Researcher Designs Adaptive-Rec Youth Camp
Educator Hopes Camp for Physically Challenged Will Serve as Template
Sep 28, 2009
In an effort to raise awareness regarding the need for more adaptive-recreation camps for young people with physical disabilities, one Tennessee educator is working diligently to do his part by providing a “template” camp for others to adopt.
Exercise Science Educators Launch Summer Camp for Children with Disabilities
Dubbed Camp ENRGY, which stands for Excellence ‘N’ Recreation and Games for Youth, the one-week summer camp for ages was designed and implemented by Dr. Don Morgan, director of the Center for Physical Activity and Health in Youth at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, and two of his doctoral students, Sandy Stevens and Jenny Hutchens.
In August 2009, Morgan, along with camp co-directors Stevens and Hutchens, enacted their debut Camp ENRGY, free of charge, as a five-day camp for physically challenged youth ages10-17 in the middle Tennessee area. The physical health educators, along with a handful of volunteers, provided participants with activities that spanned from swimming, nature trails, yoga and dance. to indoor soccer, martial arts, GPS-based activities and dancing.
By providing the 18 or so campers with a wide array of adaptive-recreation opportunities, “We hoped that each child would leave with the desire to continue at least one of the activities explored,” Stevens said during a post-camp interview on Aug. 14.
Professor Hopes Camp for Physically Challenged Will Serve as Template for Others
Moreover, Morgan, who is a professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at MTSU, said that by sponsoring an activity camp for children with disabilities, he hopes MTSU and the Center for Physical Activity and Health in Youth will lay important groundwork for others.
“We hope that this summer camp will become a template for other camps for physically challenged youth here in Tennessee and throughout the nation,” remarked Morgan during an Aug. 5 interview from the campsite. “We also hope that we can raise awareness of the need for local recreations groups and organizations to provide meaningful activity and sports opportunities for these kids.”
MTSU Researcher's Underwater Treadmill Study Seeds Idea for Camp ENRGY
Morgan said he conceived the idea for Camp ENRGY, which was conducted Aug. 3-7 on the MTSU campus, as an outgrowth of a four-year research project conducted at MTSU and funded by the National Institutes of Health,”
While engaged in this research, Morgan said, he studied how to improve the leg strength and endurance of youngsters with cerebral palsy by helping them train on an underwater treadmill. Doing so, he added, caused him to ultimately conceive the idea for what would become Camp ENRGY.
“During this (underwater-treadmill) project, I began to envision the creation of a sports and fitness camp for youngsters with physical disabilities in the hope of improving their ability to participate more confidently in home-, school- and community-based physical activities,” Morgan explained.
Adaptive-Recreation Camp Promotes Lifelong Wellness, Physical Activity to Youth
Subsequently, when the center he directs became the recipient of funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Health Promotion in 2008, Morgan said, he began working to make the adaptive-recreation camp that he had envisioned a reality.
Camp co-director Stevens said the work to create the inaugural Camp ENRGY began in January 2009, and for its organizers, it is hoped the weeklong experience had lasting implications for the campers, who—prior to the camp—were not physically active and were missing out on the benefits of such a lifestyle.
Physical Activity Important Lifestyle Option for Physically Challenged, Experts Confirm
“Engagement in physical activity becomes more challenging for children with disabilities,” Stevens said, “(and it was) our hope that by providing this camp, participants would experience an increase in their confidence and their physical capability, create a positive experience with physical activity that may encourage continued participation and also allow the participants to explore a variety of activities that have the potential for lifelong activity.”
The hard work and efforts that went into creating the camp, however, were not lost on the children’s parents and caregivers, many of whom have never had such an opportunity available for their children.
Accessible Recreation Not Often an Option for Children with Disabilities, Parents Say
“Many of the families have so many expenses associated with accommodating a disability, (so) things like camps are difficult to fund,” Stevens observed. “Several parents stated that they would not be able to participate if not for the funding … so I was truly excited to be a part of this process.”
Already plans are under way for the 2010 Camp ENRGY experience, the organizers reported, and in preparing for the event, they said they will evaluate the feedback received following the first camp to “ “make adjustments,” as needed, so that the experience provides the most accessible recreation and positive outcomes possible for its participants, Stevens said.
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