We wanted to share a few tidbits with you from the Bussani Mobility March 13th New York Mobility Club meeting, which was all about Adaptive Sports.
Tony Fitzgerald (a paralympian and 3-sport athlete who currently plays for the NY rangers and Long Island Roughriders sled hockey teams) shared his insights into how sports can have a curative effect. He said: “Wheelchair sports are not just sports, they’re therapy. Everybody can find a sport that they can customize, adapt, or improvise. You can do amazing things.”
In taking questions from the group, he got into the nitty gritty of how things work. One participant said he doesn’t have the hand strength to grip a hockey stick. And Tony responded, “You don’t need it. You’d be amazed at what a little duct tape can do.” He explained that you can tape the sticks to your hands, get into the sled, and you’re good to go! His stories and can-do attitude were very inspiring!
The amazing Peter Hawkins was also there and shared: “I don’t live my life from the perspective that I’m in a wheelchair and how can I do that. I live from the perspective of I want to do that, and I go do it. If you believe in yourself and you work at it, you can do just about anything.”
Thanks to our speakers. And thanks to all of our New York Mobility Club participants. This is all about you, and you make it all worthwhile.
And congrats to Freyda Kolinsky, who won the raffle prize of two center ice wheelchair seats to a NY Islanders game, courtesy of Tony!
We also wanted to let you know that, based on feedback from this month’s New York Mobility Club meeting, we’re in the process of creating an information resource of local adaptive sports opportunities, which we’ll expect to have ready for you in the Spring.