By Amy Oprean
Special to The State News
Susie D'Mello crouched in the center of the Demonstration Hall ballroom Saturday afternoon, listening for a ball that jingled as it rolled her way.
Playing goal ball, a sport adapted for the visually impaired, the psychology sophomore dove like a volleyball player to block the ball before pushing it back across the small court.
Goal ball was one of nine sports - including swimming, hand cycling and wheelchair basketball - that were part of the first MSU Adapted Sports Festival held by the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at Demonstration Hall and IM Sports-West on Saturday.
In an attempt to block the goal, D'Mello's opponents sprawled horizontally to create a wall with their bodies, but missed the ball.
"When I first started playing I was pretty bad at it," D'Mello said. "I had to learn not to dive so quickly."
The festival was aimed at spreading awareness of the adaptability of sports for people with disabilities.
"It's been a quiet topic for so long," said Becky Parpart, a deaf education senior and vice president of the MSU Council for Students with Disabilities. "People with disabilities might feel intimidated because they don't know anyone else with one.
"This has been a great way to inform and network."
In the Demonstration Hall arena, participants in electric wheelchairs used the front attachments of their chairs to play soccer with a beach-sized ball. Brian Werner, 21, came from Muskegon to play.
"It makes him feel normal," his mother, Sandy Werner, said. "He likes to compete, and it shows people that he's not stupid."
Some festival volunteers said they hoped to erase the misconception that people with disabilities are incapable of being active.
"Today's a demonstration of how creativity can overcome nearly any disability challenge," said the resource center's Director Michael Hudson.
Jerry Sarasin, member of the Michigan Thunderbirds wheelchair basketball team, locked the wheels on his wheelchair and slid into turns during the basketball game he played with participants in the IM Sports-West arena.
Also the instructor for MSU's first wheelchair basketball class this fall, Sarasin said he didn't have any interest in basketball before his accident, which put him in a wheelchair.
"Once I saw other people with disabilities, and saw how competitive it was, I changed my mind," he said.
He said the lack of support for adapted sports in public schools has kept children from hearing about them, let alone get involved.
"All the kids I've played wheelchair basketball with in the neighborhood are all able-bodied, and they love it," he said. "So why not offer it in public schools?"
Parpart said even she didn't know exactly what some of the sports would be like.
"It's so empowering, so awesome, I'm just excited to be here," Parpart said. "I wouldn't have known how they adapt to some of these sports. I had to come and see."
