With Olympic fever in the air, I hope you had the opportunity to catch the story of male gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, the pommel horse hero who had one major role to play for the USA’s men’s gymnastics team. He teaches a valuable lesson in leaning into your strengths and working toward being the best at what you do.  

Today, we want to tell you a story about another previously unknown performer who is leaning into their strengths. While everyone seems to be familiar with the Olympic Games, there is not as much awareness around the Paralympic Games. In fact, most don’t get it right when asked what the Paralympic Games are. The Paralympic Games, often confused for the Special Olympics, take place two weeks after the Olympic Games in the same city and venues and is for athletes with a disability. The athletes competing in the Paralympic Games are the best of the best in their sport and classification and are also competing for Gold on an international stage.  

While these Paralympic athletes are elite in every way that their Olympic counterparts are, their access to high performance training and facilities hasn’t always been the same. Enter that previously unknown performer: Lakeshore Foundation.  

Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama, holds the distinct honor of being the first facility designated as both a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Site, welcoming elite athletes from across the globe to train and compete. We are also proud to serve as the National Governing Body of two Paralympic sports: Boccia United States and USA Wheelchair Rugby–the most decorated Paralympic wheelchair rugby program in history.  

Since that designation, Lakeshore has been well equipped to serve elite-level athletes. However, research reveals that nearly half of all adults with disabilities get no leisure-time aerobic physical activity and are significantly less active and more obese than their peers without disabilities. This lack of equity extends from grassroots and community programs to elite-level sports performance.  

As a non-disabled athlete, if you wanted to train like an Olympian you wouldn’t have to look too far to find the latest tips or gain access to a facility boasting those opportunities, but the same can’t be said for athletes with disabilities. That is why Lakeshore announced their newest endeavor, the Lakeshore Sports Science and Performance Center (SSPC), in early 2024. Our goal is to provide a diverse range of in-person and online sports performance services to athletes with disabilities, advance sports science research and pave a pathway for emerging and elite athletes with disabilities to achieve sporting success and a lifetime of health.  

Regardless of whether your goal is to make it to the podium or just finish the neighborhood 5k, our new SSPC can help you get there. Just like Stephen on the pommel horse, we leaned into our strengths and decided to focus on something that we thought we were positioned to do well, and now our new center can ensure that athletes with disabilities of all levels have equitable access to game-changing sports performance services like sports nutrition, mental performance, and strength and conditioning.  

But it doesn’t stop there. According to a survey we recently conducted evaluating disability access and acceptance in the fitness industry, 81% of people with disabilities say they do not feel welcome in the fitness space. This is a striking number for all of us in the fitness industry. But the report had more to say:  

• 73.3% of people with disabilities do not believe fitness facilities are accommodating.  
• 90.9% of participants do not believe exercise professionals are adequately trained.  
• 84.3% do not believe fitness programs are inclusive of people with disabilities.  

While that’s certainly not good news for our industry, it's something Lakeshore is uniquely equipped to help change. If you or your clients want to train like an Olympian or Paralympian, check out our tips below to help you get there. If you want more information on how your gym can be more inclusive to individuals with a disability, keep checking back in for more blogs on the topic. In the meantime, you can check out some free resources in our learning lab at https://lakeshorefoundationlms.litmos.com/. 

Our goal is to demonstrate that access to these resources—whether online in our learning lab or in person in our high-performance center—helps change the game and opens doors for these athletes.  

Whether it’s for an emerging athlete wanting to make the team for LA ‘28, a high school wheelchair track athlete who wants to make their school’s team or a regional wheelchair basketball player who wants to play collegiately, we want to implement a plan that can help get them where they want to go. 

So, while you shine in your living room floor routine or critique like a distinguished judge from your couch, cheer loud for team USA and don’t forget to tune in to the Paralympics starting August 28, 2024. 

To learn more from Lakeshore Foundation about how inclusive and equitable fitness spaces begin with the built environment, read The Built Environment: Ensuring Accessibility for Clients with Disabilities.