Adaptive sports are coming to Vail as a local group works to combat the stigma

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — For the past week, all student-athletes at Old Vail Middle School have been participating in wheelchair sports.

This is, in part, an initiative of Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports, a nonprofit organization that helps shine a new light on adaptive athletics.

“We are happy to go to any school that accepts us so that we can introduce students to adaptive sports and change societal norms and perceptions of disability,” says Karl Yares, director of basketball operations.

They were at Old Vail Middle School because of one of their players.

“We came to Vail thanks to Estevan, one of our athletes on the Junior Wildcats, our youth wheelchair basketball team in Tucson,” Yares said.

The sports played this week were wheelchair basketball and rugby.

Estevan Carrion is a sixth-grader at Old Vail and says Yares and the group coming to his school give him a chance to show his classmates what he can do.

“That they can see what I do when I’m not at school and that they can join in if they want,” says Carrion.

Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports is open to everyone. For more information, visit his website.