AAASP Celebrates 30 Years of
Innovation and Achievement
The American Association of Adapted Sports and its partners continue the celebration of 30 years of providing award-winning interscholastic AdaptED SPORTS ® programs for schools by serving and sustaining a standardized structure of education-based athletic competition to improve the well-being of students with physical disabilities.
(opens in a new tab)Get in the Game Grant
The American Association of AdaptED Sports Programs, Inc. (AAASP), through a special grant from State of Georgia Appropriations Committee and the Georgia Department of Education, is offering several inception grants to help school districts in Georgia start adapted sports teams.
(opens in a new tab)30 Years Digital Exhibit
The AAASP digital exhibit highlights the growth, evolution, and influence of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs over the past 30 years. Each story features a central image with a clickable title, allowing viewers to explore more and browse through additional photos, documents, and other content. Click here to view the exhibit!
(opens in a new tab)AAASP Milestones
AAASP, in partnership with its collaborators, proudly celebrates 30 years of delivering award-winning AdaptED SPORTS® programs to athletes with qualifying disabilities. These initiatives provide a standardized, education-based structure of athletic competition designed to enhance the well-being of students with disabilities.
(opens in a new tab)Online Course: Coaching Adapted Sports
"Coaching Adapted Sports", created by AAASP in 2019, has been downloaded more than 26,000 times, and includes units on How to Build Your Adapted Sports Team, Interscholastic Seasons and Sports and Adapted Sports Basic Skills. Additionally, proper terminology and basic rules are explained in the course. Click here to learn more.
AAASP/Varsity Brands Partnership
The American Association of AdaptED SPORTS ® Programs (AAASP) is excited to announce that AAASP and BSN Sports, a Varsity Brands company, will partner to distribute equipment and uniforms to AdaptED Sports school districts and teams across the state of Georgia.
AAASP Game Central
This newly-updated area of the AAASP website, Game Central, was created in advance of the 30th Anniversary for a one-stop shop for each Adapted Sport! Visit AAASP Game Central for real-time, up to the minute scores at games, in depth history of each adapted sport offered, videos, rule books, former championship game results and more!
Increased Training Opportunities
In celebration of our 30th Anniversary, AAASP has made a strong commitment to offer additional trainings this year for Coaches, Officials, Area Coordinators and Athletes.
Click here for information on next trainings
Adapted Track & Field
The American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP), in partnership with the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), will be hosting a state-wide Track & Field training this Fall for the adapted track and field 2025-2026 spring season!
7th Annual ASPIRE Awards
AAASP honored more than 80 people and organizations in 23 different categories on October 26th, 2025 in Atlanta for their outstanding contributions supporting student athletes with qualifying disabilities to get “off the sidelines and into the game.”
Click here to learn more about the event, or to partner with us!
* Helpful Tips for Exploring Our AAASP Digital History Exhibit:
- To view a story, please click on the photo tile and it will turn over to reveal the title of the feature story.
- To open to the story, double click and view more photos and information about that event, milestone or period in AdaptED Sports history.
- You can return to the exhibit by clicking on the “X” in the story, to explore the next milestone! Relive the history of AdaptED Sports with us during this important anniversary year!
2025
- The AAASP Board of Directors has hired Dr. Jenny Millward as AAASP’s third Executive Director in its thirty-year history.
- NFHS and AAASP announce over 25,000 downloads of the free online education course Coaching Adapted Sports, available through the NFHS Learning Center.
- AAASP hired two full-time employees, Terri Grunduski, Director of Communications, and Christy Jones, Director of Training and Outreach.
- AAASP hosts the second annual AAASP Wheelchair Basketball Camp, led by a2024 Gold Medal-winning Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball Coach, and Auburn's Wheelchair Basketball Head Coach, Robb Taylor.
