Playing on a team can be a great way to build friendships and develop life skills, but not everyone can participate in traditional organized sports.
A Cleveland-based nonprofit is dedicated to making sure everyone who wants to play gets the chance.
Empower Sports was founded in 2012 to bring sports and exercise programs to kids and adults with physical and cognitive disabilities, providing opportunities to have fun and make friends.
“We've got athletes of diverse disability diagnoses, all ages, youth, teens, adults,” said Tom Heines, the organization’s founder and executive director. “We do everything that we can to connect with kids and adults in the program on their terms and meet them at their needs.”
Empower Sports serves seven Northeast Ohio counties: Portage, Lake, Summit, Medina, Geauga, Cuyahoga and Lorain.
Nearly 60 programs are offered throughout the year, such as basketball, soccer, flag football, whiffle ball and kickball. About 2,000 athletes currently participate across multiple sports.
Each six-week season is low to no cost to sign up, as Heines said families may face costs for different therapies or other specialty programs.
“We never want socioeconomic challenges or the fees of the programs to be a reason someone doesn't get to play,” he said.
Groups range in size from five participants up to 70 and can meet anywhere – in community centers, parks, rec centers and school gyms.
In addition to the day-to-day sessions that are happening every week, there’s also a few large-scale inclusive events throughout the year for many in the Empower Sports family to play together.
Weekly programs
The organization expanded its reach to Portage County earlier in the summer. A sampler program was offered so new athletes could get a taste of a variety of sports. Each week was an introduction to a different sport, such as kickball one week and soccer the next.
On a Wednesday evening in the gym at Portage Community Chapel in Ravenna, coach Jake Jackson began by gathering a small group of athletes in the center of a basketball court.
Jackson, who is also the community outreach director for Empower Sports, asked everyone what type of music they wanted to listen to and one athlete put in a request for songs from the animated film, “Frozen.”
After some warmup stretches, the group rolled into learning the basics of soccer, like dribbling the ball and defending the net.
“People with autism or Down syndrome are more prone to being sedentary and not as active, partially because there aren't as many opportunities for them as their typically developing peers,” Jackson said. “We want to bridge that gap.”
The one-hour sessions were a break from day-to-day challenges for parents as much as for their kids.
“I think mostly people really appreciate the sense of community they find here,” Jackson said. “A lot of the parents are mingling, talking back and forth, and they kind of build those friendships because they know their children have unique circumstances as well.”
Special night at the ballpark
Early in the summer, about 20 athletes and their families gathered at the home of the Lake County Captains minor league baseball team in Eastlake. Opening ceremonies would be held later that evening for the Division III NCAA men’s baseball championships.
In the hour prior, the Empower Sports athletes divided into two teams for a scrimmage against each other. During that game, everyone hit a homerun, no one struck out and the score didn’t matter – it was a chance for the athletes to come together and do what they love.
As they played, more than 200 college players from all eight championship teams slowly descended on the field, lining up from first base to third, cheering as each Empower Sports athlete went up to bat.
In the stands, Paulette Gaia watched as her 34-year-old son Jeremy had a blast with his teammates, soaking in the cheers from the college teams.
“They found out the names of whoever was at bat, and they were chanting their names,” Gaia said. “There were not many parents who didn't have tears in their eyes watching those Division III athletes cheering for our kids.”
Jeremy has intellectual disabilities and has been a lifelong lover of sports. He joined Empower Sports 10 years ago, and Gaia said that when she discovered the opportunity she jumped at it.
There have been many friends and memories made over the years, but that evening at the ballpark was one they’ll both remember for a long time.
“Most of our kids don't win academic awards at school, and most of our kids never make varsity sports teams. So, they don't have this experience of other people cheering for them,” Gaia said. “But they did today.”
