About the ASN
Welcome! The ASN is an adapted youth sport league focusing on Paralympic sports and intended for middle and high school students with functional limitations based on physical disabilities. These can include but are not limited to amputation, paralysis, or other impairments caused by a spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, or stroke. Students should not be eligible for Special Olympics in order to participate in the ASN.
Students who take part in adapted sports leagues like the ASN receive a lifetime of benefits that extend far beyond improved physical health and increased social involvement. Some may be eligible for college scholarships, play Paralympic sports at the collegiate level, and compete both nationally and internationally as elite Paralympic athletes.
Get Involved!
Kinesiology Department lecturer and program director David Kyle shares his inspirational story and invites others with disabilities to stay active by taking part in UAH's Ability Sport Network.
David Kyle - Blind Collaborative Learning
David Kyle - Seated Volleyball
Jeremy Elliott - Teaching Volleyball
Mission of the ASN
The ASN is funded by a grant from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE). Its purpose is twofold: to encourage participation among North Alabama middle and high school students with physical disabilities in adapted physical activity, and to provide UAH students in the Department of Kinesiology with real-world experience in the oversight, maintenance, and growth of adapted physical activities and sports.
Sports Offered
ASN currently offers wheelchair basketball and boccia leagues. Boccia is a “bowling” game involving strategy and accuracy. The sport includes athletes with impairments that affect motor skills and is played sitting down in a wheelchair or regular chair.
There is no cost to participate in any ASN league and all equipment is provided, including sport wheelchairs and game uniforms. Moreover, participation is not limited to wheelchair users only; many players have the ability to walk.
Future sports may include seated volleyball, wheelchair tennis, and track & field.
If you have a student or child who is interested in participating in the ASN and you would like to be notified about upcoming practices and games, please sign up for our mailing list:
Sign up now!
And follow the UAH Ability Sport Network on Facebook!
About David Kyle, ASN Director
A clinical assistant professor of Kinesiology in the UAH College of Education, Kyle holds a MS in Health and Physical Education and an Ed.D. in Kinesiology. He is also certified as a Disability Sport Specialist-Level II and is a Certified Adapted Physical Educator (CAPE). He is a member of the USA Triathlon National Paratriathlon Committee and has competed internationally with the USA Triathlon Elite National Paratriathlon Team in triathlon, duathlon, and XTERRA off-road events.
Dr. David Kyle
Director of UAH’s Ability Sport Network
UAH Wilson Hall 329F
Huntsville, AL 35899
256.824.2186
David.Kyle@uah.edu
