Third annual Disability Sports Festival at CSUSB attracts more than 400 participants

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Though only three years old, the DisAbility Sports Festival at Cal State San Bernardino continues to grow, as this year's event attracted nearly twice as many participants over last year from throughout the Inland region.

The one-day free event held on Oct. 3 in and around the university's Coussoulis Arena had about 400 participants, nearly double last year's amount of 220, said Aaron Moffett, an assistant professor of kinesiology at CSUSB.

"It's gratifying to see more and more participants, spectators and volunteers come to the DisAbility Festival for the purpose of helping people with disabilities of all kinds to excel in sports and physical activities," Moffett said. "It's great because the number of events we offer continues to grow. This year we had 15 different sports events -- two more than last year.

"But the real positive that comes from the DisAbility Festival is seeing the faces of our athletes," Moffett said. "Their expressions and those of their family members show that these are people who want to succeed, who want to be a difference in all that life has to offer."

Phelan residents Mike and Kim Laza enjoyed watching their son Brett participate in a number of events, including kayaking, the wall climb and bicycling.

"This is great for the participants. It's providing a great opportunity to everyone," said Mike Laza. "It's offering different sports that the Special Olympics doesn't have and quiet people get involved. They start to warm up to the other people and play. "

But it wasn't just the participants or family members. Moffett said the volunteers were getting into the spirit.

"Even the number of volunteers to our event continues to grow - we ran out of the 300 volunteer shirts by lunch time," he said.

More than $40,000 in donations and in-kind contributions has been raised in the past year, and more than $100,000 has been raised in the three years the festival has been in existence, Moffett said.

"Several of our supporters have already verbally committed to support the festival again, including some of the veterans and military groups," he said. "This is important, because we double the number of participants almost every year and expect to grow to 500-600 participants next year."

For more information on the DisAbility Festival, contact Aaron Moffett, CSUSB professor of kinesiology, at (909) 537-5357 or e-mail him at amoffett@csusb.edu and visit the DisAbility Sports Festival Web site.

For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university's Office of Public Affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.

The one-day DisAbility Sports Festival held on Oct. 3 in and around the university's Coussoulis Arena had about 400 participants, double the previous year. Photo: Robert A. Whitehead/CSUSB