Kids with disabilities can get feet wet at adaptive festival
For the 27th year, Moody Gardens and Texas Adaptive Aquatics are hosting the Adaptive Water Sports Festival, where kids with special needs who are 8 or older can waterski, sail, kayak and paddleboard with special equipment and instructors.
The free festival, which will be Sept. 9 at Moody Gardens Palm Beach, weather permitting, reaches hundreds of families every year with the help of Turning Point Gulf Coast, Galveston Community Sailing Center, Island Paddle, Sun Time Watersports and Texas Adaptive Aquatics as well as volunteers from across the community, including the University of Texas Medical Branch, according to Moody Gardens.
“They can get out of their wheelchairs ... and feel the experience of being pulled by a boat,” Roger Randall, the president of Texas Adaptive Aquatics, said of the waterskiing his nonprofit will provide. “It’s even better for us to get to watch them do it.”
For a population of children who, perhaps, are used to being on the sidelines, the event demonstrates “they can adapt to anything they want to,” Randall said. It
offers a rare opportunity that “encourages and empowers them.”
Up to four immediate family members and caregivers also can get admission to Palm Beach for no charge; activities are first come, first served.
A boom in adaptive sports and other activities in the past few years means the water festival has changed a lot since its founding.
“The equipment is bigger and better, and we’re reaching more and more people,” Randall said. “It’s going to be a fun day on the water.”