(Courtesy of U.S. Association of Blind Athletes)
Through the Georgia Blind Sports Association’s new partnership with the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) and the Amerigroup Foundation, a group of 25 blind and visually impaired participants in Atlanta will be tracking their fitness through the use of Fitbit wearables.
The health initiative is part of a nine-month program called the USABA/Amerigroup Foundation National Fitness Challenge (#NFCChallenge2017), the fifth installment of its kind. With the use of their smartphones, the two dozen individuals will be able to not only monitor their health and fitness goals but also track how others are progressing as well.
“Setting goals and friendly competition is the key,” Hal Simpson, Executive Director at Georgia Blind Sports, said in a statement. “This is our 5th year partnering with U.S. Association of Blind Athletes to implement the National Fitness Challenge in Atlanta. We’ve found the challenge of achieving daily and monthly goals helps keep participants motivated.”
Added Urcel R. Fields, President of Amerigroup Georgia in a statement: “Amerigroup has been helping Georgians improve their health and lives since 2006, and we understand the many challenges and barriers individuals of all abilities encounter when it comes to health. We are an organization that is dedicated to removing barriers to help individuals and entire communities to achieve healthy lifestyles and improved lives, so collaborating with USABA to support Georgia Blind Sports is a natural fit that helps us succeed in our mission.”
The Georgia Blind Sports Association is one of 13 groups in the U.S. participating in the National Fitness Challenge. Specific programming for those in Georgia will include activities such as golf, kayaking, tandem cycling and goalball, a team sport for athletes who are blind or visually impaired.
According to information provided by the USABA, about 70 percent of the roughly 56,000 youth who are blind and visually impaired in the U.S. don’t participate in a small physical education curriculum because of the false assumptions about their abilities. With the National Fitness Challenge, participants are receiving physical conditioning that they otherwise maybe wouldn’t receive on a regular or even daily basis.
