ParaSport Ontario Niagara Edition Spring/Summer 2022

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52 ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022

SNAP to It

Supporting Neurodiversity through Adaptive Programming (SNAP) is an
education–based movement curriculum offered to children and youth with
disabilities in the Niagara region.

Formerly known as the Special Needs Activity Program, at SNAP, participants’
health, safety and well-being are the program’s primary priorities. Based out of Brock
University’s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, trained student volunteers work with
youth who require one-on-one support (and in some cases two-to-one support).

SNAP develops and enhances movement competency through play and sport.
At the same time, it provides a developmentally-appropriate environment, encouraging
achievement and nurturing dignity. Always in motion itself, SNAP constantly adapts based on
observations for what works and what doesn’t for each individual participant.

Learn more at www.brocku.ca/applied-health-sciences/kinesiology/snap.

MAKING STRIDES.

Changing Lives.

In 2009 a small group met at Angie Ruigrok’s farmhouse in
South Niagara to share in her passion for service to the commu-
nity. From that meeting came a common vision and Ruigrok’s
farm and horses have been used by EquineAbility ever since.

EquineAbility Therapeutic Riding Centre offers a rewarding
experience with horses to those who, because of various mobili-
ty and developmental limitations, would probably not have that
opportunity otherwise.

“This incredible program recognizes the abilities in every-
one, despite challenges they may face,” shares client Lianne
Wyatt. “The horse, with its many therapeutic benefits, is a
great equalizer. If you’ve never watched a child ride a horse,
it’s pretty amazing! They sit up taller and take in their world
from a majestic new vantage point.”

Recognizing that the unique needs of some of the
Centre’s clients prevent them from mounting and riding a
horse, EquineAbility purchased a wheelchair-accessible horse-
drawn cart for the farm with the help of Wise Guys Charity Fund.

For more information: www.equineabilityniagara.com.

ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022 53

Accessing New Heights

at PARAD I SAEA CIRCUS ARTS

Imagine hanging 10 feet high in the ‘I can’t touch my toes, so I can’t do Help is always available for those
air, by only colourful fabric, and per- this.’ We want people to perform in who need it, but Young encourages
forming airborne acts with ease. And keeping with their body’s ability.” individuals to do as much as they can
imagine doing this while leaving your on their own. “Everyone’s body is
wheelchair, or any sort of disability Inclusivity has been Young’s goal different, and everyone’s capabilities
behind. ever since she started the studio. are different. We always try to find
“I did my training in Japan. I’m a which adaptive equipment works
It’s not just for imagining at 6-foot-tall girl, whereas most others best for every student.” Visit www.
Paradisaea, a circus arts school in were very petite. Some things that paradisaea-aerial.com.
Niagara Falls. Honing participants’ they could do no problem, I would
aerial and circus-style dance and struggle with. I thought ‘well, why
performance skills, Paradisaea offers can’t I do this but not that?’ We avoid
classes in hammock, trapeze, hoop, that in my studio. At our studio, no
silks and bungee fitness for all ages matter what your ability is, you can
and abilities. always work to your best ability.”

Mary Young, the studio’s owner To ensure fully inclusive program-
and head choreographer, explains ming at Paradisaea, Young and her
that most of her students come to coaches participated in Kingston
her with no experience at all. Circus Arts’ Flying Footless course
– specialized training for circus and
Classes are designed for individ- movement coaches to increase
uals to work through the skills and access for the disability community.
tricks at their own pace, building “The workshop opened my eyes to
muscle and flexibility as they go. “We what inclusive programming means.
strive to include all abilities,” adds But even before the course, we
Young. “We want an inclusive environ- would welcome everyone.”
ment. We don’t want people thinking,

