NWABA Sports Outreach

Through 10 one-day sport outreach events and 1 week-long sports camp, we aim to build independence, confidence, life skills, and more ! Athletes develop new levels of confidence through interacting with other athletes who experience the same obstacles daily.  

At each event, we create an environment that nurtures the athletes' belief in their self-determination abilities.  These social interaction experiences are an essential foundation for the athlete to develop the self-advocacy, self-confidence, and self-esteem necessary to take control of their quality of life and use their many talents to contribute to their communities actively.  Many previous athletes have stated that our programs were the first time they have ever met, played with, and became friends with someone who has a visual impairment like them.    

One key element of our programs is teamwork and collaboration. We always have a cooperative game piece at events.  Through small-sided games and competitions, athletes learned what it looks like to demonstrate good sportsmanship both on and off the field.  Throughout the different sports and recreation activities, problem-solving, cooperation, decision making, conflict resolution, good sportsmanship, being respectful, and timeliness are taught and emphasized.  

The sports we focus on in the summer are track and field, goalball, swimming, beep baseball, tandem biking, hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking, and soccer. We focus on one or two sports at our one-day events and integrate a collaborative games session into the day. At camp, we combine all of the sports listed throughout the week, emphasizing skill-building.