- Iva Obrusnikova, President of the National Consortium for Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities (NCPEID), submits a letter in support of continued funding for interscholastic adapted athletic programming for students in Georgia with qualifying disabilities served through AAASP. “Since 1996, AAASP and the GADOE have represented a unique and proven partnership in GA that ensures the provision of opportunities for competitive sports, allowing students with disabilities to develop athletic skills, achieve national guidelines for moderate- vigorous health-related levels of physical fitness (Shapiro & Barfield, 2020), increased athletic competence (Shapiro & Martin, 2010; 2014), resiliency, coping, goal setting, concentration (Atkinson & Martin, 2020), and improved independence and quality of life (Sur, Shapiro & Martin, 2024; Aitchison et al., 2020).” “The AAASP and GADOE partnership represents a model for other states to replicate.”
2024
- AAASP hosted the inaugural Wheelchair Basketball Camp, led by U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball Coach and International Trainer, Ron Lykins, at the Eagles Nest in Clayton County.
- The Dublin City Schools joins the AdaptED Sports League in Georgia, naming their team the Rolling Irish.
- Tommie Storms, Co-Founder and Executive Director, informed the AAASP Board of Directors of her intent to retire at the end of August 2025; a search has begun to find the organization’s next executive director.
- The Sixth Annual ASPIRE Awards Banquet, held in October, honored individuals and organizations in adapted sports. Paralympic Gold Medalist and archer Matt Stutzman was the guest speaker.
2023
- In honor of the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 10th anniversary of the Dear Colleague Letter, issued by the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Education, AAASP announces a three- part awareness and resource campaign to reintroduce its logo, highlighting the “ED” in adapted to remind and inform the community of its mission to support adapted and standardized EDUCATION-based sports for the physically disabled. It will now be known as AdaptED Sports.
- AAASP announces its online digital history exhibit “ 25 Years of Innovation and Achievement,” highlighting the growth, evolution, and impact of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs and the individuals who made it possible. The exhibit features over 50 stories displayed on a digital platform, each accompanied by a main image and a title that the viewer can click to read more. Each story is approximately 200 to 400 words long, and within each story, the viewer can scroll through additional photos, videos, and documents to experience the legacy of AdaptED Sports. View the exhibit here, created in partnership with History Associates and Pass It Down.
- Georgia Public Broadcasting resumes airing the AAASP/GHSA Wheelchair Basketball State Championship, and NFHS Network will stream the Game Nationwide.
- The Georgia Storm, comprised of student-athletes from schools within the Griffin Area RESA, began playing in the AdaptED Sports League.
- The Fifth Annual ASPIRE Awards Banquet was held in October to honor individuals and organizations in adapted sports. The guest speaker was Aaron Golub, the first legally blind Division I athlete to play in a football game at Tulane University.
- Peach County Schools’ Rolling Trojans and Clarke County Schools’ Classic City Dawgs join AAASP, adding new teams to the state-wide AdaptED Sport League.
- Walter Johnson, an Adapted Sports Coach from Peach County Schools, was named the 2023-2024 GHSA/NFHS Section 3 Coach of the Year.
2022
- AAASP establishes an Alumni Association.
- AAASP held a Wheelchair Sports Training at the Pottstown Athletic Club for individuals who can now coach and officiate wheelchair athletics in Pennsylvania. Coach Ron Lykins led the training.
- Christy Jones is joining AAASP as a part-time Associate Director. Coach Jones has been a staple with the Houston County School System’s Sharks for years.
- AAASP awarded over $388,000 in grants to school districts that applied for the ASPIRE Grants during the previous school year. These districts are now enjoying the benefits of new and refurbished wheelchairs, additional sports equipment, uniforms, and hauling trailers featuring team logos.
- AAASP held its 4th annual ASPIRE Awards Banquet to honor individuals and organizations in adapted sports. Karin Korb, a 2-time Paralympian, 10-time USA World Team member, and the first person with a disability to play at the US Open, was the special guest.
- The NFHS Post-COVID Participation Survey results indicate an increase in adapted sports.
2021
- AAASP launched a new user-friendly website with improved navigation and functionality in partnership with STOUT Creative.