Serving Up Wheelchair Tennis

Wheelchair tennis is one of the A great sport for lower extremity
fastest growing adaptive sports in the amputees too.
world. Just like its able-bodied coun-
terpart, wheelchair tennis requires Aside from the sport wheelchair,
power, speed, finesse, precision, no specialized tennis equipment is
and strategy. What’s more, it can be required to play wheelchair tennis.
played with and against stand-up A sport wheelchair gives players
players, making it a fun and inclusive greater mobility, balance and speed
activity for the whole family! than an everyday chair. These chairs
can be built for a customized fit.
The sport is open to athletes of all
ages and abilities. Anyone can play Want to play, or even just try it
recreationally, but only those with out? There’s plenty of wheelchair
permanent mobility-related lower tennis being played at the Grimsby
limb impairments can compete at an Tennis Club. Visit the website at
international level. There is a ‘quad’ www.grimsbytennis.org to learn
division for athletes who have impair- more about the club, and visit their
ments that affect their upper limbs. courts for a fun time with friends
and family.

54 ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022

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To support this philosophy, OCPSA, the governing body for the sport of
boccia in Ontario, has developed the Boccia Bratz program.
Boccia Bratz is an 8-session program led by trained instructors.
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ONTARIO BLIND SPORTS
A S S O C I AT I O N

INCLUSION

With Us PO: You manage the longest run-
ning community service program
AND NOT WITHOUT US in Niagara and it’s huge. Tell me
about it.
The Motto and Mantra
of Maureen Connolly MC: Yes it is. It’s massive. About 1,600
kids who come from September to
Dr. Maureen Connolly is a woman of polished contradiction. From the April. And 300 volunteers. We’ve
Rock that is Newfoundland to the smooth flow of the Grand River near got schools from across Niagara
her home now, her character is as gritty and as steady as both. Undying participating one day a week for the
patience with bodily differences, but unrelenting intolerance with human academic year. One hundred kids at
indifference. Standards but not double ones. Playful and professional. a time and we start with 200 to 300
Funny yet fastidious. Casually transparent and yet protectively untrusting. volunteers.
A propensity for joy and delight and an admitted tendency to rage.
PO: What is it?
All of that together makes Maureen Connolly, PhD, a sometimes contrary
force in the world of academia. Conversely, she’s a reassuring voice among MC: It’s called SNAP. It’s all about
the community of persons with physical and cognitive differences whom she movement and sport. It’s for school-
supports and serves. aged kids in Niagara – four or five
years old to 21 depending on when
A long-standing Brock University faculty member, Connolly is a Professor of they graduate from high school – who
Physical Education and Kinesiology with her life’s work recently materializing in have a hard time accessing physical
her dream for the Brock-Niagara Centre of Excellence in Inclusive and Adaptive activity opportunities. We have a
Physical Activity. ParaSport® Ontario’s Jeff Tiessen sat down with her for a chat. Saturday program for young adults
too. It started in 1994 as a product of
an independent study by a Masters
student. There was a school called
Lady Spencer Churchill which was
essentially a segregated school for
kids with disabilities. They were our
first participants. It was like a field trip
for them. I made it a project for my
undergrad students. I oversee it all,
with help from two colleagues. I’m
the faculty member who manages
it. It’s at Brock, but not a program of
Brock. But Brock benefits from it.

PO: What does SNAP stand for?

MC: Now it is Supporting Neurodiver-
sity through Adaptive Programming.
When we started it was Special Needs
Activity Program. That name doesn’t
fly anymore. Same intent. Different
name.

ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022 57

Photo by Brock University PO: And the other big change –
embodiment? What do you mean?
PO: You said, “start with 300 language. And we know community
volunteers.” What do you mean? service organizations are looking for MC: In a culture where you are given
our volunteers to work in their pro- information that you are “less than”
MC: We start with a lot more volun- grams once they graduate. takes a toll on you even if you don’t
teers than we finish with. So many believe it. For me, embodiment-based
think that this is what they want to PO: I’d imagine SNAP has evolved research is really important. More
do. They have a very romanticized since 1994. What are you doing and more I realize that you cannot
notion about engaging with disabled differently today? build programs for people. You need
kids, when really they are engaging to build programs with people. I’m
with a wide variety of unconventional MC: The biggest things involve building this embodiment philosophy
bodies. They have this poster child research and embodiment. What I into all of my activity programming.
idea of a cute kid with Down syn- know now that I didn’t know then Nothing about us without us.
drome who’s going to adore them about research was that I believed it
and obey everything that they say. applied to my participants. The longer PO: You are an educator, a
They’re not ready for the kid that’s that I was in the field of adapted researcher, a program designer,
going to tell them to “F- off.” They physical activity the more I saw some an advocate, a facilitator, and you
usually don’t know how to be with research for what it really was. Things relate first-hand to the lived expe-
children, let alone children that need like inclusion and exclusion criteria and rience of accommodation right?
accommodation. funding constraints make for circum-
scribed research with not a whole lot MC: I do, at some level. I have
PO: Who stays? of relevance for the people to whom peripheral neuropathy from che-
the study really applies. Practitioners, motherapy. I can’t feel my hands or
MC: Those who stay are super solid in good faith, try to implement these my feet. Our world is dominated by
volunteers. Good ones can work with recommendations but they don’t packaging and buttons and zippers
two kids at a time. The ones who stay work. and I can’t feel a thing. I use my
discover things about themselves visual and auditory skills and senses
that they never knew. They never A lot of funded research leaves to accommodate. You can hear me
knew they were patient. They never out a lot of people. And the kind of type all over the house because I
knew they were imaginative. They research that works with smaller have to hit the keys so hard. I throw
never knew they were playful with groups of people has trouble getting my laundry down the stairs because
kids. They find out that they have a published. So, we have this kind of if I hold the laundry basket I can’t
disposition that doesn’t panic, but vacuum. High-level performance see my feet and if I can’t see my
one that finds solutions when things research, with athletes for example feet I can’t see the stairs. I don’t
don’t work out. They find out that is good. Performance-enhancing get feedback from anything touch-
they are versatile. They consult with research is great. And biomechanics screen. It’s a small thing, but it has
the participant, instead of pretending research is great with prosthetic and certainly helped me understand
they know what they don’t know. wheelchair users. Physical injury dis- how people with disabilities process
They stop using medical language ability research is easier than research information. Especially when you
and start using community-based on cognitive disability. can’t use tactility.

Another example comes from
those I work with with autism. Their
relationship between sensation and
perception is quite compromised.
A meaningful perception of what’s
going on is different. They need
intense experiences of sensation
to reach their threshold. But if it’s
too intense, it could be too much.
That’s an embodied experience.

58 ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022

“ So many people with disabilities have to try and
make others feel more comfortable with them.
Why is that on them?”

PO: Your influences? How did you more difficult to challenge the PO: Ableism. You hate it. And
get to here? good performer, but they can’t sim- you’ve made it one of your fights.
plify things for the poor performer. I What is it exactly?
MC: I always knew that I wanted to discovered I was really good at break-
be a teacher. I remember using the ing things down into fundamental MC: Ableism is the assumption that
neighbour’s house as a chalkboard patterns and making them simpler. certain kinds of bodies are less valu-
when I was little. I was a varsity athlete able than other kinds of bodies. And,
but never that great of a mover. I had PO: You mentioned poverty when you know when you have the kind of
a number of people in my life who I you were talking about influenc- body that is valuable and you know
never wanted to teach like. Influential ers. What did it give you? when you have the kind of body that
for all the wrong reasons right? is not. And unfortunately, in some
MC: A sense of humour for sure. But ways, the person whose body is un-
I grew up in poverty. I never got the that comes naturally in St. John’s, dervalued can contribute to ableism
tennis lessons. But I have a lot of fast Newfoundland, that’s for sure too. because they’re socialized that way
twitch fiber. I was a great jumper and But for me it was a coping strate- inside this weird capitalist value
made the volleyball team. I was like gy that you develop in poverty. An system of ours. We are socialized in
a kangaroo in volleyball. My coach appreciation for the absurd. My mom a world of competition, contribution
in high school was really great. She was unintentionally funny, which is and working hard. People can work
knew how to make progressions. She even funnier. super hard and not get what they
worked with me on my raw ability. deserve.
I’m not necessarily that talented, but I PO: What else do you see in
can outwork just about anybody. yourself and your mother? PO: How do we counter this value
system?
My swim instructor Joe Lake, that was MC: Both very practical. There’s no
his name I swear, took me from com- substitute for hard work, she’d say. MC: It’s really difficult. Look at all
plete fear of the water in a “pre-be- “We have it bad, but others have it the words in our language that
ginners” class to being a lifeguard, worse,” was one of her favourites. I fuel it… stand by me, stand up for
through progressions, progressions, always think about people who are yourself, stand-up guy. It’s built into
progressions. He broke things down, more marginalized or oppressed than the discourse. And in jokes, even bad
and respected my fear. He told me me. I got that from her. Do the next ones that are “lame”. It’s insulting.
that I would be a good teacher be- task like you’re supposed to do and do What are you deaf? What are you
cause I understood fear. it well. And then do the next one. Do blind? Those aren’t compliments. So,
what you say you’re going to do, she’d how can you live with the body that
I realized all this progression stuff tell. So many people don’t. isn’t conventional or valued and not
made a whole lot of sense in coach- internalize that? It’s hard.
ing. I wasn’t a great gymnast but I University is a weird place. There’s
was a pretty good coach. And that not a lot of people like me there. PO: For change, is there a magic
became my thing, breaking big things Most people working in a universi- bullet?
into smaller things. Practicing skills ty are middle or upper class. They
without having to do the whole skill. don’t come from my roots. There MC: Yes. Here’s the magic bullet…
was a slight criminal element to my hang out with people who aren’t just
Some teachers are really good at upbringing. When you’re poor you like you. So many people with disabil-
modifying things to assist good per- have to be… resourceful. Creative. ities have to try and make others feel
formers to get better. But they have Maybe that’s why yelling at me is more comfortable with them. Why is
difficulty in helping poor performers useless. that on them? That’s just shitty.
get better. They can make things

ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022 59

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ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

LIFE Way By Jeff Tiessen
Above PAR
To say that two-time World Games
World and gold medalist Tess Trojan is an
Community Champion accomplished athlete is very
true. But that lofty achievement
Tess Trojan is far from what solely defines
the 32-year-old Special Olympics
athlete from St. Catharines. She’s
a community champion too, a role
model, mentor, ambassador and
a valued volunteer.

Tess is very appreciative of Special
Olympics for giving her so much.
Athletic hardware, yes, but she suc-
cinctly shares that it’s so much more
than that. “Confidence, challenges,
new skills and new friends,” she says,
adding that giving back to the organi-
zation and community is so important
to her now.

She’s been involved with Special
Olympics for 20 years, currently as a
ten-pin bowler, speed skater, basket-
baller, and golfer. Tess has captured
gold medals at the National Games
and two World Games, first in Los
Angeles in 2015 and again in Dubai
four years later. Her favourite sports
are golf and basketball.

“Special Olympics made a big differ-
ence for Tess,” says her dad. “It gave Tess
an opportunity to succeed as an athlete,
and the pride that comes with that.”

Inspired by their daughter’s passion
for golf, Tess’s parents Mike and Jane,
with the help of Niagara Parks’ The
Legends nine-hole course in Chippawa,
co-founded the Niagara North Chippewa
Chippers golf program for other athletes
with different abilities.

ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022 61

Supporting athletes
wherever their dreams
take them

We are proud to support athletes and build communities
as diverse as the clients we serve.

MNP.ca

“A lways do your best, but to do that you need to
take the time to be your best. Try and get outside
of your comfort zone.”

