DU QUOIN, Ill. (KFVS) – Next month’s Paralympic games in Paris will showcase the world’s top athletes with disabilities.
This week in the Heartland, some kids with disabilities are getting an introduction to the world of sports.
Golf clubs swing and basketballs bounce at NubAbility All Sports Camp in Du Quoin. Executive director Sam Kuhnert said the camp was created to give kids with disabilities a chance to play and compete in sports.
“NubAbility is a camp that was created by my mom and myself to give kids with limb difference and amputees, highly mobile cerebral palsy, a chance to come and compete in mainstream organized sports,” said Kuhnert.
Kuhnert says the camp’s been introducing kids with limb loss to the world of sports since 2012. Kids like Anthony Weeks.
“I was born without the majority of my left forearm,” said Anthony.
Weeks hasn’t let that stop him from doing what he loves, which is playing baseball.
“I’ve learned to adapt and focus on the good stuff,” said Anthony.
This is Weeks’s fourth year traveling from his home in Kansas City to Du Quoin for camp. He says connecting with the other athletes is the best part.
“My favorite part of camp is getting to meet other kids with hands and limbs like mine and just helping out the younger kids,” said Anthony.
“Our first year of camp was really eye-opening. for him to step out of the car and look around and see 10 or 15 other guys that looked just like him and he turned around and looked at me and said ‘Dad, his arms just like mine’,” said Dan Weeks.
Dan Weeks is Anthony’s dad. He says the camp is a unique learning opportunity for his son each year
“He plays baseball at home all the time. But he comes here and he learns from other guys that play college baseball that are built just like him,” said Dan.
The theme for this year’s camp is Gold Blooded Champion ahead of the Paralympics. Kuhnert says the young athletes can look up to those competing in the Paralympic games.
“What our Paralympians are doing, they’re going out there and they’re going to be champions. It’s because they have that mentality,” said Kuhnert.
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