Friday, April 07, 2006

By Kai Oliver-Kurtin, PR Intern

Coastal Carolina Partnership for Accessible Recreation (CCPAR) will hold their fifth annual Accessible Recreation Day Friday, April 21. From 9 to 4 p.m. in UNCW's Student Recreation Center there will be various demonstrations and activities to participate in such as wall climbing, hand-cycling, table tennis, golf, Jujitsu, Aikido, wheelchair tennis, yoga, adapted gardening, chair aerobics, African movement, disc golf, and a wheelchair basketball clinic and exhibition by the 2003 & 2004 Division III National Wheelchair Basketball Champions, the Port City Spokesmen at 3:00. From 4 to 6 p.m. free bowling and pool will be held at Ten Pin Alley & Break-Time Grille. Participants will receive a free T-shirt and lunch.

Registration will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. the day of the event in the Student Recreation Center. Scuba and snorkeling will take place at noon in Hanover Pool; however, participants must register at the Student Recreation Center. All events are offered to participants free of charge.

Instructors this year will be Dan Johnson, golf; The New Hanover Disc Club, disc golf; Billy Eno and David Beauregard, tennis; Dalia Nir, chair aerobics; Heather Kelejian, adapted gardening; Keith and Debra McDuffy, Aikido; David Shultz and Frank Chapman, scuba and snorkeling; Alex Nichols, Jujitsu; and Adreinne Kosoki, yoga. Along with clinics, there will ongoing demonstrations and opportunities for casual participation facilitated by elite wheelchair athletes and others trained in accessibility and adapted equipment. There will be exhibits by the Ability Garden at the Arboretum and various disability resource and advocacy groups.

All activities are adapted for people of all ages who are wheelchair users, as well as those with other physical disabilities. CCPAR's mission is to advocate for recreation opportunities for all citizens with disabilities in the Coastal Carolina area. They believe that everyone has the right to participate in enjoyable and safe recreation, play, and leisure pursuits; and that recreation, play and leisure are essential to physical and emotional health, as well as quality of life.

CCPAR is a collaboration between UNCW's Recreation Therapy Curriculum in the Department of Health and Applied Human Sciences and Department of Campus Recreation, Coastal Rehabilitation Hospital of New Hanover Regional Medical Center, North Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living Services, the Ability Garden at the Arboretum, and the Wilmington Disabled Athletic Association.

For more information contact Dan Johnson at 962-3659 or johnsonde@uncw.edu.