UA-sponsored event helps kids overcome disabilities

Dan Hoffman Arizona Summer Wildcat Dan Hoffman/Arizona Summer Wildcat UA Wildchair basketball player Rudy Gallego and his partner Benjamin Smith have to tag people with a flexible "noodle" as part of a recreation game for handicapped children. The children get a chance to play and get a physical workout at the UA Student Re creation Center.

While some may believe that handicapped children cannot participate in athletics, Sean Eres knows differently.

Sean is 12 years old and has spina bifida, a condition where his vertebrae do not completely cover his spinal chord, making it impossible for him to walk.

He is just one of thousands of children who, despite their disability, train, practice and participate in organized athletics throughout the country.

Sean got involved with sports while his family was living in San Francisco, said Debbie Eres, Sean's mother.

She said she took him to a program called Junior Athletes in Wheelchair Sports, which helps children meet other disabled children and gets them involved in athletics.

"I can't say enough about it," she said, "It's a great avenue to introduce kids to activity and it keeps them healthy."

She also said the competition has helped Sean develop into an individual and has improved his perception of himself.

Debbie and Sean now live in Tucson, and Saturday the two attended a JAWS meeting in the north gym of the student recreation center.

Sean and 15 other children, all suffering from some form of disability ranging from birth defects to cerebral palsy, went through relay races, obstacle courses and team sports.

Joining the children were several disabled adults, including Rudy Gallego, who is the point guard and head coach of the University of Arizona Wildchairs basketball team.

Gallego, who is clearly a role model for many of the children, said people forget that the children are normal, despite their handicap.

"These kids with some form of disability, they're still normal and intelligent," he said. "You have to treat them like anyone else and love them for who they are."

He said he hopes the children realize that when they are adults, they will be responsible for teaching disabled children about athletics and competition.

Gallego said the Wildchairs try to make as many exhibition appearances as possible in front of disabled children with hopes of getting the children interested in sports.

But as much as Gallego and other disabled adults would like to reach out to handicapped children, the funds are not always there.

That is where Janet Olsen and the Center for Disability Related Resources comes in.

Olsen is the events coordinator of athletics and recreation services for CEDRR, which sponsors JAWS at the UA.

She said charity events such as Lame for a Game and Dick Tomey's Pony Express, along with private donations, provide CEDRR with the bulk of its funds.

Lame for a Game, which features members of both the women's and men's basketball teams competing against members of the Wildchairs, raised almost $40,000 for the center.

The game was especially successful as it came only a week after the men's basketball team won the national championship.

"Having that kind of exposure was great," Olsen said.

Anybody who watched Lame for a Game and saw the players laughing and socializing with each other may have gotten the impression that handicapped sports are not as physical as "normal" sports, but that is not the case according to Chris Scheopner, a volunteer with CEDRR.

Scheopner, who doubles as an equipment manager for the center and as the head coach for the quadriplegic rugby team, said handicapped sports can get "pretty bloody."

Scheopner described a time when one of the rugby players got spun around in a collision and then "split his head open, blew out his elbow and swallowed a tooth."

"He was out for about a month, but he was back," he said.

Quadriplegic rugby is a full contact sport "somewhere in between soccer, football and polo," Scheopner said.

He said it was the fastest growing handicapped sport, with more than 45 teams competing nationwide.

People wishing to make donations or who are interested in volunteering with JAWS or CEDRR should contact Dave Herr-Cardillo at 318-7195.