What is your position/role with the UNCW Recreational Therapy Program?

I am a Professor and serve as the Coordinator of the UNCW Recreation Therapy (RT) Degree Program within the School of Health and Applied Human Sciences. 

 

How did you first learn about Wheel Serve NC?

I first learned about Wheel Serve NC in July 2021 when Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs and Wheel Serve NC Board Member, Rob Brickels, contacted me to determine if the UNCW Recreation Therapy program would be interested in helping to start a chapter in Wilmington. Of course, I said we would be happy to contribute however we could! Then I met Helen, Kelly, and others through virtual meetings because the COVID-19 pandemic was in full effect. We began discussing opportunities to collaborate, share resources and expertise, and player recruitment to launch the Wilmington chapter!

 

What prompted you to make the connection between WSNC and the UNCW Recreational Therapy Program?

I wanted to become involved because, as a recreational therapist, I know the benefits of adaptive sports for participants with disabilities can be life changing.  I also know that opportunities to participate in adaptive sports are very limited and the Wilmington community, like the vast majority of communities, needs to expand adaptive sports and recreation programs available for people with disabilities. Therefore, my decision to help establish the Wilmington WSNC chapter was a no-brainer!

 

What benefits do you find in this relationship?

Our involvement in WSNC is a win-win relationship. The UNCW RT program has provided assistance with player recruitment, sports wheelchair loans, consultation and repairs of wheelchairs, and player support (education on how to participate in tennis with a disability, and transfer assistance into and out of chairs, connection with other opportunities to be active, etc.). In return, the RT faculty and students get to play tennis and create relationships with awesome people who have diverse background and abilities and want to be active through sports and recreation! I find joy in being part of a community that values inclusivity, adaptability, and capability despite disability, all translated through the sport of tennis. 

 

Describe the benefits that your students receive from their involvement with the Wheel Serve Wilmington program.

When our RT students volunteer with WSNC, they witness, experience, and practice some of the concepts they are learning in the classroom. In this regard, the WSNC serves as a fun learning lab for them! We have former students who started volunteering with WSNC as students and moved on to work in adaptive sports in various locations in the United States after graduating!

 

What benefits do the wheelchair athletes receive from this relationship?

Most players who begin the program have little to no experience with adaptive sports and, frankly, are not aware of how their body can participate in a sport like tennis. The players quickly learn through collaborative efforts between WSNC and UNCW RT's support that they are more capable than they thought! It just takes a bit of adaptation, patience, and the realization that everyone plays a bit differently, but at the end of the day, we all play tennis. 

 

What is your favorite aspect of the Wheel Serve Wilmington program?

To be honest, my favorite part is not the tennis! I'm not a tennis player. What I enjoy most is seeing people do something they did not think they could do! This is the same reason why I became a recreational therapist, and why I became a professor, so that I could teach my students to help people realize their potential while living with disability. In addition, the social connections that are made in the program are just as important, if not more important, than the benefits associated with the physical activity of playing tennis. 

 

Do you think that this model of cooperation between the University and WSNC is one that could benefit other WSNC programs?

Absolutely! However, not every chapter will be as close to a university with a RT degree program as the WSNC Wilmington chapter is to the UNCW RT program. 

 

Feel free to add any additional information that you think might be interesting to our readers and followers.

In my years of involvement in adaptive sports and RT, wheelchair tennis, like other sports, is not about the sport. It's about what the sport can do for the players and the community. Through tennis, players have the opportunity to be physically active, become part of a community that shares similar experiences with disability, and learn something new about themselves. Unfortunately, most people with mobility impairments (as well as other disability types) have very limited options for participating in sports and recreation that are designed with them in mind. WSNC has been a leader in expanding free opportunities to participate in wheelchair tennis in North Carolina in a supportive environment and on a consistent basis. I look forward to partnering with WSNC for years to come!