Adaptive athletes getting more chances to play

The Ryan Martin Foundation has led to several breakthroughs, allowing those with disabilities to play games like wheelchair basketball.

By

Sports

July 22, 2022 - 3:06 PM

Ryan Fitzpatrick, 17, of New Fairfield, center, plays wheelchair basketball Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at the Ryan Martin Foundation camp at Southern Connecticut State University. Photo by (Lori Riley/Hartford Courant/TNS)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Matthew Reid always thought of himself as unathletic. A bilateral below-the-knee amputee, Reid, who will be a sophomore at Cheshire (Conn.) High School this fall, preferred reading books to sports.

But Wednesday, Reid, 15, was out on the basketball court at Southern Connecticut’s Moore Field House, zipping up and down with his wheelchair and mixing it up with the other wheelchair basketball players. He was participating in a camp hosted by the Ryan Martin Foundation and the school’s College of Health and Human Services’ Institute for Adapted Sports and Recreation.

After camp was over for the day, Reid talked excitedly about running track at Cheshire, which he did his freshman year, and his new pair of running blades.

Related
July 24, 2020
August 2, 2019
August 22, 2018
May 11, 2017