“It’s not what you don’t have that’s important,” says wheelchair basketball player Nik Goncin, “it’s what you have.” Changing Sports, Changing Lives tells the stories of people like Nik who put their abilities, their drive, their dreams first and their physical or intellectual disabilities second. They participate in sports that have been adapted to transform and enrich lives.
The documentary film will air on WCNY TV, PBS channel 24 in Central New York, on Sunday December 18th at 12 noon. It is narrated by Chris Fowler of ESPN and ABC.
Changing Sports, Changing Lives is based upon research done by Syracuse University students and faculty. Students in the Falk College Department of Sport Management’s Sport in American Society class studied the history, growth and impact of adaptive sports. Their final projects provided the foundation for the documentary, which was written, produced and directed by Dennis Deninger, professor of practice in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.
In his 25-year career at ESPN, Professor Deninger produced documentaries and live sports programming, winning three Emmy Awards. The first film in this Falk College series was America’s First Sport which has aired nationwide on ESPN networks.
A total of 65 people were interviewed at several locations, exploring a wide range of topics. The documentary covers the role of early innovators in the development of wheelchair sports for soldiers who were disabled in World War II including Dr. Tim Nugent of the University of Illinois. Nugent, who coached his first wheelchair sports at Illinois 68 years ago, was interviewed shortly before his death in 2015. Other topics include:
- Origins of adapted sports, including the founding of the International Paralympic Games as the Stoke-Mandeville Games in England 1948;
- Development of equipment that makes these sports possible
- The growth of collegiate and high school adapted sports programs;
- Adaptive sports’ impact on wounded Veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Effects of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other recent U.S. government initiatives, and;
- The newest adapted sports and how they are broadening reach, appeal and participation.
“Changing Sports, Changing Lives is giving our students the opportunity to learn about the remarkable power of sports and to be part of a unique research project,” said Deninger. “And is helping us build an archive of scholarly work that will expand in each year.”
Changing Sports, Changing Lives was made possible by a generous grant from the Taishoff Family Foundation. Additional funding was provided by Key Bank of Central New York.