For Alis Sefick, finding recreational sports for her son Peyton, who uses a power wheelchair, was extremely difficult.

“It was so hard to find a sport he could participate in,” she said. “But once he found power soccer, it just clicked.”

The Seficks were among members of the community, including residents and Syracuse University students and staff, who participated in OrangeAbility 2013 on Sunday. OrangeAbility is SU’s second Accessible Athletics Expo, featuring sports such as power soccer, sled hockey and wheelchair basketball.

The power soccer team Peyton Sefick plays on, CNY United, offers people of all ages who use a power wheelchair the chance to develop their skills and compete against other teams from across the country, Sefick said.

Peyton Sefick uses CNY United to immerse himself in the sport of power soccer, and eventually earned a spot on the U.S. National Team.

“My entire career in power soccer has been amazing,” Sefick said. “I love the sport. I will be playing for a long time.”

Growing up with a disability has given him a different perspective on things, he said.

“But I wouldn’t have been able to do half of the stuff I’ve done without power soccer,” Sefick said.

CNY United supports this philosophy with its work in promoting and advancing the sport of power soccer, which offers those in power wheelchairs the chance to play soccer.

But individuals don’t need a disability to play an accessible sport, said Rachel Matheson, events coordinator for the Disability Student Union. Individuals with and without disabilities can play the sport competitively together.

OrangeAbility 2013 was sponsored in part by the Disability Cultural Center, community partner Move Along Inc., the Department of Recreation Services, Hendricks Chapel’s Wellness Initiatives, the Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee, the Disability Rights Clinic at SU College of Law’s and the Disability Student Union.

“This has been a huge collaboration on part of the entire SU community,” said Eddie Zaremba, president of the Disability Student Union. “We all worked really hard to make this event happen.”

The first OrangeAbility occurred in 2011, but did not occur in fall 2012 due to logistical issues and timing, Zaremba said. Instead, it was moved to spring 2013.

Many of the organizing agencies, such as DSU and Disability Cultural Center, were still new organizations in fall 2012. Moving the event to spring 2013 put OrangeAbility organizers in a better planning position, he said.

DSU is a student-led organization dedicated to sharing and listening to the concerns and voices of students who identify as having a disability, said Zaremba, also one of the organization’s founding members.

There have been student groups in the past focused on disability culture, but none have been able to sustain a campus presence, Zaremba said. This left him and other founding members with an opportunity to create their own undergraduate group.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. “My prerogative was to assemble a group that would last, because disability identity and culture is here to stay.”

Diane Wiener, director of the Disability Cultural Center and adviser to DSU, said she is proud students led the initiative to create the organization and give a direct voice to students who identify with having a disability.

“A lot of the message is about raising awareness about the variety of human experience and the complexities of that,” she said.

Similar to other human characteristics such as race, national origin or age, there are various cultures within disability identities, Wiener said.

“They are themselves diverse, just as we are,” she said.

The OrangeAbility event showcased the diversity of disability culture in the SU community with participants of all ages partaking in exhibition wheelchair basketball games or practicing power soccer shots.

Utica, N.Y., resident Mike Olsen spent much of the afternoon displaying his wheelchair basketball skills, but also shared information about his experience monoskiing.

After breaking his back in a construction accident, Olsen, who was an avid skier, said he looked for a way to get back into the sport.

He found a way to re-enter athletics with a program called Sitrin STARS, or Success Through Adaptive Recreation and Sports, which helps individuals with physical disabilities participate in various adaptive sports to stay healthy both physically and emotionally, according to its website.

Olsen has been able to compete in monoskiing competitions across the country, and has placed first at several ski mountain races, he said.

“You just have to live life to the fullest,” he said. “You cannot let negativity win. There is always a silver lining.”

Adaptive sports have also been a large part of Cody Arnold’s life. The Marcellus High School student has been playing wheelchair basketball, sled hockey and competing in road races for years.

“I just want more people to come out and join,” Arnold said. “You don’t need a disability to play — my able-bodied friends and I play sled hockey together and hit each other just as hard as anyone else.”

Adaptive sports are just as physically taxing and, at times, more difficult than original sports, said Laura Singer, a freshman religion and political science major who attended the event.

“I don’t think people realize it may take even more strength and dedication to play adaptive sports,” she said. “Just little things — like always dribbling the ball and wheeling in the chair are so hard.”

Members of the SU women’s rugby football club who attended said they had trouble learning the different chair maneuvers for wheelchair basketball.

Jenna Bordy, a junior advertising and finance major, said she and her teammates did not expect it to be as difficult as it was.

The team was there to support teammate Brenna Keefe, a member of DSU.

“I love being able to bring together these two different athletic worlds,” she said. “For me, I believe anyone can come together and do anything.”

Inclusion was a major focus of the event, said Zaremba.

The best way to engage the community and see a positive culture change is to create an environment where everyone feels included, he said.

“We always have to ask ourselves what being a part of the SU community means,” Zaremba said. “We are saying that there should be access for all, orange for all, inclusivity for all.”

Published on March 4, 2013 at 1:27 am

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu