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Idaho Youth Sports Adaptive Camp back for 32nd year

Posted at 4:04 PM, Jun 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-20 19:10:11-04

BOISE — Back for its 32nd year, the Idaho Youth Sports Adaptive Camp is giving kids a space to let loose.

"It's a lot of fun. You learn new stuff, new experience, cool stuff. You have a lot of fun, make friends," said 11-year-old Gavin Cartrette.

There's a sport for everyone, whether it be wheelchair rugby or something a little less competitive.

"We play on a basketball court instead of like on a grass field, and we have to score goals through cones. It's like full contact basketball," said rugby coach Josiah Sullivan.

Sullivan attended years back as a camper after being in a car accident.

"It was really cool because it opened me up to all these sports. I had no idea what kind of sports I could do being newly in a wheelchair," said Sullivan.

Now, he's back out on the court as a coach.

"It's a lot of fun to get them out there and actually hit, let them see each other, hit each other once or twice in the chair, and it gets a really big reaction out of them, big smile on their face because they're like, 'ooh we get to hit hard' and they really enjoy that part," said Sullivan,

The camp has staff from St. Luke's on site, so the kids don't have to worry about the medical side of things.

"Just have fun," said 6-year-old Hadley Larsen.

Instead, they focus on making friends and pushing themselves to try activities that might have been outside of their comfort zone.

"Teaching them life goes on, you know, and whether we have these limitations but we can still do pretty much anything," said Sullivan.

If you ask them how they're enjoying the week, they'll just show you instead.

"Thumbs up," said Larsen.