Hannah Martinez has commuted from Santa Maria to UC Santa Barbara for sports camp every summer for the past 15 years.
Martinez, who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, has attended the Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp run out of UCSB’s Recreation Center since she was six. The program gives children and young adults with physical disabilities the opportunity to play sports during a week in July.
As a new volunteer for the camp, Martinez came back to Santa Barbara this year with a newfound appreciation for the other volunteers, campers, counselors and staff that are like family to her.
“It really feels like home,” said Martinez, who is 22 years old.
Since 1986, the Santa Barbara sports camp for kids with physical disabilities like Martinez has been one of the few of its kind in the state to offer campers everything from basketball to ziplining.
Campers like Martinez come from across Central and Southern California to be a part of the sports camp. Rene Van Hoorn, director of the camp, said the program provides free transportation from Oxnard to Santa Maria for campers.
It’s the one week of the year they get exposure to a variety of sports accommodated to their physical needs.
While Van Hoorn wished campers had more opportunities throughout the year to participate in these sports, she said the camp attempts to create the “best week ever” for them at UCSB.
“Anyone can do any sport,” Van Hoorn said. “They just might do it differently.”
Van Hoorn said she has been involved with the Santa Barbara sports camp since 1990 before it was taken over by Cottage Health from the city in 2008. Since then, Van Hoorn has been directing the program.
The Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp is primarily funded through the Foundation for Cottage Rehabilitation & Goleta Valley Cottage Hospitals, Van Hoorn said. The sports camp falls under Cottage Health’s Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital service, according to its website.
This year, the camp employed 25 staff members, some staff from Cottage Health and other outside counselors and coaches. The program hosts 37 campers from San Luis Obispo County to Los Angeles, with 90 volunteers every day.
Campers are split by age during the day, and rotated every hour to a new sport throughout the UCSB Recreation Center.
For 19 years, Micheal Wyatt has been involved with the sports camp and is currently one of the camp’s counselors.
He has interacted with many kids and young adults throughout his time with the program, but when a camper told him it was one week of the year they felt normal, he realized the program was more than an opportunity for sports activity.
Many campers are learning how to deal with life and independence, Wyatt said, and some are also finding themselves within the process.
One camper at the sports camp said playing rugby has taught them the importance of team sports and how it relates to being a part of a family.
Although Martinez, the recent camp volunteer from Santa Maria, did not grow up around many other people, she said this one-week Santa Barbara sports camp and the people involved have done everything to change her life since she started 15 years ago.
“It’s given me an open door to be myself,” Martinez said.
