Desert Challenge Games Lane Gram, Arizona Disabled Sports Mark Grant, City of Mesa Parks, Recreation & Commercial Facilities

Three-day competition for people ages 6 through adulthood with physical disabilities. Physical disabilities include but are not limited to amputation, cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, spinal cord injury, and visual impairment. Current competitions include track, field, archery, swimming and powerflifting. In it’s inception, the event also included boccia ball, air rifle and pistol and table tennis. Qualifying event for athletes to continue to national competitions. What are the Desert Challenge Games?

Competitions Track –Blind –Ambulatory –Wheelchair

Competitions Field –Seated throws –Ambulatory –Shot, Discus, Javelin, Club throw, Long Jump, High Jump

Competitions Archery Swimming Powerlifting

Background The event is hosted by Arizona Disabled Sports and the City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities. AzDS is a non-profit organization established in The organization provides a wide variety of sports and recreation programs for people with all types of disability. The success and longevity of the event is due to the developed partnerships.

City of Mesa Mesa Public Schools Symbius Medical Grand Canyon State Games US Paralympics Disabled Sports USA / War Fighter Sports Programs Blaze Sports of America Partnerships

First annual event hosted in April of 1990 at Arizona State University Tempe Campus. Hosted the Far West Regional Games as part of the Desert Challenge Games in Hosted National Junior Disability Championships (NJDC) in 1997, 2004, and Hosted US Paralympic Track and Field Team Trials in June Hosted the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Grand Prix event in May History of the Event

First event hosted 7 athletes. The most recent event hosted 225 athletes from 3 countries and 25 states. The event began as a grassroots competition for the athletes involved in the local program as well as the City of Tucson adaptive programs. The event continues to serve the first time athletes in the local program but will now also draw the top ranked Paralympic athletes to the competition. For the past 6 years, the event has been successful in recruiting US Military Veterans and hosts an average of 25 Veterans at each event. Success

Organized and consistent event Reasonable registration fees Trained officials and volunteers Great venues –Host Hotel –Competition Venues Event marketing –Web site –Facebook Give-aways –T-shirts –Awards How did we grow the event?

Questions?

Contact Information Lane Gram Arizona Disabled Sports Mark Grant City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities