SUNY Cortland Mini Conference

Every year SUNY Cortland hosts a mini conference for students and physical educators all around. At this conference, professionals are able to attend mini conferences to learn the new and innovated strategies and activities. This year, I had the opportunity to present Wheelchair Sports at the conference. During my presentation, students and professionals were able to get acquainted with the wheelchair and engage in a track and field game and basketball. The individuals who attended learned the rules of games and how to play them. We also incorporated scooters into the program to provide different options for schools who do not have as many chairs as Cortland was able to provide. I personally enjoyed presenting wheelchair sports because it opened educators eyes to ways to incorporate physical activity with a disability into their classroom. Many times if a child is in a wheelchair, their physical education experience is ineffective and useless. By learning new ways to incorporate them into the classroom, it provides them with new opportunity and options. Additionally, it provides students without disabilities the chance to experience what it is like to be in a chair and the different challenges they may not acknowledge without being in one. Surprisingly, by presenting in the conference, I educated myself more than I had expected. I was forced to look into specific rules of wheelchair basketball and explored different opportunities for chair users. I attended two Thursday night wheelchair basketball games which are held at SUNY Cortland. I was shocked at how good the athletes were and how they used the chair as an advantage. Overall, presenting at the conference was beneficial to not only myself, but to others who hopefully will pass it on to their students.