Playing Sports with Cerebral Palsy
The tricky relationship between loving sports and having a disability
Having CP and loving sports can be a tricky relationship to navigate. For as long as I can remember, I have played some kind of a sport. As a kid, I tried everything, from gymnastics to soccer, cheerleading, basketball, and everything in between. I definitely had my favorites, namely soccer and cheerleading, but I loved it all! I was the kid who played soccer in the fall and the spring and the one who had several hours of cheerleading practice during the week, just to turn around and ask when the next competition was. I couldn’t get enough of it. Throughout my childhood, I always played mainstream sports. I didn’t even know adaptive sports were a thing until I got to college. This started out as a blessing, especially when I was little. My parents raised me in a way that, despite my CP, I tried everything. I was always aware of it, but I never let it get in the way of me being able to do what I loved. Sure, I was one of the slowest on the soccer field but I didn’t care. I was doing what I loved!
Five year old me on the soccer field!
All of this went great, up until I was about 13 years old. At that age, it suddenly became harder to keep up with my teammates. Everyone that I had played sports with my entire life seemed to go one of two ways with their sport of choice. The kids who were serious about it, and had hopes of playing at the high school level or higher, started playing for club teams which took sports to a more serious level. On the flip side, the kids who were just playing sports for the fun of it stopped playing and pivoted to other things. I didn’t want to do either! I knew that I didn’t have the skills required to make any sort of club or high school level team, but I didn’t want to stop sports all together quite yet. I distinctly remember going to sign up for recreational fall soccer when I was 14, and I was told I couldn’t play because not enough girls had signed up in my region to be able to make a team.
This forced me to take a step back from organized sports, and my freshman year of high school, I took up running. Those of you who have followed my Instagram account for a while will know that this is where gocassidy13,1 started! I decided that I wanted to run a half marathon. I was dedicated to training (though I didn’t follow a training schedule as seriously as I should have) and was very determined. I got a little too excited during my first official 5k training run, and ended up stress fracturing my ankle on my CP side. I was stuck in a boot for 6 weeks and had months of physical therapy to get my ankle back to being healthy. It took longer than I thought it would, and rehabbing my ankle back to a full range of motion was complicated because of a build up of scar tissue in my ankle that is from a surgery I had when I was 5. Recovering from this injury was one of the first times I remember being frustrated with my body and being upset about having cerebral palsy. Although I ended up running at a later date and a different race than anticipated, I still finished it, and that sense of accomplishment was incredible! It really showed me how far determination can go, and I learned a lot throughout the process about how to listen to my body.
Finishing a half marathon-best sense of accomplishment ever!
Fast forward to college, and I got to experience the world of adaptive sports for the first time. Learning about adaptive sports really opened my eyes to a whole side of the sports world that I was pretty unfamiliar with. During college, I did an internship with an adaptive sports company and I got to know a little bit about several different adaptive sports and equipment, from adaptive CrossFit to hand cycling and wheelchair basketball. As part of the internship, I learned how to play wheelchair basketball for a fundraiser the organization hosted. The first time I played was amazing! For what felt like the first time ever, the playing field was somewhat leveled for me. Sure, there were plenty of talented players with years of experience but the feeling of being the one who stuck out like a sore thumb completely disappeared. Several players were playing with the organization and had been playing for years, but as part of the fundraiser, we encouraged players to invite friends and family to come play, and most of them were completely able bodied. When I was on that court, the line between the disabled athletes and able bodied athletes disappeared. I had grown up feeling like I had one foot in each world, and for one of the first times in my life, that line disappeared!
Trying out a handcycle during my adaptive sports internship in college
This experience gave me a passion for adaptive sports and a realization that there are so many different opportunities out there, regardless of whether or not you have a disability. Other than the physical benefits of playing an organized sport, the social aspect of it is a major part of why I’m a big proponent of getting involved, especially as a kid! I would encourage you, if you haven’t found a sport for you yet, do some research and see what’s out there! Being involved in sports, both as a kid and as a adult, is one of the greatest things I’ve ever done, and I encourage everyone to find a way to get involved, because there’s more opportunities out there than you think!
