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Adaptive sports come to Vail as local group works to fight stigma
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Adaptive sports come to Vail as local group works to fight stigma

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Over the past week, every physical education student at Old Vail Middle School played wheelchair sports.

It’s an effort carried out, in part, by Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports, a nonprofit organization that helps shed new light on adaptive athletics.

“We love coming to any school that welcomes us so we can introduce students to adaptive sports and change societal norms, change societal perceptions of disability,” said Karl Yares, director of basketball operations.

They were at Old Vail Middle School because of one of their players.

“We came to Vail because of Estevan, one of our athletes on the Junior Wildcats, our Tucson youth wheelchair basketball team,” Yares says.

The sports played this week were wheelchair basketball and rugby.

Estevan Carrion is a 6th grader at Old Vail and he says Yares and the group coming to his school give him the opportunity to show his classmates what he can do.

“So that they can see what I do when I’m not at school and also be able to join us if they want to,” Carrion says.

Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports is open to everyone. More information can be found on his website.

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Blake Phillips East a reporter for KGUN 9. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Blake grew up in Sierra Vista. While attending college at the Missouri School of Journalism, Blake worked for NBC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia. He is excited to return to a place he calls home and give back to the community he grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Blake via email [email protected].

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