Breaking Down Barriers: SportsAbility Alliance Partners with FWC, FWFF and NextEra Energy Foundation to Provide EcoRover Chairs for Mobility Impaired Hunters

SportsAbility Alliance is thrilled to share the success of the recent FWC Mobility Impaired Hunt Kickoff Event at Blackwater Wildlife Management Area on January 31st. This event marked a significant milestone in our commitment to ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability, can experience the wonders of Florida's outdoors. We're proud to be at the forefront of this initiative, partnering with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida (FWFF), and NextEra Energy Foundation to make wild Florida more accessible than ever. The event was attended by representatives from leadership of all of our partners who shared their thoughts on the importance of this project and the support of it.

FWC is a major partner for the project and hosted the Kickoff event with a big outdoor luncheon and gave away over two thousand dollars worth of door prizes to the Mobility impaired attendees. The highlight of the event was the unveiling of two brand-new EcoRover track chairs, made possible by the generous support of NextEra Energy Foundation, the charitable arm of Florida Power & Light. These all-terrain chairs will provide individuals with mobility impairments the opportunity to explore and hunt in areas that were previously inaccessible.  Through our ALLOUT program, we will manage and deploy these chairs at various mobility impaired hunts in Florida, ensuring they reach those who will benefit most. We are dedicated to empowering individuals to embrace outdoor adventures on their own terms, and these EcoRovers are a powerful tool in achieving that goal.

On Wednesday (September 2, 2020), FDOA presented the video below to the Accessible Transportation for Florida Town Hall event present by The Able Trust. It is so important that we consider recreation when planning accessible transportation. 

Miracle Sports - Fall 2020

Those of you that are not in Tallahassee may not know about our Miracle Sports program. Since 2008, we have played just about every Thursday night on an accessible surface. The games are adapted so everyone can play and benefit from team sports. We have had so much fun!

This fall, we have some new ideas so more people can join in. With the help of our interns and Florida State University Sport Management students and Florida International University Therapeutic Recreation students,  we have some awesome new things on the horizon. The following will be offered on our Facebook page and you will not need to register:

The St. Marks Natural Wildlife Refuge has offered hunters with a mobility impairment a section of land near Sopchoppy, FL to hunt White-tailed deer for many years. This approximately 3,800 acre parcel of refuge is virgin territory to rifles and trucks before the hunt.  Mobility impaired hunters get to fire the first gunshot of the season in these woods.

The Friday hunt meeting at 3:30 pm before the Saturday opener is always like a family meal with cousins you haven't seen in a while. They draw names out of a hat for stand locations and the tension builds as pins get placed at the known "spots". Whispers from the crowd let you know when the best spot gets claimed. Rules on driving the roads, stand hours, and government regulations are showered on the whole group before people disappear down their road. Each hunter is allowed a companion hunter and the bag limits must be shared.