Photo Credit: Courtesy of Boise Parks & Recreation
A tearful phone call from a parent in 2007 was the impetus Emily Kovarik needed to launch Idaho’s Boise Parks & Recreation’s Ability Team. “A mom called me because a PE teacher didn’t know what to do with her first-grade son in a wheelchair,” Kovarik says. “Her son’s job was to hold a clipboard and count how many times other kids ran around the asphalt playground.”
As the city’s Adaptive Recreation Coordinator, Kovarik knew she had an opportunity to help, so she worked with a local wheelchair athlete to create a free school assembly program that uses sports to educate teachers and kids about disabilities.
Uncertain whether school administrators would be receptive to the idea, Kovarik was pleased to learn that Shadow Hills Elementary School Principal Brett Forrey approved of her plan.