Empowerment3 is a center at James Madison University for Physical Activity and Wellness of Underserved Youth. Under Empowerment3, there is Overcoming Barriers, Adapted Sports Day and Ability Olympics which are different events/activities that provide different opportunities for individuals with disabilities of all ages. Overcoming Barriers:
Overcoming Barriers provides three different activities f
or individuals with disabilities. There are after school programs, Helping Hands and I Can Do It, You Can Do It! (ICDI). There are 12-15 after school programs that are provided every semester and activities include fitness, dance, aquatics and many more. Mentees in after school programs are matched one on one with a JMU mentor that will work with them for 10 weeks throughout the program. The program is planned and led by JMU students. Helping Hands is an in school program where JMU students go to different PE and Adapted PE Classes in the area to provide support to the teachers and the students in that classroom. Finally, ICDI is a one on one mentoring program. JMU students are matched specifically based on interest and goals to a specific mentee and they work one on one outside of after school programs and on their own time and schedule. They work together to help the mentee achieve his/her goals. Informational Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9xNbDuEsYA
Adapted Sports Day:
Adapted Sports Day is an event held at JMU every year that started in Fall 2013. Adapted Sports Day is set out to empower individuals with disabilities through sport. It is geared toward middle and high school students and to show them that sports and college is possible. Adapted Sports Day is one of the state wide events run through Empowerment3 and students from VA and other states can come to JMU for the weekend to experience life as a college student. The event usually runs from Friday night to Saturday. Friday night involves a meet and greet with JMU students and the participants will get to watch a JMU sports event with other JMU students and get to hang out. Saturday, they will get matched one on one with a JMU student and throughout the day they will get the chance to learn and play the sport that is focused for that event. Past events have focused on soccer, volleyball and basketball. Ability Olympics:
Ability Olympics is a multi-sport Olympic style event for individuals of all ages with any disability. This event gets individuals a chance to showcase their skills in different sports and activities but also gives them a chance to try out new sports that they have not had the opportunity to in the past. Ability Olympics is a statewide event that reaches out to individuals around the state but also is a end of the semester event for Overcoming Barriers mentees. Mentees in Overcoming Barriers get a chance to showcase their skills that they have improved on the last 10 weeks based on the program they were enrolled in.
