On Sunday October 17 at 11 a.m., student athletes from public and
private schools throughout the NY metropolitan region will converge in the gym of the
Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn to face the worthiest of opponents - athletes
with developmental disabilities, ages 9-55 - at the season’s first OU/National Jewish Council for the Disabled (NJCD)
Good Sports "meet."
Inclusion rather than competition is the name of the game in the Good Sports program.
The participants with developmental disabilities get to spend an entire afternoon
exercising and playing sports such as basketball, hockey, weightlifting, aerobics, and
volleyball alongside teenage participants from local high schools, youth groups and
synagogues. The program enables children and adults with developmental disabilities to
develop their athletic skills, mingle with peers and learn appropriate social interaction
through sportsmanship.
"Good Sports is the only program that mainstreams the developmentally disabled
with their peer group, giving them equal opportunity on the court and leveling the playing
field," said Dr. Jeff Lichtman, National Director of the NJCD. "The program is
not only beneficial for those with developmental disabilities. The non-developmentally
disabled teens who participate are inculcated with patience, sensitivity, humility and
compassion while learning about the abilities of people with disabilities," he added.
Good Sports participants, who have mild to moderate developmental disabilities, are
grouped according to age, skill and degree of disability. The program is led by
professional physical education instructors who have extensive training and experience
working with people who have special needs.
With more than 35 chapters throughout the United States and Canada, the NJCD, an agency
of the Orthodox Union, is the only national resource center providing guidance,
information and referral services to those in the Jewish community who have special needs.
Yachad, a division of the NJCD, provides a unique range of social, recreational and
religious programs, serving nearly 1,000 developmentally disabled children and adults.
