Lifetime athlete Kristen Lessig (B.S. ’05/School of Education) and physical education teacher Jenni Yocco (B.S. ’05/School of Education) share a love of sports and a commitment to bringing their passion to everyone around them.
Together they founded Sportable, a nonprofit organization focused on providing recreation and sports opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities in the Greater Richmond area.
“We feel like everybody should have the right to play sports,” Yocco says. “We’re charged with putting activities out there and doing whatever we can to make people aware of who we are.”
Lessig and Yocco research how to modify sports and bring in coaches when necessary. Through Sportable, they offer biweekly clinics in power wheelchair soccer, tennis and basketball, as well as organize other recreational outings including kayaking, skiing and rock climbing.
“You learn a lot when you participate in sports,” says Lessig, who works full time as a therapeutic recreation specialist in the spinal cord injury unit at the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “That’s what is most beneficial in the long run — cooperative communication and socialization.”
In addition to her job as a P.E. teacher, Yocco also works part time as a recreational therapist at Poplar Springs Hospital. But she found a common thread with Lessig when, as VCU students, they attended a March 2005 therapeutic recreation conference that showed them the possibilities of adaptive sports and recreation.
The idea for Sportable was born.
“We thought, ‘We have to bring this to Richmond,’” Lessig says.
Eight months later, they hosted Sportable’s first clinic. Today, Sportable enjoys 65 members ages 5 and older.
“This opens up a door for them,” Lessig says. “The goal is for independence. Activity changes their lives.”
Yocco recalls the transformation of one middle school student with muscular dystrophy who began playing power soccer through Sportable.
“In gym class, he was able to get out of his chair but he wasn’t into sports,” she says. “Now he’s a star on the court. He’s awesome at it and his self-esteem rose. Finding his niche is what he needed.”
Local athletes view Sportable as the go-to source for adaptive sports and recreation. Thanks to their requests, the organization plans to introduce quad rugby, fencing and sled hockey in 2009.
Lessig and Yocco also dream of sending a team to the Paralympics one day.
“We all have the innate desire to compete,” Lessig says. “There’s a misconception that people with disabilities don’t want to and, oftentimes, they just get the medal for participating. But in Sportable, they find someone they’re competitive with who has that instinct, too. That’s what it’s really all about.”
Photo: Kristen Lessig (left) and Jenni Yocco.
