For the second year, ParaSport & Recreation PEI re-launched the After School Wheelchair Sports Program. The program began the second week of May and ran for 6 weeks at three Island schools.

Sarah Gillis, Canada Games Wheelchair Basketball athlete led the sessions at O’Leary Elementary School, Westwood Primary School and Montague Consolidated School. The program was exclusively designed for children with mobility impairments while also welcoming any student to participate.   It was an ideal way to include both children with mobility impairments and able-bodied children in a program together where everyone could fully participate.

The goal of this program was to help children with mobility impairments between the ages of 5-12 to become physically active by helping to establish wheelchair fundamental skills, knowledge and abilities needed to confidently participate in play and sport with their peers. Children had the opportunity to practice and play some wheelchair sports, with a slight emphasis on wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis, as both sports are offered on PEI.

Overall approximately 110 students across PEI took part in the program.

We would like to extend a thank you to the schools that participated this spring.  We will be looking for schools to participate in the program next school year, so check back for further announcements on our After School Program.

ParaSport & Recreation PEI hosted their 2015 Annual General Meeting & Awards Presentation at the Rodd Royalty in Charlottetown on Tuesday, June 9th.

The evening began with a video presentation of the activities and events that have taken place over the past year.  Annual REports were presented by the President, staff and Associate Members.  Cheryl Tanton and Sarah Fullerton were voted in as Directors at Large by the membership.

The Phil Bower Memorial Award went to Wheelchair Basketball Canada Games athlete Jeremy Watts while ‘Rookie of the Year’ award went to Sledge Hockey athlete Marie Camilleri. School awards were presented to Ty Clark of Westwood Primary, Lily Spin of Montague Consolidated, Rayo Cormier and Dwight Llewellyn of Georgetown Elementary.

ParaSport and Recreation PEI’s most prestigious award, the President’s Award, was presented to the Stanhope Golf & Country Club their continued support of the ParaSport and Recreation PEI Annual Golf Classic.

WALK / RUN / WHEEL! Taking place in Victoria Park on Sunday, May 17th at 10am! Registration is at 9am, with distances of 2.5km and 5km. The event is open to anyone; however, there will be many physiotherapists available to help para-athletes with transfers and assistance as needed. There will be a BBQ by donation afterwards. We encourage everyone to come take part in this great event!

ParaSport and Recreation PEI is pleased announce that we will be hosting the first ever ParaSport Festival on Prince Edward Island on Wednesday, April 29th.

The ParaSport Festival is a multi-sport festival that is open to people with a disability on PEI. The goal of the
event is to showcase the various parasports that are offered on PEI as well as to provide participants with the hands on experience with the various parasports.The event will have two very special guests in attendance, Mark Arendz, two time Paralympic Medalist and KristenCameron, National Wheelchair Rugby Team Player.
At the Festival, people will have the opportunity to rotate through a number of different stations. At
each station, people will have chance to give each parasport a try such as wheelchair basketball,
sledge hockey, boccia, goalball, wheelchair curling, para-athletics, etc. As well, participants can
visit with ParaSport and Recreation PEI staff and learn about the programs and services that they offer schools and
all about their community programs.

The ParaSport Festival will be open to students in grades K-9, their teachers and their parents. The evening session will be open to anyone in the community from 5:00 – 8:00 and will be absolutely free for people to attend.