Video Transcript: Kicking through barriers: CNY United scores big for adaptive sports
Jude Bazerman: Welcome back to NCC News at 4. Over 27 million kids play some form of sport. Yet not every rink or field is easily accessible.
Nathaniel Cunningham: Yet here is Central New York though, one local sports team is making an adaptive impact.
Mark Chaupettea: We believe in and we say it all the time. The Word Disability is not in our vocabulary. Take the ‘D’, the ‘I’ and the ‘S’ out and it’s just about ability and that’s what our life is about.
Cunningham: The sport of power soccer has grown from an idea in a classroom to an international phenomenon. Well here in Syracuse, CNY United, hosted a five squad memorial tournament over the weekend. But the event was more than just a sport.
Peyton Sefick: We get to be around people that deal with similar things that we do in our life. We live in different places but we deal with similar things. So, it’s really cool to be able to have that knowledge of our peers around us but also not have to deal with that stuff and just get out there and compete against each other.
Cunningham: That competition matriculated in 14 matches across two days. While the competitive spirit is important, to coach Chauppetta there is a bigger meaning.
Chaupetta: The great thing about power soccer is that it’s a sport that has various disabilities. So I guess it gives them some purpose.
Cunningham: While that purpose might be playing a sport or connecting with others it doesn’t come without challenges. A standard strikeforce powered wheelchair is nearly 10 thousand dollars. despite that Sefick said its all worth it
Sefick: It’s not easy. But it is a really healing space to be around because we all have similar experiences. So it’s important for us to come together and celebrate the game that we love.
Cuningham: That love for the game all concluded when each summer, power soccer teams from around the world met in Fort Wayne, Indiana for the world championship. Last year CNY United was the Champions Division runner up.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The sport of power wheelchair soccer started as an idea from French teachers in the 1970s to make sports more accessible to all students. Now, nearly 60 years later, the sport has an international governing body and teams from seven nations. Over the weekend, Syracuse played home to one of many power wheelchair tournaments.
“We get to be around people that deal with similar things that we do in our life,” said Peyton Sefick, a player for the local team in Syracuse CNY United. “We live in different places but we deal with similar things. So, it’s really cool to be able to have that knowledge of our peers around us but also not have to deal with that stuff and just get out there and compete against each other.”
Five different teams from New Hampshire, Virginia, Massachusettes, New York and Montreal, Canada came to compete at Clary Middle School.
“The great thing about power soccer is that it’s a sport that has various disabilities,” said Mark Chauppetta, Coach of New England FC out of Massachusettes. “So I guess it gives them some purpose.”
Just like every other sport though, power soccer still has its challenges. A standard strikeforce powered wheelchair is nearly 10 thousand dollars.
“It’s not easy,” Safick said. “But it is a really healing space to be around because we all have similar experiences. So it’s important for us to come together and celebrate the game that we love.”
The love for the game saw CNY united finish as the runner up in the Champions Conference at the national power soccer tournmanet in Fort Wayne, Indiana this past June. While power soccer is an oppurtunity for people with disabilities, the players and coach think it is anything but that.
“We believe in and we say it all the time, the word disability is not in our vocabulary,” said Chauppetta. “Take the ‘D’, the ‘I’ and the ‘S’ out and it’s just about ability and that’s what our life is about.”