Extremity Games Adaptive Sports for Athletes with Disabilities

Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2011/08/09 - Updated: 2023/10/01
Publication Type: Sports and Sporting Updates
Topic: Disability Sports Information - Publications List

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: Extremity Games are extreme sports events for athletes with limb loss or limb difference including competitions instructional clinics and exhibitions. ADN organizes Extremity Games, as well as Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame, which recognizes and honors men and women who have overcome physical challenges to become elite athletes and superior role models.

Introduction

The Extremity Games is an adaptive sports competition, similar to the X Games(1), for athletes with amputations and limb differences. The Extremity Games was started by College Park Industries, a manufacturer of prosthetic feet, in the summer of 2006 in Orlando, Florida. Competitors perform in many different sports, categories and styles, trying to win bronze, silver and gold medals, as well as prizes and money. The inaugural Extremity Games surpassed expectations with over 500 participating athletes, sponsors, spectators and volunteers.

Main Item

Founding sponsor College Park Industries drive to make the Extremity Games a recurring event resulted in the creation of Extremity Events Network, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit corporation. Founded in 2007, Extremity Events Network, Inc. established a neutral framework, in which all orthotic and prosthetic manufacturers and professionals, as well as outside industry sponsors, could comfortably contribute to and get involved.

Extremity Games is organized by Athletes with Disabilities Network (ADN) which is a subsidiary of Easter Seals-Michigan.

Established in 2009, ADN's mission is to promote a better quality of life by creating opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities. ADN organizes Extremity Games, as well as Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame, which recognizes and honors men and women who have overcome physical challenges to become elite athletes and superior role models.

The Extremity Games are organized to raise awareness of the abilities of people with limb loss or limb difference, Extremity Games provides the opportunity for athletes to compete peer-to-peer, limb loss-to-limb loss, while competing for cash and other prizes. Extremity Games hosts athletes primarily from across the US and several athletes from around the world.

Extremity Games, in partnership with Adaptive Action Sports, serves as the qualifier to the ESPN Summer X Games Super X Adaptive Finals motocross competition. Riders compete at Extremity Games for an invitation to Summer X Games. The Super X Adaptive Finals are televised on ESPN in late July/early August. In addition to motocross and skateboarding, sports include wakeboarding, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking and martial arts.

In addition to the competitions there are instructional clinics held in each of the sports in which trainers instruct new-comers on the basics of each sport.

(1) - The X Games is a commercial annual sports event, controlled and arranged by US sports broadcaster ESPN, which focuses on action sports. The inaugural X Games was held in the summer of 1995 in Rhode Island.

Author Credentials: Ian was born and grew up in Australia. Since then, he has traveled and lived in numerous locations and currently resides in Montreal, Canada. Ian is the founder, a writer, and editor in chief for Disabled World. Ian believes in the Social Model of Disability, a belief developed by disabled people in the 1970s. The social model changes the focus away from people's impairments and towards removing barriers that disabled people face daily. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and achievements, check out his bio.