SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes
SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes is a San Diego, California-based nonprofit athletic organization, created to provide enhanced opportunities for people with and without disabilities. The primary mission of SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes (S4EA) is to serve people with developmental disabilities within the age range of 5 years old through adults. By combining people with and without disabilities, S4EA hopes that participating athletes will interact and form lasting bonds of friendship through shared sports and recreational activities in S4EA's served communities. Although the organization's focus is primarily San Diego County, S4EA has grown from this base to satellite programs in Ventura and Temecula, California.
SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes offers a variety of sports, with the year divided into four sports seasons. These sports include: basketball, baseball, floor hockey, bowling, figure skating, golf, snowshoeing, judo, swimming, track & field, and more.
The organization—a 501(c)(3) California corporation—was founded in 2007 by a group of athletes, coaches, volunteers, and parents who split from Special Olympics Southern California to gain local control over disabled athletics programs [1]
Today, SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes serves more than 1,400 athletes.
References
- ↑ McDonald, Jeff (November 16, 2004). "Special Olympics members break away". U-T San Diego (originally SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE).
A large group of San Diego volunteers and coaches is withdrawing from Special Olympics, choosing instead to establish their own nonprofit that will host sporting events for athletes with developmental disabilities...Peter Economy, the father of a Special Olympics athlete who is also helping to form the new agency, said he and the others had no choice but to leave Special Olympics.