Wednesday, Sep 25, 2024 • Brian Lopez : contact

For two years in a row, Jaclyn Griggs-McLeod (‘21 BSN) has taken her 10-year-old daughter, Journey McLeod, to the annual Adaptive Sports Expo — hosted at the University of Texas at Arlington — to learn more about wheelchair basketball. The event is now in its 8th year.

The 10-year-old started playing the sport about a year ago, and Griggs-McLeod says the expo not only allows her daughter to develop as an athlete, but also provides them both with a sense of community.

“We just enjoy being around people who have challenges similar to those Journey faces,” Griggs-McLeod said. “It’s also an opportunity for me to learn more about this community and ways to help her as she gets older.”

Griggs-McLeod was just one of several dozen parents who took their children to the Maverick Activities Center last Saturday to be in the community and try out several adaptive sports, such as adaptive sled hockey, wheelchair lacrosse, amputee soccer, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair dance, table tennis, wheelchair tennis, para pickleball and wheelchair pickleball. The UT Southwestern (UTSW) Dallas-Fort Worth Adaptive Sports Coalition, of which UTA is a part of, put the expo together.

“The biggest benefit of this is for our community and all the youngsters with a disability,” said Cezar Olivas, assistant director for adaptive sports at UTA. “Our University is also well positioned to offer our space, both for our location in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and our rich history with the Movin’ Mavs.”

The Movin’ Mavs were established as the UTA Freewheelers in 1976. Twelve years later, UTA became the first school in the nation to offer full scholarships for adapted sports.

UTA hosted the expo following the historic coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which included several Mavericks. NBCUniversal reported reaching a record of 15.4 million viewers across its various channels, highlighting the growing interest in adaptive sports.

Alumnus Paralympian Brent Lakatos (’04 BS, Software Engineering) won gold and silver in the 400- and 800-meter races for Team Canada. Current Lady Movin’ Mav and graduate student Elodie Tessier also represented Team Canada. Several Maverick alumni helped the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team win the silver medal and the men take gold.

Donald Kasitinon, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UTSW and director of the UTSW DFW Adaptive Sports Coalition, said UTA provided a great space for the expo to showcase the dozen adaptive sports available. Kasitinon is also the head team physician for the Movin’ Mavs.

“Our goal is to bring the adaptive sports and medical communities together and bridge that gap,” said Dr. Kasitinon, who is also a sports medicine physician. “UTA has been generous in donating its space to us. Both institutions have the same goal of making adaptive sports more accessible.”