Sophia's Story

I am writing this to let you know how glad my family is that the Wichita Adaptive Sports organization is available to us here in Wichita. Our daughter, Sophia was born with Spina Bifida. She is wheelchair mobile with limited use of her legs. While the wheelchair allows her the freedom to move around and participate in a lot of activities with other children it also unfortunately separates her from her peers as well. She is not able to participate in most sports with able bodied children and as such had not shown any interest in sports. This is where Wichita Adaptive Sports (WAS) come into play. 

About a year ago we became involved with WAS and their wheelchair tennis program.  Sophia not only enjoyed learning to play tennis she also met other local girls who were also wheelchair mobile. Becoming friends with others who are similar to you and can understand you is critical to not just a child but any person. Her relationship with these other girls and boys continues to grow even today. It also provides a good forum for the parents to speak to each other and use each other for resources in regard to insurance, therapy, surgeries, recovery, treatments, etc.

As the year has gone by Sophia has become involved in wheelchair basketball, adaptive swim as well as track and field. Many of these sports require specialized equipment such as a throwing chair for throwing field implements (discus, javelin, shot put), sport chairs for basketball and tennis, or racing chairs for track. WAS has been able to provide some of this equipment for us to borrow and use to compete in these sports. Without WAS we would likely not be able to participate in most of the sports Sophia is involved in. Sophia was also able to take swim lessons at not only a discounted rate because of WAS at the Wichita Swim Club, there was an instructor at the Wichita Swim Club that was able to go to Colorado Springs to learn how to teach adaptive swim to our kids. 

Because of the ability to borrow or use this equipment and resources Sophia was able to join several other WAS athletes and compete in the Endeavor Games in Edmond, Oklahoma. Sophia competed in 5 swimming, 4 track, and 3 field events earning 7 gold and 4 silver medals. Sophia's interest in these sports continues to grow and I believe she will continue to participate in them for many years to come.

• Rolf and Jackie Beers

Now 16 years old, Sophia has gone to the 2024 Endeavor Games and achieved gold in breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle. She also received gold in indoor archery and silver for 50-yard outdoor archery. For Track and Field (Discus, Shot Put, and Javelin), she placed silver!

Today, she attends Tennis practices at WSU. In the fall, she still competes with the Wichita Adaptive Sports basketball team. In the summer, she competes on the Wichita Adaptive Sports track & field team.