Disabled Sports Usa

MASD was established in 1989 as a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization dedicated to providing a wide variety of sports and recreation opportunities to individuals with any type of disability. MASD provides 30 overall programs, which involve 950 athletes with disabilities. The Team Mesa Bulldog program is a sports training and competition program for athletes ages 8 and over who have an intellectual disability including Autism, Down Syndrome or Mental Retardation. The activities for athletes involved in the Team Mesa programs include aquatics, baseball, basketball, bocce ball, bowling, dragon boat racing, floor hockey, golf, hiking, kayaking, tennis and track and field. The sports for people with physical disabilities are designed for athletes ages 6 and over who have an orthopedic, neurological or sensory impairment. This could include Amputee, Cerebral Palsy, Blind, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Spina Bifida, Spinal Cord Injury or Traumatic Brain Injury. Among the programs offered for people with physical disabilities are archery, aquatics, bocce ball, bowling, cycling, goalball, golf, kayaking, power soccer, track and field and wheelchair basketball.

 MASD has been a leader in providing quality sports competitions and leisure activities to athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities; therefore, the athletes involved with the weekly programs have traveled to Mesa from all over the Valley including Apache Junction, Chandler, Fountain Hills, Gilbert, Glendale, Phoenix and Tempe. Athletes and coaches come from all across the United States to compete in annual events hosted by the organization. For these reasons, MASD is also doing business as Arizona Disabled Sports. The adoption of the trade name has decreased the assumption that athletes must reside in Mesa to participate as well as opened opportunities for annual events and programs to be hosted outside of Mesa.

MASD provides people with disabilities the opportunity to gain self-esteem and improve their quality of life through participation in sports and recreation. Assistance provided to the organization will directly benefit the programs by improving the opportunities for the individuals to be a part of a team made up of people with similar abilities.  MASD provides the athlete with an opportunity to no longer view sports from the sidelines while their siblings or friends play.  This is their opportunity to get in the action.