Tag: adaptive sports

When Nicole Entrup first started her undergraduate degree program at Clemson University, she didn’t think that studying abroad would be an option.

“I’m from 12 hours away in New Jersey, so was already paying out-of-state tuition,” Nicole said. “When you think of study abroad, you think of this big cost, and I just didn’t think that it would necessarily be financially attainable.”

A recreational therapy major in the Department Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Nicole had always been curious about what the field was like in other parts of the world. When she was planning her upcoming academic year, her advisor told her that a core degree requirement could be completed as a study abroad in Australia, and that the cost was similar to in-state tuition.

“The in-state tuition for EDGE in Australia made studying abroad a lot more feasible for me,” she said. “I think that also being away from home kind of opened my mind to it too, because if I could handle coming to Clemson, I could also handle going abroad to another country to see what recreational therapy and adaptive sports look like there.”

All students majoring in parks, recreation and tourism management (PRTM) are required to take a semester-long program called EDGE as part of their undergraduate degree. The focus of the semester is to prepare students for their chosen profession, while also helping them build skills and knowledge needed to succeed, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and collaboration.

Throughout the PRTM EDGE semester, students take advantage of multiple opportunities to learn content through the use of innovative teaching methods, undergraduate research, real-world experiences and experiential learning. Students taking the EDGE Abroad program in Australia benefit from an international context to their classroom instruction, giving them the opportunity to build global connections while exploring a different part of the world.

Nicole appreciated the program format, which gave her a manageable balance between classroom learning and building her own industry connections in her free time.

“It was a really good balance of working hard Monday through Thursday, and then you have the weekend to travel, because we don’t have Friday class,” said Nicole. “Every Wednesday would be an educational field trip to somewhere like the Australia Zoo, but we’d be there to learn from them, so it was a really cool, interactive learning experience.”

One of the connections Nicole made during her spare time was with the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association, which works to ensure that every Queenslander with a disability will have opportunities to live a more active and healthy life.

Nicole reached out to the group, attended one of their workshops and then arranged for her study abroad cohort to participate in a wheelchair basketball practice and learn more about the organization and the people it serves.

PRTM EDGE Abroad is led by PRTM faculty members Teresa Tucker and Charles Chancellor. Chancellor says that Nicole’s initiative created an exciting learning opportunity for both the students in her class and future EDGE Abroad students.

“She singlehandedly sought out the Sporting Wheelies and set up a field experience for the entire class to attend a workshop to learn about the organization that included a chance to meet and play wheelchair basketball with the athletes,” Chancellor said. “The evening was a huge hit and highlight for the entire class regardless of their emphasis area.”

Chancellor added that although EDGE Abroad students regularly make industry connections during the trip, it’s rare for a student to introduce a new industry connection for the program. The Sporting Wheelies event is now a regularly scheduled field experience on the EDGE Abroad itinerary.

Nicole is now working with recreational therapy faculty member Jasmine Townsend to involve the Sporting Wheelies in an international study of adaptive sport organizations. Nicole is also planning to pursue a master’s degree in recreational therapy after graduation, while looking for other ways to grow her Australian connections.

“I just found out that Brisbane, which is the city we stayed in, was just announced as the preferred host location for the 2032 Paralympic Summer Games,” Nicole said. “Hopefully by the time I’ve graduated and been in the field a bit, I can make my way back there with the Paralympics.”

While the on campus EDGE program is offered each fall, spring and summer, EDGE Abroad in Australia is only offered during spring semesters. Signups are underway for Spring 2022 and students are encouraged to contact their academic advisor for details.

By Marissa Kuula, a current Community Recreation and Sport Management focused student within the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management Department (PRTM)

Going into its fifth year under a grant from the United States Department of Veteran Affairs this past spring, the Clemson University Paralympic Soccer Program team headed by Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management faculty member Dr. Skye Arthur-Banning with assistance from Dr. Barry Garst was gearing up for another year of planning and implementing adaptive soccer camps for injured military veterans and professionals across the country. With plane tickets booked and a total of eight camps already under their belt, the team was prepared for a summer focused on delivering ten additional programs around the country in order to improve the quality of life, well-being and independence of military veterans.

Plans, however, were derailed when COVID-19 hit. With the virus rapidly spreading across the world, quarantine and social distancing guidelines went into effect to protect the population, halting all non-essential travel and upcoming gatherings, including the camps.

In the past, a series of camps were held in different American cities, hosting around fifteen veterans and professionals over the course of three days. Participants took part in both classroom and on-field learning and training sessions for two types of soccer – 7-a-side for athletes with Cerebral Palsy, a traumatic brain injury or stroke, and 5-a-side for athletes with visual impairment. They also earned a Mental Health First Aid and a US Soccer Grassroots Coaching certification over the course of the camp.

In addition to these learning and developmental opportunities, participants also had the opportunity to socialize with staff and other participants through group dinners and a planned group activity, such as adaptive foot golf, attending a professional or semi-professional sporting event, adaptive rowing, adaptive golf and adaptive CrossFit.

After the camps, veterans can use their training to become players in adaptive soccer programs, use achieved certifications to help transition back into their communities and pursue coaching opportunities in existing programs. Using skills and certifications gained at camp, participants can also begin to work with community partners to expand adaptive sport participation in their areas and become more active members of their communities overall. The Mental Health First Aid certification gives participants the skills and ability to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness.

While new restrictions meant that the traditional camps could not be held in person, Margaret Domka, a Clemson Ph.D. student who works with Dr. Arthur-Banning to manage the program, says that the veterans’ camps may have been even more important to deliver this year than ever.

“It has been challenging for many people to find ways to remain physically active and involved in the community this year, and it can be an even greater challenge for veterans with disabilities who may, in normal circumstances, need assistance in finding ways to reintegrate into the community,” said Domka. “Our virtual camps provide an opportunity for veterans to connect with others and become active.”

While COVID-19 has created unexpected challenges, the planning team’s creative thinking and strong work ethic allowed for the virtual style camps to develop and take place. For example, the Mental Health First Aid and US Soccer Grassroots certification portion of the camps took a page out of the book of Zoom classroom sessions Clemson University used to finish its virtual school year after spring break, with certification professionals working their way through instructional PowerPoints and videos. That said, the training sessions and feeling of camaraderie and connectedness that in-person camp offered in the past was harder to facilitate in a virtual setting. In order to combat this obstacle, the undergraduate team that works on these camps came up with ways to engage the participants both physically and socially.

Kirsten Windbiel, a graduate research assistant for the program, said that the team had to be well organized and prepared ahead of time to make the virtual camps work.

“Moving into an online format, our team really needed to be extra organized and creative when it came to executing the camp. Our team met frequently before camp to make sure all the pieces came together in an organized fashion, considering all of the online components, such as who was presenting when, which students were monitoring the Zoom chat boxes, making sure we were communicating effectively to the camp participants and overall, finding a successful way to make the correct adaptations for a variety of disabilities,” Kirsten said.

On the more physical side of things, camp attendees participated in chair yoga, seated weight training and adaptive soccer training sessions in which they could either practice drills in their living room or outside. Camp participants were shipped the equipment they needed to participate in these sessions in advance of the camp, including a regular soccer ball and a blind soccer ball (with rattles inside so players can hear the movement of the ball). A group Zoom dinner also helped create an environment conducive for social interactions. Team members took participants’ food orders and coordinated food delivery across three different time zones so that every person was able to eat at the same time while on the Zoom call.

According to Kirsten, the experience taught her that it’s important to stay connected and engaged with one’s community and peers, especially during uncertain times.

“Our community resources session at the end of camp allowed the veterans that participated to talk about resources within their communities and ideas for adaptive sports,” Kirsten said. “In general, the camp also really just allowed the group to come together during a difficult time, learn and have some fun doing something new.”

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Future virtual camps are currently being planned to continue to benefit the veteran population across the United States. Updates regarding the dates and registration of these camps will be posted on the Clemson Paralympic Soccer website. You can also check out Clemson University Paralympic Soccer (@cuparasoccer) on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates on the program and other adaptive sport happenings.

