Beyond the Field: AAU Sunshine Sports
02/03/2020
With the founding of Sunshine Sports Program, Steve Baselice and his team of coaches hold a weekly 45-minute class of adaptive sports programs for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.
ORLANDO, Fla. - For more than a century, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has made inclusivity one of the primary pillars of the institution’s mission. That focus is found in the AAU’s motto: “Sports For All, Forever.” AAU member and Coach Steve Baselice of New Jersey is taking that philosophy and applying it to those in his community who have developmental disabilities.
Baselice, who also owns a youth soccer program called Little Kicks Soccer, has found a way to bring sports participation to those with special needs in the community. With the founding of Sunshine Sports Program, Baselice and his team of coaches hold a weekly 45-minute class of adaptive sports programs for adults 21 years of age and up with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. While soccer is Baselice’s forte, Sunshine Sports participants get the opportunity to play a different sport every month.
The participants adore the program and it shows as they arrive to play each time.
“They absolutely love it,” said Baselice. “What is super awesome is they come in and look forward to this as their favorite day of the week.”
Sunshine Sports' genesis came naturally to Baselice. The founder’s brother, Danny, is a person with Down Syndrome, and Baselice has seen how important it is for those with developmental disabilities to get proper exercise. Over the last several years, Danny’s lifestyle has become increasingly sedentary, making routine tasks quite difficult.
“It literally takes my brother 30 minutes to put his socks on in the morning because his muscles are in such a state of atrophy. It’s very common situation. They get older, they get very prone to poor muscle tone and like everyone else, they’re very prone to weight gain.”
“So that’s when I knew I needed to do something,” said Baselice. He proposed taking him to the local YMCA to start doing some exercise. Then the idea donned on him, “if I run a youth soccer program for kids, why not do something similar for those with developmental disabilities.”
The New Jersey area had yet to create a program with adaptive sports, so through the Department of Developmental Disabilities “Goods and Services” state funding component, Baselice was able to receive financial assistance for his idea. And thus, Sunshine Sports was born and a partnership with AAU soon followed.
Now, as Baselice says, the “phones are ringing off the hook” with people who are interested in enrolling their loved ones in the program. The goal is eventually to allow the participants to play at least three times a week.
For Baselice, sports have always been a major source of joy for himself and his soccer students. With Sunshine Sports, he has a platform to help those with some of life’s most difficult challenges enjoy the benefits of self-esteem and socialization that come with sports.
“They are just like anyone else, they want to have fun, exercise. They deserve a chance to be treated like anybody else,” said Baselice. “I just ask others, ‘What’s it feel like when you do something good and you get that self-confidence?’ It feels awesome, so you want to spread that type of feeling to other individuals.”
More information on Sunshine Sports is available at https://www.littlekickssoccer.net/ssp.
Baselice, who also owns a youth soccer program called Little Kicks Soccer, has found a way to bring sports participation to those with special needs in the community. With the founding of Sunshine Sports Program, Baselice and his team of coaches hold a weekly 45-minute class of adaptive sports programs for adults 21 years of age and up with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. While soccer is Baselice’s forte, Sunshine Sports participants get the opportunity to play a different sport every month.
The participants adore the program and it shows as they arrive to play each time.
“They absolutely love it,” said Baselice. “What is super awesome is they come in and look forward to this as their favorite day of the week.”
Sunshine Sports' genesis came naturally to Baselice. The founder’s brother, Danny, is a person with Down Syndrome, and Baselice has seen how important it is for those with developmental disabilities to get proper exercise. Over the last several years, Danny’s lifestyle has become increasingly sedentary, making routine tasks quite difficult.
“It literally takes my brother 30 minutes to put his socks on in the morning because his muscles are in such a state of atrophy. It’s very common situation. They get older, they get very prone to poor muscle tone and like everyone else, they’re very prone to weight gain.”
“So that’s when I knew I needed to do something,” said Baselice. He proposed taking him to the local YMCA to start doing some exercise. Then the idea donned on him, “if I run a youth soccer program for kids, why not do something similar for those with developmental disabilities.”
The New Jersey area had yet to create a program with adaptive sports, so through the Department of Developmental Disabilities “Goods and Services” state funding component, Baselice was able to receive financial assistance for his idea. And thus, Sunshine Sports was born and a partnership with AAU soon followed.
Now, as Baselice says, the “phones are ringing off the hook” with people who are interested in enrolling their loved ones in the program. The goal is eventually to allow the participants to play at least three times a week.
For Baselice, sports have always been a major source of joy for himself and his soccer students. With Sunshine Sports, he has a platform to help those with some of life’s most difficult challenges enjoy the benefits of self-esteem and socialization that come with sports.
“They are just like anyone else, they want to have fun, exercise. They deserve a chance to be treated like anybody else,” said Baselice. “I just ask others, ‘What’s it feel like when you do something good and you get that self-confidence?’ It feels awesome, so you want to spread that type of feeling to other individuals.”
More information on Sunshine Sports is available at https://www.littlekickssoccer.net/ssp.
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