new ones.”
Many of the participants are able to play their favored sports at a high level — and they and their coaches say there’s very little separating them from able-bodied athletes.
“The only difference is the fact that the wheelchair fencers are sitting in a chair,” said parafencing program coach Geoff Russell. “If you almost look at everything from the waist up, it’s pretty much gonna be the same sport, the same dynamic activity, the same explosiveness.”
Several of the athletes coached by Russell have gone on to compete in various competitions from the local level all the way to the national level, with many of them winning awards and gaining recognition for their fencing skills.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Russell said of coaching. “I have them for a set amount of time, and so we keep them moving, and everyone learns how to work together, and we maximize their time, and they have a wonderful support system.”
One of the most important aspects of the Wheelchair Sports Festival to the various participants and organizers is how it helps to give hope and joy to those who may feel depressed or isolated due to their disabilities.
“A lot of [the participants] are newly injured or some of them have never known that activities like this happen,” said Altamirano. “And then when they come in and see all these people trying all these different things, just the look on their face that says, ‘Wow, I can do this.’”
For those like Altamirano and Russell, it’s especially crucial that disabled children are made to feel both welcomed and capable of accomplishing great feats. By taking part in sports and other group activities, the children become more confident in themselves and more aware of what they can do.
“The adults can find their way, but the kids, when they come out, they tend to be a little more timid,” said Altamirano. “But once they start getting involved, they’re just in there, all smiles. Just to see their faces is really fun.”
“I see them working through ideas about the sport, ideas about themselves, just the self-discovery that happens through any sports activity,” said Russell. “But particularly the nature of fencing really brings out people’s personalities.”