For nearly half a century, a partnership between two Clemson University departments has provided courses for credit in leisure education and research opportunities to students on campus.

The partnership began when the university started its leisure skills program in 1972, which allows Clemson students to take a leisure or recreational course for one credit, while also helping them explore non-academic hobbies or career options. The program typically offers more than 150 one-credit learning options every semester in subjects such as dance, shotgun and other sports, yoga, fitness, outdoor recreation and first aid. The courses are developed and managed by the university’s parks, recreation and tourism management department, with 24 of the 159 courses offered last fall using campus recreation facilities.

Jeff Hallo, interim chair of the department, says that the leisure skills partnership between university departments is an example of working together in the best interests of students, while also furthering new research befitting Clemson’s status as one of the nation’s most active research institutions (Carnegie Basic Classification R1 – Highest Research Activity).

“We’re grateful to campus recreation, and are particularly thankful for Executive Director David Frock, for ensuring Clemson students can participate in learning opportunities in their campus facilities,” Hallo said. “It’s safe to say that these programs, which have provided numerous opportunities for our faculty and graduate students to conduct leisure-focused research while also serving thousands of undergraduate students, make a significant contribution to our university as a whole.”

Leisure Skills Program Director Dan Anderson adds that the program functions as a research lab of its own on campus.

“We have the most prized population to study in the leisure field – college-aged students – right at our fingertips, and we have them actively engaged in active forms of leisure, like sports, and non-active forms of leisure, giving us a unique research opportunity,” Anderson said. “We’ve had several graduate students and faculty members study the impacts associated with student participation in those types of programs, such as on their mental health, their ability to better focus on their studies and on their body image.”

A study led by former Clemson graduate student Katherine Ann Jordan that was published in the Journal of Experiential Education in 2018, for example, found that if college students have leisure education included in their academic schedule and tied to their grade point average, they were more likely to actively participate in healthy leisure activities and begin and maintain positive lifestyle habits.

Another study led by former doctoral student Cindy Hartman and published in the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice in 2017 found that leisure education courses are a form of complementary health programming that helps students build adaptive coping skills and positive well-being. In 2013, graduate student Kate Evans used the leisure skills program to explore the impact leisure skills classes have on building student engagement with the university. The study results indicated that leisure education had a marked impact – providing a uniquely positioned environment for building students’ sense of engagement with their institution through an enhanced sense of community, enhanced sense of self and active learning.

Campus Recreation Executive Director Dr. David Frock said that the partnership between the departments aligns with the campus recreation mission to enhance the educational experience and promote lifelong wellness through high quality and diverse recreation programs, services and facilities.

“Hosting courses within the leisure skills program activates and engages students, exposing them to the numerous well-being services offered through campus recreation,” Frock said. “Our staff has collaborated with faculty on research and grants along with collaborations on programs and events throughout PRTM. Campus recreation staff also instruct courses and provide Clemson students the opportunity to develop new skill sets and build their resumes.”

Over the past few years, the partnership has expanded to include research, grants and other campus activities with a focus on diversity. For example, the departments recently worked together to introduce wheelchair basketball as the newest intramural sport.

These activities are part of the university’s Adaptive Sports and Recreation Lab, which was launched last spring in order to further existing efforts to implement high-quality adaptive sport programming and conduct applied research.

Other opportunities for adaptive sport involvement by students and community members include the Southeast Regional Wheelchair Games and the Clemson Classic juniors wheelchair basketball tournament. All of these programs require campus resources to be successful, of which campus recreation facilities and staff are vital.

These joint efforts demonstrate a commitment to achieve the university’s strategic aims of inclusive excellence and to break down the barriers to sport and recreation access that many students with physical disabilities experience on college campuses.

Hallo said he is hopeful that the partnership can continue to provide opportunities for students and faculty well after it surpasses its 50^th anniversary in 2022.

“This partnership has accomplished a great deal over the decades and helped thousands of students,” Hallo said. “We’re aware that many of these programs wouldn’t exist without access to campus recreation facilities and equipment, and we’re thankful for the opportunity to continue to work with them to create new opportunities for our students and community.”