WHY SPORTS CAMP?
Research suggested that students with visual impairments were being left behind in school sports after the introduction of mainstreaming and inclusion. Sports Camp was developed to fill this gap. The primary goal of Sports Camp is to get students who have a visual impairment or are blind off the sideline and push them to the goal line. In so doing, Sports Camp provides an opportunity for athletes with visual impairments and blindness to learn and demonstrate that they can compete in scholastic sporting events in their schools alongside sighted peers.
OUR IMPACT
As volunteers, we are given a firsthand opportunity to watch the participants develop into athletes who can return home to excel into a Paralympian or continue to enjoy life-long sports within their school or community. Sports Camp is a place where students who have a visual impairment or are blind can leave their disability at the door, dedicating all of their efforts to playing sports and making friends. While sports are our primary goal, a natural outcome of camp is the development of friendships that often last a lifetime.
WHY CHOOSE MBAA?
The Michigan Blind Athletic Association (MBAA) is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide visually impaired individuals, who are often segregated from physical education classes and competition, opportunities to participate in competitive and recreational athletic activities. The MBAA further considers, as part of its missing, the continuing education of coaches and physical education instructors in techniques of coaching and physical education for participants of all ages who are visually impaired. The MBAA is dedicated to the proposition that, empowered to participate, the quality of life of persons who are visually impaired is improved while he/she develops the confidence needed to participate and contribute in a competitive society.