- The American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, Inc. (AAASP) celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP), bringing interscholastic wheelchair sports to students with physical disabilities.
- Bev Vaughn, Co-Founder and CEO of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP) since August 1996, announces her retirement, effective August 2021.
- Tommie Storms, Co-Founder and COO, was announced as the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs’ next Executive Director.
- Longtime employee Robyn Hootselle promoted to Adapted Sports Director in Georgia.
- AAASP held its 3 rd Annual ASPIRE Awards Banquet to honor individuals and organizations in adapted sports, combining the 2020 and 2021 events into one banquet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020
- AAASP Founding Board member Leslie Sweatman loses battle with cancer; ASPIRE award named in her honor.
- AAASP Featured Among 6 Organizations Making a Positive Difference at School.
- AAASP and GHSA address the organizational impacts of COVID-19.
- AAASP and GHSA enhance opportunities for student participation in adapted team sports by establishing regional programs through the Georgia Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs).
2019
- ASPIRE held its 2 nd annual Awards Banquet to honor individuals and organizations in adapted sports -- special thanks to our special guests, emcee and host, Sam Crenshaw (GPB, 92.9 the Game, Atlanta City TV, voice of Georgia State Basketball on ESPN3, and guest speaker, #1 International MegaSuccess TedX Speaker and TV Host Tracy Schmitt, the Unstoppable Tracy Schmitt, and our sponsors for making the evening possible!
- AAASP and the NFHS complete the NFHS Course on Coaching Adapted Sports. The course is available for free on the NFHS Learn platform.
- The 2nd Edition of the AAASP/NFHS/NIAAA Best Practices document was produced.
- AAASP presents at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NationalYouth Sports Strategy Listening Session.
2018
- AAASP shares its resources with the NFHS. They are posted on the NFHS website under the inclusion area.
2017
- Presented the AAASP/NFHS/NIAAA Best Practices at the GADOE IDEA State Conference and the NCPEID Annual Conference in Tyson, VA.
- The Houston County Schools Adapted Sports team conducted a wheelchair football demonstration at the NIAAA annual conference in Nashville.
- Nebraska State High School Association partnered with AAASP.
- Conducted AAASP-adapted team sports demo for NIRSA Region 2 annual conference.
- Staff represented AAASP at the 20 th anniversary of the Atlanta Olympic and Paralympic Games at Centennial Olympic Park.
2016
- AAASP produces its Interscholastic Adapted Sports Administrators Guide for its partners and school administrators in athletics and related services departments.
2015
- AAASP announces the formation of its new Advisory Advocacy Council. The Council will provide strategic advice and support to advance AAASP as a leading advocate and provider of school sports for students with disabilities. The Council’s three primary areas of focus will include: 1) the grassroots sector, encompassing parents, communities, and athletes; 2) school leadership systems, including the NFHS, NIAAA, Special Education, and related affiliates; 3) government at local, state, and federal levels.
- AAASP presents during the Inclusion Discussion Forum at the National Federation of State High School Associations’ annual summer conference in New Orleans.
- AAASP, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) collaborate to produce and share the nationwide release of the “Best Practices in Education-Based Athletics for Students with Physical Disabilities Through Interscholastic Adapted Team Sports.”
- AAASP received the Triumph of the Human Spirit Award, presented by Blaze Sports America, for its “...pioneering work and tireless advocacy for students with disabilities”.
- Conducted AAASP/GHSA Educational Workshops throughout the state to inform others of programs.
- Coordinated the ICDI initiative with the President’s Council on Physical Sports, Fitness & Nutrition for local teams to participate in.
- Held an Adapted Sports Day at the State Capitol to highlight AAASP adapted school teams and their accomplishments.
- Invited local member program to the USDOE ADA event in Washington, D.C. to demonstrate wheelchair basketball, representing GA’s award-winning program.
- Set up a wheelchair football clinic with the Atlanta Falcons and their players for local programs to participate in.
2014
- AAASP joins the Athletic for All task force, which includes national governing bodies of disability sports and community-based sports organizations, to develop resources for adaptive sports.
- AAASP announces a partnership initiative with "I Can Do It, You Can Do It!" (ICDI) of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition (PCFSN) to encourage students with disabilities to participate in regular physical activity and maintain good nutrition, while earning recognition through the President’s Challenge Program.
2013
- A historic and significant milestone for our nation’s schoolchildren with disabilities has been reached with the issuance of guidance by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The guidelines clarify schools’ responsibilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to provide athletic opportunities for students with disabilities. AAASP commends the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for this guidance, as it will have far-reaching positive effects on the lives of children with disabilities and our communities. The guideline solutions have been posted on the AAASP website.
- For years, the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs has been at the forefront of developing inclusive programs for secondary school students with disabilities. They will also lead a national effort to create expanded programs in response to the new OCR guidance: Q and A: Disability in Sport Dear Colleague Letter, Active Policy Solutions.
- AAASP was selected as a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations task force, alongside representatives from various state associations, the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, and Special Olympics Indiana, to explore ways to expand participation opportunities for students with disabilities.
- AAASP presented at the NFHS summer conference in Denver as part of a panel discussion on accommodations and inclusion for students with disabilities.
- AAASP co-presented with Special Olympics at the National Athletic Directors Conference in Anaheim, CA.
- AAASP participates in and presents at the NCAA Student-Athletes with Disabilities Think Tank.
- AAASP Founders Vaughn and Storms, along with AAASP and the Georgia High School Association, were honored by Georgia Senate Resolution 421 for their over 10-year partnership in serving students with physical disabilities in Georgia schools, which has directly contributed to outstanding student achievement. And, whereas the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights handed down best practices guidelines to the nation’s schools that closely mirror the health and educational opportunities pioneered in Georgia through the AAASP/GHSA Alliance, encouraging all schools to include persons with disabilities in their athletic programs where appropriate and to add adapted programs to include all physically disabled students in athletics following their excellent example.
2012
- AAASP and the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) celebrate 10 years of a dual governing alliance, in which AAASP serves as GHSA’s partner in providing statewide-sanctioned adapted sports for Georgia’s schools that serve students with qualifying disabilities in adapted team sports throughout the school year.
- AAASP conducted a workshop for the Office of Civil Rights in DC, covering all the offices nationwide, on adapted sports and implementing the OCR guidelines.
2011
- The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has joined the AAASP membership to provide opportunities for students with physical disabilities in wheelchair track and field events.
- AAASP has partnered with VoiceAmerica to raise national and international awareness about the abilities, talents, desires, and challenges faced by students with physical disabilities regarding locally available sports opportunities. AAASP will be featured monthly on a global Internet broadcast at VoiceAmerica's SportsTalk at the Positive Pub, hosted by Gil Tyree.
- AAASP participates in and presents at the Physical Activity and Sport for People with Disabilities Symposium and Strategic Planning Meeting. This event gathered key stakeholders to develop a community action blueprint.
- Kyoya Itoga, a football coach at a University in Japan, meets with AAASP leadership at the wheelchair football state championships to learn and implement the sport in his country.
2010
- The Georgia High School Association created a budget line item to help fund adapted sports with AAASP. This action establishes a national trend for a state high school association to collaborate with AAASP to allocate resources toward ensuring equal access and opportunities in school-based athletics for students with physical disabilities.
- Recognizing the critical need to expand physical activity and athletic opportunities for individuals with disabilities in our educational institutions, the Alliance in Support of Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities works to enhance sports access for students with disabilities.
- Led by the Center for Sport in Society at Northeastern University (SIS), the Alliance collaborates with the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP), the Inclusive Fitness Coalition (IFC), and Special Olympics (SO). It comprises over 100 organizations, including the disability rights, sports, health and fitness, and civil rights communities.
- The Alliance partnered with members of Congress to request a GAO study to explore this issue in greater detail. The results confirm the necessity of ongoing action for students with disabilities. Specifically, the report noted that students with disabilities participate in athletics at consistently lower rates compared to their non-disabled peers.
