Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp will welcome about 40 campers at the UCSB Recreation Center July 17-21.
The annual camp provides sports and recreation skills development for children, youth, and young adults, ages of 6-21 years old who can use a wheelchair to participate in sports and recreation activities.
Funding from the Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation allows all campers to attend for free.
Camp activities range from beginner to advanced wheelchair sports and recreation activities, including rugby, basketball, tennis, hand cycling, swimming, boxing, SCUBA diving, racquetball, obstacle course, climbing wall, ropes course, dancing, dodgeball, pickle ball, and a festival of fun.
More than 50 volunteers will assist the campers this summer.
Counselors and instructors are wheelchair users themselves, so they become natural mentors to the campers on how to stay healthy and active while living with a disability.
Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp began in 1986 and is the only camp of its kind on the Central Coast. It attracts campers from the Tri-counties and beyond, including Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Temecula.
Transportation for campers is provided for free from Oxnard, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara.
Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital and Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation sponsor the camp with support from individuals, organizations and businesses in the community.
The camp is led by Rene Van Hoorn, recreation therapist and manager of community programs at Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital.