We’re excited to announce the results of our first ever Spring Adaptive Sports Grant Cycle. Over the last 3 weeks, applicants from around the country have been notified of the results of their grant applications. Here are the results by the numbers!

102102 Applications from 31 States totaling $461,496 in requests

  • Despite the cycle being announced only 4 weeks before the deadline, this nearly matched our largest grant applicant class from the Fall of 2015.

76 Grant Recipients from 28 States totaling $127,190 in awards

  • Because of such an overwhelming demand, we needed to spread the funding to as many deserving grant applicants as possible, including many partial grants.

Equipment Purchased:

  • 25 Handcycles (Road and Offroad)
  • 18 Sport Chairs (Tennis, Basketball, and Rugby)
  • 9 Monoskis
  • 5 Racing Chairs
  • 2 Other
  • 17 “Try It First” Grants
    • Try It First grants are given to applicants that we really like, but that we want to see gain more experience with the equipment they would like to purchase before making such a big investment. We help them with $500 towards rental or program fees and hope they reapply in the next grant cycle with a greater understanding of what equipment they want and need.

New Trends:

  • We are seeing applications from more kids. This is a result of opening up our grant eligibility to those with paralysis due to spina bifida, a condition that presents at birth. Formerly, our sole eligible condition was paralysis caused by traumatic spinal cord injury, which are less common in children.
  • We are getting requests for more sport chairs. For many years, our grant applicants requested handcycles and monoskis almost exclusively. As word of our grant programs spreads around the country and within court sport circles such as Basketball, Rugby, and Tennis, applications for sport chairs has increased greatly. In this grant cycle, “sport chairs” combined to be the second highest type of equipment granted.
  • The quality of our applicant is higher. Again, as word of our grant program spreads, our applicants are generally better informed and more experienced in the equipment they are applying for. While this is a great trend, it makes our job that much harder!
  • Adaptive sports programs are becoming more involved. We are receiving more correspondence and recommendations from program organizers that have worked with the applicants. This is exciting for us as we embark on partnerships with adaptive sports programs around the country!

A Few Grant Recipients:

image1 (2)Sadie from North Carolina

Sadie developed transverse myelitis at the age of 3, paralyzing her from the waist down. She heard of our grant programs from her teammate on the “Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets”, a North Carolina-based youth wheelchair basketball team, who was a 2015 grant recipient! Sadie and the Rollin’ Hornets will be a force with 2 players with brand new basketball chairs!

IMG_2270Connor from Colorado

Injured in a ski accident 3 years ago, Connor just wanted to “hop on a bike and go ride around and explore” and “to have the freedom to go where I want and be physically active doing it myself”. He has ordered his handcycle and will be bombing around the paths out in Denver this summer!

20160512_162930Claire from Pennsylvania

Injured in a gymnastics accident just after her 14 birthday, Claire, now 23, applied for a handcycle to “just get in and go” and be alone out there with the road, finding that same feeling she used to have running. We heard from Claire last week: “Thank you so much for awarding me a grant for a handcycle! I am so incredibly excited.”