- AAASP was honored with the Jan Seaman National Recognition Award (inaugural recipient ), presented by the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation (AAPAR). An association of the American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD).
2009
- AAASP addressed the economic downturn and state funding austerity cuts through key strategies, including implementing a remote work structure for employees, offering voluntary salary reductions, and implementing hiring freezes, while strengthening its partnerships to address these challenges.
- The AAASP education-based adapted team sports, including wheelchair team handball, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair football, continue.
- The Florida High School Athletic Association became a member of AAASP and included wheelchair track and field events in its State Championship Series for students with physical disabilities.
2008
- AAASP received the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Corporate Humanitarian Award from Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta.
- AAASP continues implementing its expansion plan, awarding inception grants of $15,000 to Houston County Schools and Gwinnett County Schools, and $20,000 to Oconee/Clarke County Schools.
2007
- The Georgia Department of Education and AAASP entered into an agreement that provides Georgia school systems access to services and resources to launch adaptedSPORTS ® programs. The GaDOE encourages all school systems to ensure that interested, eligible students are fully engaged in interscholastic adapted athletics and that the systems comply with federal mandates related to this educational initiative.
- AAASP develops additional expansion plans for the state of Georgia. As part of that strategy, AAASP hosts the Georgia A.S.P.I.R.E. luncheon to introduce Inception grant opportunities that expand interscholastic adapted athletics for students with physical disabilities, in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
- AAASP brought its all-star team, composed of some of the best student athletes in the state, to Georgia State University for an exhibition wheelchair basketball game against state legislators. This event aimed to educate legislators about AAASP’s adapted athletic programs and generate interest in AAASP’s Inception Grants.
- Henry County Schools, along with its partners, the YMCA and the Parks & Recreation Department, applied for and were awarded the first AAASP Inception Grant, valued at $15,000 for program startup.
- The New Jersey Legislature instructed the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association to collaborate with AAASP.
2006
- AAASP celebrates 10 years of interscholastic athletics serving students across Georgia. Since its inception, AAASP has sanctioned more than 1096 AdaptED SPORTS® competitions, including 116 at the national level. Additionally, over 200 coaches have completed AAASP’s AdaptED SPORTS® coaching certification program.
- AAASP received the National Program Award, honored as “one of the most innovative and significant programs in the nation.” This award was presented by the Adapted Physical Activity Council of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), which is the nation’s largest membership of physical education and recreation professionals and researchers in secondary and post-secondary education.
- NCPAD Director Dr. James Rimmer and James Whitehead, Executive Vice President of the American College of Sports Medicine, invite AAASP to become a founding member of the Inclusive Fitness Coalition due to “AAASP’s background and prominence in the field of disability” to address policy, environmental, and societal issues related to the lack of access to physical activity among people with disabilities.
2005
- AAASP is developing wheelchair football as a spring interscholastic adapted team sport. The Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation provides seed funding.
- AAASP’s Track and Field is fully integrated into the GHSA track season.
- AAASP presents at the NFHS Board of Directors meeting in Hilton Head, S.C.
- AAASP presents at the NFHS annual summer meeting in San Antonio, TX.
- The Alabama State High Athletic School Association partnered with AAASP.
2004
- For the first time in the United States, traditional high school championships will feature a wheelchair championship event when the AAASP Wheelchair
Basketball Championship is held with the GHSA Basketball State Championships. Over 300,000 viewers watch the three-day tournament’s Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) broadcast. The Nielsen polls rate the wheelchair basketball championship as the fifth most–watched game of the series. - AAASP staff meets with the NFHS staff in Indianapolis.
2003
- The Project ASPIRE campaign makes its public launch.
- FlagHouse’s spring Physical Education and Recreation catalog introduces AAASP indoor wheelchair soccer, beep baseball equipment kits, and competition rules.
- The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) is now a Project ASPIRE partner.
- Jean Driscoll leads the first AAASP training workshop for Georgia’s high school track and field coaches.
- Supplemental guides for coaches and physical educators are developed on sports skills and drills, competition strategies, wheelchair maintenance, and sports first aid.
- AAASP produces and hosts the first national tournament for indoor wheelchair soccer, the 2003 Coast to Coast Indoor Wheelchair Soccer Jr. Nationals. AAASP teams from Georgia and California compete in the three–day round robin tournament.
- Honored by the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities as one of Georgia’s Best Practices in Disability Services, and was showcased with other honorees at the 2003 Disability Day at the Capitol.
2002
- Evander Holyfield and Jean Driscoll join AAASP and its Georgia all–star team in Houston, Texas, to host a youth indoor wheelchair soccer exhibition at the Adult Indoor Wheelchair Soccer Nationals.
- Sports equipment provider FlagHouse joins the Project ASPIRE partnership.
- Pat Summerall Productions created the official Project ASPIRE campaign video, narrated by legendary sports commentator Pat Summerall.
- AAASP and FlagHouse have agreed to develop and distribute adapted sports kit systems and publications for adapted sports coaches and physical educators.
- AAASP leads the development of a wireless–controlled sounding device for beep baseball bases, while FlagHouse manages the production of these new bases.
- AAASP starts producing a series of adapted sports rulebooks for widespread distribution.
- The Executive Committee of the Georgia High School Association votes to add adapted wheelchair track events in its track and field season starting in spring 2003.
- The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has been introduced to AAASP.
2001
- Evander Holyfield becomes the official spokesperson for AAASP, and the Holyfield Foundation funds the launch of AAASP’s all–star wheelchair basketball team, Team Holyfield.
- AAASP and the American Association for Active Lifestyles and Fitness (AAALF) have allied on behalf of Project ASPIRE. AAALF is the largest member organization for adapted physical educators in the United States.
- AAASP is producing the first in a series of educational workshops for Project ASPIRE. These workshops are co-sponsored by AAASP, AAALF, and FlagHouse, a global distributor of sports equipment and products.
- Jean Driscoll, a world–renowned wheelchair athlete, has become the official spokesperson for Project ASPIRE.
- The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) and AAASP have formed an alliance that leads to Georgia recognizing AAASP as the official sanctioning and governing body for the state’s interscholastic adapted athletics.
- AAASP is adding power wheelchair hockey to its lineup of adapted sports. The Atlanta Thrashers are providing seed funding.
2000
- AAASP acquires new offices and hires Ed Owen, a former Paralympian and the first American named as a recipient of the Triple Triad Award from the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, as the author of “Coaching Wheelchair Basketball,” naming him State Coordinator. Ed will also be appointed head coach of Georgia’s first women’s wheelchair basketball team – the Atlanta Glory – sponsored by the YMCA.
- Cofounders Bev Vaughn and Tommie Storms are beginning to develop Project ASPIRE’s strategic plan for national expansion.
- AAASP adds a beep baseball league to its adapted sports season.
- AAASP has developed new equipment for power wheelchair hockey.
1996-1999
- The Georgia State Senate commended the DCSD Adapted Sports Program through Senate Resolution 262.
- The Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee (APOC) endorses AAASP, and the APOC Youth and Education Committee named DCSD the “Model for the Nation.”
- Tommie Storms, a businesswoman, broadcast professional, and post-secondary education program director, developed a business plan to replicate the DCSD adapted sports model, as re-conceptualized by Vaughn. The plan involves forming a non–profit association to provide leadership and governance for a replicable school–based league system.
- Vaughn and Storms founded the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Vaughn takes on the role of AAASP’s CEO, while Storms assumes the position of AAASP’s COO.
- Ron Lykins, a Paralympic wheelchair basketball coach, has been hired as the AAASP Director of Training. He will create and oversee AAASP-adapted sports educational coaching courses.
- Leslie Sweatman joined the AAASP staff as the organization’s State Coordinator and assisted with educational training for coaches and officials. She previously taught students with orthopedic impairments at Avondale High School in the DCSD, specializing in coaching the wheelchair team in handball and basketball.
- AAASP develops a school-based membership structure and administrative plans for standardized adapted team sports, program implementation, and sustainability.
- AAASP and the United States Disabled Athletes Fund are collaborating to expand the DeKalb school’s adapted sports model as a Paralympic legacy program across other school districts in Georgia.
- AAASP hosted a free workshop at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta on September 15, 1996, for school-aged students with physical disabilities and their parents. The workshop featured a panel discussion with experts, a demonstration of wheelchair team handball, guided discussion groups, and an opportunity for parents to register their children for the wheelchair team handball program.
- AAASP implemented wheelchair team handball (formerly indoor wheelchair soccer) as its first competitive sport for physically disabled students. In January 1997, AAASP introduced its second competitive sport, wheelchair basketball. Track and field was offered in the spring of 1997. AAASP adapted the rules of the national governing bodies for disabled sports to facilitate appropriate competition for school children with various physical disabilities.
- Between 1996 and 1998, more than a dozen new teams were created in three adapted team sports. Twenty-five coaches received training and certification in wheelchair team handball and wheelchair basketball. Six disability sports classifiers were trained in collaboration with Walton Rehabilitation Hospital, Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute, and Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital. Sixteen referees were trained in wheelchair team handball and wheelchair basketball. Five Adapted Sports Coordinators underwent training. Ten workshops were conducted for parents and teachers. Seventy regular-season games took place statewide.
- Professors from Emory University and the University of Georgia conducted a comprehensive study on participants in adapted sports programs, documenting improvements in physical, emotional, and social aspects of their lives.
- AAASP assumes management and financial responsibilities for the Southeast Regional Victory Games track and field meet, formerly known as the DeKalb–Gwinnett Victory Games. This competition will be the primary event of AAASP’s track and field season in the state of Georgia.
- The Georgia state legislature appropriates funds to support AAASP’s operations.
- Inaugural recipient of the IMPACT Award, United Way of Metro Atlanta, for exemplifying the goals of America’s Promise (headed by Retired General Colin Powell) to empower America’s youth.
- Received the Community Program Award, Tommy Nobis Center Foundation, for an outstanding, proactive, and innovative approach to helping those with physical disabilities reach their full potential.
- Named Semi-finalist (Top 100 of 1600 applicants) in “Innovations in American Government Award,” Ford Foundation, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
1991-1995
- Vaughn thoroughly evaluated the program, transforming it from an after-school recreational activity into an athletic program that more closely resembles school athletics for students without disabilities.
- The program’s design now meets the standards set by national adult disabled sports governing bodies and interscholastic athletics for students without disabilities.
- Emphasis is placed on academic standards, standardized seasons, cross-disability rules, policies, and educational training for coaches. Vaughn is assembling a team of leaders in paralympic sports, high school athletics, and business to explore program expansion and replication in other school districts.
1980-1990
- Educators within Georgia’s DeKalb County School District (DCSD) initiated a volunteer after–school sports program for students with physical disabilities.
- Parents of students with physical disabilities in Georgia’s DCSD met with members of the Board of Education to advocate for hiring a full-time Coordinator to manage and lead the adapted sports program, which had gone beyond the capacity of volunteer efforts.
- DCSD has hired Bev Vaughn, a certified therapeutic recreation therapist at Emory University Hospital with experience and expertise in developing and administering programs for underserved populations in clinical, community, and educational settings, to serve as the school district's first Adapted Sports Coordinator.
Lets Tell Our Story Together...
AAASP celebrates 30 years of interscholastic adapted sports this year - and we are looking for your stories of how AAASP has impacted your life at home, at school, and as you have ventured out into the world!
YOUR story is OUR story - Let's tell it together! Whether it was your first game with AAASP, your favorite coach, your first championship, or simply how playing sports has positively affected your life -- whatever memory you'd like to share–we would love for you to share it with us to help tell the history of 30 years with AdaptED Sports!