June 6, 2006

Contact: Gordon Ovenshine: 724-738-4854: gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

REGIONWIDE CAMP FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN SET FOR JUNE 14-17 AT SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Twenty-five Slippery Rock University students will run VIP Sports Camp June 14-17 giving children with visual impairment from western Pennsylvania and surrounding areas the chance to try their hand attrack and field, horseback riding, swimming, taekwondo, rock climbing and tandem biking.

“VIP Sports Camp provides SRU students the unique opportunity to learn to provide physical activity experiences for children who are blind or visually impaired,” said SRU’s Wendy Fagan, associate professor of exercise and rehabilitative sciences and camp director. “The camp is a great learning experience, and the SRU students have as much fun as the athletes participating in the camp.”

The camp is open to children ages 5 to 18. They will be staying in SRU’s Harner Hall and will participate in sport activities from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. They will participate in 10 different sports including “goalball,” whichuses a ball with a bell rolled toward a goal.

SRU student volunteers are part of the university’s Adapted Physical Activity Program preparing students for designing, implementing and managing activity programs for those with disabilities. The program includes equine-facilitated therapy, rugby, swimming and wheelchair basketball. Members participate in classes such as “Sport and Disability,” “Adapted Aquatics,” “Biomechanics of Special Populations” and “Adapted and Therapeutic Exercise.”

In previous years, SRU has hosted similar camps for children with visual impairment, including blindness. This is the first year the camp will be solely run by the university and the Adapted Physical Activity Program.

PN, PgN, PR