Adapted Physical Education Sports Day

Mission

The mission of the Adapted Physical Education Sports Day is to promote disability sports and competition for individuals who are deaf, blind, or have physical disabilities. This event provides a venue for competition and community connections of individuals from multiple counties around Northern California. It is intended that these student athletes will be the future paraolympians of tomorrow.

Overview

Sports Day is an event put on by the Northern California Adapted Physical Education Consortium and is hosted by the CSU, Chico Department of Kinesiology. The Sports Day event is designed to serve as an opportunity for children and young adults, between the age ranges of preschool through high school, with low-incidence disabilities, which include deaf, blind and orthopedic disabilities, to come together and participate in sport competitions.

Sports Day is an event that began in Fall of 2000. Every year participants and volunteers from CSU, Chico and all around the North Sate come, as well as media news crews. During the Fall, the coordinator of the event, Dr. Rebecca Lytle, gathers the assistance of students within the APA program to aid in the responsibility of helping to organize and run the Sports Day Games.

The APA student volunteers that help to put on the Sports Day events often get as much out of the competitions as the athletes. Their participation affords them the opportunity to get a first hand look at disability sports and become more aware of what is involved with the events and the athletes that compete in them.

By establishing specific events, competitors can start training early in the year before they come to the event. The Sports Day offers a once a year large-scale competition. Every year the event has grown and it now hosts over 100 athletes from around the northern California. In addition, many world-class disabled athletes assist with coaching and running events.