By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
As part of her Health and Human Performance culminating experience, Fort Hays State University senior Kendra Clary is organizing the first-ever FHSU Adaptive Sport and Fitness Night.
The event, which will take place next Tuesday, is a night of sports and fitness aimed towards the Intellectual Developmental Disabilities community. According to Clary, the IDD community is largely underserved and struggles to meet the national Physical Activity guidelines.
“This program is to serve as a building block in the relationship between FHSU and the IDD community,” Clary said. “ In HHP we are working to break down obstacles to physical health and wellness to all members of the community.”
Clary is collaborating with FHSU Athletics, Tigers for IDD and the Arc of Central Plains for this event. Over 80 student-athletes will volunteer at the event to share their skills and play games associated with their specific sports. Tigers for IDD and HHP students will lead the groups through each station.
All volunteers receive resources and documents to prepare themselves for the role.
The lessons learned from this event will help plan future events.
“We wanted to put this event on as a test trial for future years,” Clary said. “This semester was not the ideal time frame for the event, so we restricted the population served to keep it manageable.”
In the future, Clary would like to see this event expand.
“We want to create more events and opportunities that are accessible to all,” Clary said.