Mission: Enhancing life's participation through sports and recreation by leveling the playing field.
Vision: People with all abilities participate and/or compete in as varied activities as the rest of the community. Participants feel comfortable trying new sports and recreation opportunities and exploring new ways of doing previous activities. Madonna's Adaptive Sports & Recreation Program is a leader and resource for other communities.
Benefits: Children and adults with acquired physical disabilities as a result of traumatic injury or illness often are not aware of the availability and benefits of recreation and adaptive sports activities. Just as with able-bodied individuals, participation in recreational activities promotes physical health and wellness by increasing heart and respiration rates, facilitating muscle tone, maintaining optimal weight, and honing agility skills. These activities can also impact social and emotional wellbeing by providing interaction with peers, offering distraction from the stress of daily life, and providing individuals with a sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction.
Therapeutic: Integration of adaptive sports and recreation activities into rehabilitation provides a unique and fun context for working on specific therapeutic activities and skills such as balance, coordination, advanced gait training, fine motor control, and even cognition (thinking skills) and communication. Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital is one of the only hospitals in the region that offers a structured Adaptive Sports & Recreation Program with multiple opportunities for inpatients, outpatients, and community members to participate in various sports.
Madonna's Adaptive Sports & Recreation Program has three basic areas of focus: Open Recreation, Adaptive Sports Workshops and Competition.
Open Recreation: Madonna Rehabilitation hospital offers scheduled opportunities to learn or enhance skills specific to a certain sport. Each open time allows a person interested in a sport to work in a non intimidating environment with hands-on instruction. Whether you are a person who has enjoyed a sport in the past or is interested in acquiring a new hobby, then open recreation is a perfect opportunity to try a sport with instruction. The following sports are offered on a regular schedule, monthly:
- Bowling Offered the 4th Monday of each month from 10:30-11:30 at Parkway Lanes, S 48th Street. Madonna therapists work with individuals to learn adaptive techniques and use of adaptive equipment for bowling.
- Tennis - Offered the 2nd Monday of each month from 1:30-2:30 PM at the Woods Tennis Center, 33rd & J Streets. Participants will learn basic skills and adaptations with a professional instructor provided by Woods Tennis Center. Skills that are worked on include hand-eye coordination, range of motion, wheelchair movement if necessary, fore hands, back hands, etc.
- Golf - During the spring thru fall months, golf open time will be held at Jim Ager Golf course on the 3rd Monday of each month 1030-1130 am. This will run from April thru October.Participants will learn basic skills such as grip, swing and the use of adaptive clubs if needed for those using a wheelchair. Instruction will be given by Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital staff. Adaptive golf carts and instructions also provided.
- Billiards - Offered the 1st Monday of each month in Fall/Winter from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Calvert Recreation Center beginning January 2010. Participants will learn basic billiards skills in a controlled and supervised environment.
- Adaptive Fishing -Held on the 1st Monday of each month during late spring and summer months, times vary, at the accessible dock at Holmes Lake Park. Therapeutic Recreation Specialists help with use of adaptive equipment and techniques.
- Basketball - The Madonna Magic Basketball team practices every Tuesday evening October-March from 7-10 pm at Madonna ProActive. If you are interested in attending or playing, contact Ian Thompson at (402) 486-7766 or email ithompson@madonna.org.
Adaptive Sports Workshops: Madonna offers affordable workshops to the community on various adaptive sports. To find out dates and times of the workshops and to register on line, go to the Event Calendar.
- Adaptive Sports Fair: Each September, as part of the celebration of Rehabilitation Week, Madonna offers an Adaptive Sports Fair. The fair, held at Madonna ProActive link is free and open to the public. The fair gives participants an opportunity to receive information on a variety of sports through demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and interactions with actively involved athletes with disabilities. Examples of activities include: quad rugby, wheelchair basketball, handcycling, adaptive Wii, fencing, and sit volleyball.
- First Swing Golf Workshop: The Madonna Adaptive Sports and Recreation Program collaborates with the National Amputee Golf Association and the Highlands Golf Course to hold a "First Swing Learn to Golf Workshop" semi-annually. The workshop is conducted by instructors from the National Amputee Golf Association and is designed to provide clinicians training of the golf swing in order to use golf as a tool to work on rehabilitation skills and to assist individuals with physical limitations to learn or relearn the game of golf. The first part of the workshop is set up to train the clinicians and the second half is for individuals with physical limitations to attend and receive golf instruction and information from the newly trained therapists.
- Other Workshops: Workshops on specific wheelchair sports, such as Quad Rugby, Power Soccer, and Sled Ice Hockey are offered throughout the year. Visit our event calendar or contact Ian Thompson at (4020 486-7766 or email ithompson@madonna.org for more information.
Competition: Madonna supports athletes with disabilities in many ways.
- The Madonna Magic:A competitive wheelchair basketball team, the Magic is a member of the Mid-West Conference and is associated with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. The current team is made up of players from eastern Nebraska but is open to all. The team practices regularly at Madonna ProActive Health & Fitness Center and travels throughout the region competing in tournaments and exhibitions.
- Venue Madonna Golf ClassicA fantastic new golf tournament for players of all abilities. In partnership with Venue Restaurant and ArborLinks Golf Course, the Madonna Foundation hosted this special event in August, 2009. Proceeds benefit Madonna's adaptive sports and recreation program.
- Wheelchair Tennis TournamentMore information to come.
- Golf "Fore" All Abilities:This tournament is usually held toward the beginning of June and is typically held at the Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln. The format for the tournament is done in a scotch doubles format paring up a person with an activity limitation to one without. Participants with and without disabilities alternate shots during this tournament.
- Madonna Invitational Basketball Tournament:The Madonna Invitational Basketball Tournament is an annual event typically held in February. Teams from throughout the region are invited to compete in a round robin formatted tournament. The action is fast paced and the competition fierce.
- Athletic Sponsorships:Madonna's Adaptive Sports & Recreation Program offers financial assistance to athletes with disabilities who are interested in furthering their goals and need some help. Scholarship or sponsorships may be given to help off-set equipment costs, travel costs or team sponsorship. Individuals must have a disability and meet other criteria. For more information or to apply, contact Ian Thompson at 402-486-7766 or email ithompson@madonna.org.
- National Wheelchair Basketball Association:The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is comprised of over 200 basketball teams within twenty-two conferences. The NWBA was founded in 1948, and today consists of men's, women's, intercollegiate, and youth teams throughout the United States of America and Canada.