Tess has always been very athletic. she was going to be accepted and a young friend with an intellectual
Before Special Olympics, she was treated equally... and be able to disability. She also volunteers as a
involved in all kinds of community participate, develop skills and build “buddy” with a Brock University
sports, including baseball and basket- confidence.” Special Olympics did special needs program called SNAP
ball. She progressed to her brown/ just that for Tess. And a lengthy list which serves elementary and sec-
black belt in karate. “She played until of accomplishments, not just athletic, ondary students with a disability.
she was about 10 or 11 years old, un- attests to that. Tess served on the Special Olympics
til it became difficult for her to keep Ontario Board of Directors as the
up,” explains Mike. “She began to She was inducted as her High Athlete Representative for eight
understand her differences and why School’s 2016 Wall of Fame Athlete, years. And, she is the first athlete
she was starting to fall behind.” the first athlete with an intellectual with an intellectual disability to be
disability to be inducted. She’s a inducted in the Niagara Golf Wall of
That’s when Tess got involved graduate of Niagara College with Fame as a contributor to the game of
in Special Olympics. “For us,” Mike certificates in College Exploration and golf in Niagara.
shares, “it was our goal for her to be Pre-Community Services. She’s proud
as independent as possible and fit of her volunteer work as an usher for Mike acknowledges that in main-
into her community doing the things the Niagara Ice Dogs and the First stream sports his daughter wouldn’t
she likes to do without us hovering Ontario Performing Arts Centre in have been able to achieve some of
over her. It was important to us for St. Catharines. She volunteers in a the successes that she’s had. “It’s hard
her to have a safe place to go where kindergarten classroom and mentors to say with certainty, but I don’t think

ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022 63

Tess would have achieved some of Now Tess is focused on giving During her time on the Athlete Coun-
the things that she has without the back. “Now I’m an athlete repre- cil for Special Olympics Ontario Tess
skills and confidence and discipline sentative on the Special Olympics was asked to do a practicum. Hers
that she got from sport and Special Canada board. I’m on the Accessibility was coming up with ways to prepare
Olympics… the confidence to Committee and an Accessibility Lead athlete reps for community councils,
complete high school and go on to for the golf venue for the Niagara a first for Niagara and many other
community college included. I believe 2022 Canada Summer Games. I’m an communities. Her timing was excel-
that the doors that opened up for ambassador for ParaSport® Ontario lent as it was the Niagara Athlete
her through Special Olympics have too.” Council members who led Wednes-
contributed to the success she’s had day Workouts during the pandemic.
in other things in her life.” And she’s making quite a contri- In Niagara, she’s also a member of the
bution in her hometown community Brock University CAPA Community
Tess agrees. “It’s hard not to cry as well. All the coaches of the various Advisory Committee (newly-formed
when I think about everything Special sports at Special Olympics in Niagara Centre for Adaptive Physical Activity).
Olympics has done for me. I just love are part of a Community Council.
it.” But she is quick to share that her Mike says that the friends and
international successes were hard- acquaintances that Tess has made
earned. “There is a lot of work you through Special Olympics, and the
have to do to get there. It takes a lot benefits to them as a family, have led
of hard work and dedication. And I he and Jane to contribute and volun-
was really lucky to have my dad as my teer too. “To give back too,” he says,
caddy,” she says with a smile. “to other families like ours.”

For Canada’s Special Olympics When asked what advice she’d
athletes competing internationally, give to others like her, Tess doesn’t
qualification begins at the regional, hesitate in saying, “Always do your
provincial and national levels four best, but to do that you need to take
years in advance of World Games. the time to be your best. Try and get
Athletes are selected as potential outside of your comfort zone.” And
representatives and then spend the with that she puts a point on the pen-
4th year in all-around training, includ- cil with: “For me it’s about leading by
ing a nutrition program and daily logs. example. Showing my ability. Seeing
“The model is athlete first, and sport my impact. I advocate for inclusivity
second,” Tess explains. “You have to and acceptance and participation.”
be dedicated to training and being
healthy and fit.” That she does. And with that she is
way above par.
64 ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022

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SPORT SPOTLIGHT

By Morgan Hawley

An exciting new adaptive pro-
gram has hit the court at the
Niagara Children’s Centre. It’s
called Volt Hockey, a new kind
of hockey here in Canada that
is played in a motorized sports
chair for youth with a variety
of disabilities.

Niagara Region Volt is a great game for players with
Scores with lower and upper-body disabilities –
like muscular dystrophy or cerebral
Volt palsy – that make the more traditional
Hockey sport of sledge hockey difficult to
play. For many of these young hockey
enthusiasts, it’s their first opportunity
to ever play on a team.

