DisAbility Sports Festival Increases Opportunities for Athletes

Participants may now register online for the 9th annual DisAbility Sports Festival at Cal State San Bernardino, set for Saturday, Oct. 3, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration is free to participants, ages 8 months to 84 years old, of all abilities, at the DisAbility Sports Festival. Participants may register online or download the registration form, available in English and Spanish, from the event webpage. Registration will also be held on the day of the festival starting at 8 a.m. Organizers expect as many as 1,000 participants, including more than 100 disabled military veterans, competing in at least 20 different sports, including wheelchair and standing basketball, tennis, soccer, wall climbing, swimming and hand cycling. Each sport and activity will be coached by an athlete with a disability, including Paralympians, and other elite-level coaches. The various sports, organizers say, really are a display of all the participants’ abilities. The purpose of the festival is to increase the sports opportunities for athletes with disabilities and thereby increase their quality of life and health, said festival director Aaron Moffett, Kinesiology professor at Cal State San Bernardino. The festival has quickly emerged as one of the largest sporting programs for people with any disability in the country. Moffett said that the growth of the program is a testament of the need for such programs, especially for wounded warriors. “The reason that we do this is because it helps people focus on success and their abilities when sometimes people focus on perceived inabilities,” said Moffett. “One of our military participants said that the event made him feel alive again since being back from Afghanistan. The power of sport can touch everyone's life and that is why we have the DisAbility Sports Festival.” Also featured will be more than 30 information booths from community programs and services that are available for people with disabilities and their families. Including volunteers, supporters, spectators and athletes, an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 will come to the university on Oct. 3 for the event.