Why Start A Challenger Baseball Program In Your School?
More than 290,000 Canadians under age 19 live with a physical and/or cognitive disability (Statistics Canada, 2017). Relative to neuro-typical peers, these Canadians are at significantly greater risk of developing preventable chronic diseases such high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity and certain types of cancer. They are also far more susceptible to secondary conditions resulting from their disability. Many of these physical and mental health complications are due largely to inactivity.
Challenger Baseball is an adaptive baseball program for people with disabilities designed to positively change the trajectory of health by reducing isolation, enhancing knowledge of healthy lifestyles, creating fun, inclusive sport opportunities, and directly combating high rates of sedentariness to reduce associated health risks.
Challenger Baseball is often the only adaptive sports programming offered in integrated schools, enabling children and youth to try sport as a part of their school day. The program provides athletes with the opportunity to learn and enhance life skills such as communication, resiliency, building relationships and leadership all through the power of sport that is adapted to their unique abilities and potential. The program was piloted in the 2017-18 school year with 16 schools in Ontario and British Columbia, and was a big success! In the 2018-19 school year, Challenger Baseball in the Schools has sustainably expanded to 195 schools across ON, MB, QC, BC, SK, AB and NS and has positively impacted over 4,000 children and youth with physical and/or cognitive disabilities.
