Everyone Can FLY

GENETIC ALLIANCE BY SHARON ROMELCZYK “Freedom.” When asked to describe the experience of paragliding in one word, Chris Santacroce chose “Freedom.” Mr. Santacroce is the founder of Project Airtime (www.projectairtime.org), a nonprofit organization located in Utah that provides adapted tandem paragliding rides to kids and adults with a range of special needs, free of charge. Chris and his team have provided hundreds of individuals with the opportunity to lift high in the sky and feel […]

How Team Sports Benefit Students With Special Needs

BY HELENE SCHORR, M.S. AND ERIN VLASAK, M.S. HOW CAN WE ENCOURAGE AND MOTIVATE SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM, TO MAKE SOME TYPE OF EXERCISE OR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PART OF THEIR WEEKLY ROUTINE? Many students with special needs have had a hard time throughout their schooling when it comes to physical education, especially organized team sports. This negative feeling towards sports and physical activity can carry over through adulthood. As we […]

Are You and Your Child Coachable?

BY TOM CURRY Colleges today may want to recruit a certain student athlete to fit into their program. But remember that the student and parent must be able to fit in with the program. The other day, we had an assistant college football coach in our athletic department recruiting one of our players. As I sat in and listened to his discussion with our football coach, he asked a number of questions. The last one he asked became the idea for […]