Para Sports

Paralympic events include opportunities for students with physical and/or intellectual disabilities to compete in Track & Field and Cross Country seasons of play. The ASAA began including Para events in the 2015 Provincial Championships, starting with Track & Field.

Para is a competitive opportunity for students that follows the framework from Athletics Canada and can be a route that athletes can continue to compete in outside of high school. The divisions that are offered are:

Para Vision, Para Ambulatory, Para Intellectual and Para Wheelchair/Seated

The ASAA Cross Country Provincial Championships will include an open 2km Para race, following guidelines from Athletics Canada.

In the 2024, 10 athletes made their way up to Grand Prairie to compete. Migel Bootsman from LY Cairns won the para intellectual division while Mason Fowler and Bailey Bohnet took 2nd and 3rd.

See the full results here: https://resultscanada.com/race_results/2024-asaa-para-results/

Para Athletics is a competitive opportunity for people with a physical and/or intellectual disabilities to compete in the 100m dash, 200m dash and shot put events. Para Athletics includes both standing and seated events for participants with physical disabilities. All Para events in ASAA Provincial championships follow the rules set by Athletics Canada.

NEW: Due to the high number of athletes competing in the 'Para Intellectual' division (athletes with intellectual disabilities - who may be classified as a T20 under Athletics Canada), athletes wishing to compete in this category will need to qualify through their zones. Each zone may send a maximum of two male and two female Para Intellectual athletes per event.

Athletes Support:

In 2017, the ASAA received grant funding to further support the promotion and skill development of students with physical disabilities who would like to try Para Athletics.
Equipment that may be borrowed to train and compete with includes:

Racing wheelchairs (12”, 14” and 16” available)
Racing wheelchair gloves
Indoor rollers for the racing chairs
Throwing frames

All equipment is free of cost to borrow. Students must provide their own helmets when using racing equipment.

Equipment is available at a first-come-first-serve basis and must be shared at the Provincial Championship meet.

Thank-you to the grants we have received through the Makadiff Grassroutes Community Innovation Challenge and the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charity.

More information on Para Athletics events run through Athletics Canada can be found on the Athletics Canada website.

Contacts:
For more information on Para events included in ASAA Cross Country or Track & Field Provincial Championships, please contact:

Deryk Venance – Operations Coordinator (Cross Country & Track and Field)
deryk@schoolsportalberta.ca
(780) 427 8182

Yvonne Chow - Cross Country Commissioner
chowY@sts.ab.ca
(403) 938 8310

Tim Schultz – Track and Field Commissioner
tim.schultz@gshare.blackgold.ca
(780) 986 2194

Cassie Shaw – Manager, Unified Sports Program
cshaw@soalberta.ca
(587) 819 1982

You can also connect with your Zone representative on specific dates and registration for those events.

For more information on Para events through Athletics Canada, please visit the Athletics Canada Para Athletics and Para Cross Country websites.

Other Adaptive Sport Groups:
Special Olympics Alberta
Alberta Sport and Recreation for the Blind
Wheelchair Sport Alberta
Athletics Alberta
Paralympic Sports Association
The Steadward Centre
Ultimate Para Sports

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