Paralympic athletes to lead kinesiology lab

Three Paralympic athletes and three accomplished wheelchair basketball players from the Charlottesville Cardinals will lead a pair of Paralympic Skill Labs during the 9:30-10:45 a.m. and 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. class periods Thursday, Feb. 21, at James Madison University's recreation center (UREC) on the campus east of Interstate 81. 

Reporters are welcome to cover the labs that will involve students participating in wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball and goalball. 

The labs will be conducted for select kinesiology 100 classes and combine Paralympic ideals and values with educational activities to promote engagement and education related to adapted sport, inclusion and sociocultural norms. 

Kinesiology Professor Cathy McKay organizes the lab, which is funded by a College of Health and Behavioral Studies Teaching Grant and the Kinesiology Department. 

Athletes leading the education stations include:

• Paralympian Nicky Nieves, a Team USA Women’s Sitting Volleyball player who won gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
• Paralympian Matt Simpson, a Team USA Goalball player who won silver at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
• Paralympian Trevon Jenifer, a Team USA Wheelchair Basketball player who won gold at the Rio games and a bronze at the London Games.
• Collegiate All-American wheelchair basketball player and Roanoke native Jacob Tyree who played wheelchair basketball at the University of Illinois and who was a member of Team USA’s U23 wheelchair basketball team. Jacob founded the Roanoke Stars wheelchair basketball team and plays for the Charlottesville Cardinals wheelchair basketball team.
• Brandon Rush and Tom Vandever from the Charlottesville Cardinals. Rush played on the Edinboro University intercollegiate wheelchair basketball team, coaches a junior team in Richmond and is captain of the Charlottesville Cardinals. Vandever is the founder of the Charlottesville Cardinals as well as a player.

More information about the lab and the visiting athletes is available on this flyer. 

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