The Niagara Children’s Centre is
recognized throughout the Niagara
Region as the provider of rehabilita-
tion and support services to children
and youth with physical, developmen-
tal and communicative delays and
disabilities. The Centre’s recreation
therapist Jaymieson O’Neill explains
that Volt Hockey offers her the ability
to work on different aspects of physi-
cal recreation with her players.

Unique to Canada, the sport orig-
inated in Denmark and was brought
here by Toronto-based Variety
Ontario. “We’re so lucky to be part of
the grassroots start-up of this sport in
Canada,” shares O’Neill. “It’s a unique
opportunity for kids and it’s going to
be awesome. It’s also great that the
chairs belong to the Centre so there
are no equipment fees for parents.”

The specialized sports chair has
a paddle on the front, which acts
similar to a hockey stick. Controlled by
a joystick, it can reach speeds up to 16
km/h and turn on a dime.

66 ParaSport Niagara Magazine | Summer 2022

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Like any team sport, O’Neill Jenn, a parent of one of the stars One of O’Neill’s challenges in
focuses on optimizing each play- of the Volt program explains: “My son the program is accommodating
er’s strengths, like passing the ball, Will has a very rare condition called the range of disabilities among her
shooting, maneuvering their chair or Generalized Lymphatic Anomaly. players. “It’s a learning process. As a
ball-handling, just like stick-handling. What that means is that his lungs fill recreational therapist I have clinical
“It really is that individual experience, with lymphatic fluid, so he’s unable experience working with kids of var-
and the way be play together, that is to breathe when they get too full. He ious abilities and knowing when an
so valuable for each player.” doesn’t have the lung capacity that environment would be conducive to
other children might have. With this many. Our coaches understand our
O’Neill goes on to say that skill de- condition he’s not able to run or do expectations for the program and
velopment is not unique to Volt, “but any physical exertion like ice skating ensure that the athletes are partici-
it’s just a really cool experience for and hockey. Volt Hockey is perfect pating within a space where they can
kids with physical disabilities to have for him. He used to play hockey and it work together.”
regardless of their physical capabili- gets him back into the sport he loves.”
ties.” The athlete’s trunk needs to be Jenn adds, “he loves, loves, loves The Niagara Children’s Centre
strong so they can sit up in their chair, coming every week. It’s so special to often runs events where anyone can
but fatigue isn’t so much of a factor him. He tells all his friends about it and come and try any of the sports they
for them because of the motorized loves playing on a team.” offer, including Volt Hockey, to see if
chair. “It’s more of a cognitive and it’s something that works for them.
controlled game,” she adds. Jenn also notes that Volt is her Currently, the program is open for
family’s first experience with an youth ages 10 and above. Kids with an
Because the sport is still very adaptive program and is unsure if interest in a fully-adapted and acces-
new to the Niagara Children’s they would have been able to partici- sible sport can sign up or choose from
Centre, O’Neill is at the recruitment pate if the equipment wasn’t provid- the Centre’s list of other program-
phase, introducing families to the ed. “It’s been amazing to arrive and ming options. For more information,
sport wherever she can. “Typically, everything is here for you, and you contact Jaymieson O’Neill at
interested families are those with don’t have to purchase it or bring it Jaymieson.oneill@niagarachildrens
a child who can’t participate in the in your car. We’re really thankful.” centre.com.
traditional form of hockey, but are
looking for something with a team
environment.”

O’Neill emphasizes that the pro-
gram is not about competition, yet
anyway. “It’s about fun and celebra-
tion and being able to get that sense
of sport and competition. These kids
are learning the foundational skills of
the sport. And with that comes a lot
of encouragement and praise. And
expectations too.”

Feedback from parents has been
supportive. “Mostly,” O’Neill says,
“families couldn’t imagine hockey
being something that their child could
participate in. Beyond that, the envi-
ronment isn’t cold which is important,
the stimulation of just six players on
the court instead of 10 is beneficial,
and the equipment being adaptable,
are all pluses.”

68 ParaSport Niagara Magazine | Summer 2022



FINAL WORD

“ Within you is
the strength,
the patience,
and the passion
to reach for the
stars to change
the world.”

– Harriet Tubman

Kayla
Crnecki

70 ParaSport Magazine | SUMMER 2022