ATHENS, Ohio – A new program developed by local partners offers Athens County youth with and without disabilities the chance to play sports together.
The Inclusive Sports Sampler, a five-week program offered at the Athens Community Center starting Oct. 13, welcomes youth ages 8 and up with and without disabilities to learn fundamentals of popular sports. A team of volunteer Ohio University student coaches from the Department of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Patton College of Education will lead the sessions after attending a four-hour training on adaptive and inclusive sports.
A working group convened by the Athens City-County Health Department’s Creating Healthy Communities (CHC) program developed the Inclusive Sports Sampler. The working group includes subject area experts from OU’s Patton College and Department of Physical Therapy, the Southeast Ohio Center for Independent Living (SOCIL), the Athens County Department of Developmental Disabilities, and the City of Athens Arts, Parks & Recreation, as well as local parents of youth with disabilities.
“Children with disabilities in Athens County have few options to play sports,” said Meredith Erlewine, CHC coordinator at the health department. “Recreational leagues are staffed by volunteer community coaches who don’t have time or training to provide one-on-one support for youth athletes who need extra help, while school sports teams remain out of reach for many kids with disabilities.”
As a result, Erlewine says, kids with disabilities usually don’t have the opportunity to learn sports fundamentals, to play alongside their peers without disabilities, or to experience being coached. The Ohio Inclusive Sports Needs Assessment, conducted by the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center in 2023, notes that people with disabilities experience worse health outcomes than people without disabilities, and that one contributing factor is a lack of physical activity opportunities for people with disabilities that are designed to meet their needs.
The Inclusive Sports Sampler has already run two successful pilot sessions in fall 2025 and spring 2026, welcoming 20 student athletes for each session. Featured sports included basketball, baseball, volleyball, pickleball, soccer and wheelchair football. A mix of youth with and without disabilities practiced game fundamentals with the support of coaches who were ready to adapt equipment or rules to help every athlete progress within their abilities.
Post-program evaluations indicated that student coaches reported feeling more confident working with kids and 100% of parents who responded to a satisfaction survey reported they are “very likely to recommend this program to others.”
The City of Athens plans to continue offering the Inclusive Sports Sampler at least annually, with SOCIL managing the program and Ohio University faculty recruiting student coaches.
SOCIL is a nonprofit, nonresidential Center for Independent Living that helps people of all ages with all types of disabilities live independently. SOCIL offers a wide range of sports and recreation programming in nine southeast Ohio counties.
The next Inclusive Sports Program begins on Oct. 13 and registration is open now. Cost is \$10 per child for the five-week session. To register, call the Athens Community Center at 740-592-3325.
Supporting youth sports programming is one way the CHC program works to promote active living in Athens County. According to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Science Board, participating in youth sports can lead to immediate and long-term health benefits for youth. CHC is an Ohio Department of Health program that funds 31 local health departments throughout Ohio to implement policy, system and environmental changes to increase access to healthy foods and opportunities for active living.
Anyone with questions about the project can contact Meredith Erlewine at [merlewine@athenspublichealth.org](mailto:merlewine@athenspublichealth.org) or by calling the health department at 740-592-4431.
