In 1982, a group of adult athletes with visual impairments formed the Michigan Blind Athletic Association in order to organize a beep baseball team. After affiliating itself with the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLS) at Western Michigan University in 1984, the group's attention turned to the broader problem of physical education and sports for children with visual impairments and the first Sports Education Camp was held (SEC) in 1988.
The SEC was created to address the barriers to sports and recreation through the following ways:
- Empower blind and visually impaired youth by teaching them basic sports skills and activities
- Increase the knowledge of parents, teachers, and the community about the adaptations required for participation and the limitless potential of the children with visual impairments in the area of sports
- Increasing blind and visually impaired youth's access to physical education, sports, and recreation by building a network of advocates.
The original sports education camp project included a weeklong residential series of sports clinics for children, a graduate-level course for teachers, parents, and "potential advocates," and the formation of a statewide management team to oversee the project and to build the network. In clinics of 15 students or less, the 10-12-year-old participants were introduced to the basic skills of running, jumping, and throwing along with introductions to the sports of wrestling, track and field, bowling, goalball, and gymnastics. The 13-18-year-old athletes were taught skills, but also concentrated on the competitive sports events. A typical day at sports camp including morning, afternoon, and evening activities, running from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with breaks for meals and snacks.
Each athlete received approximately 30 hours in clinics or competitions during the camp. The accompanying graduate course on adapting physical education and sports was offered on the weekend preceding the camp as a distance education course. Enrollments in the first few years were 15 or less and primarily included parents, physical educators and special education instructors. The network of advocates represented on the "Management Team" consisted of athletes with and without visual impairments, vision and orientation and mobility instructors, university professors in visual impairment studies and physical education, and parents of students with visual impairments. A great deal of effort was also placed on marketing in an effort to foster the image of visually impaired children as athletes.
The outcomes, particularly in the objectives relating to the children's skills, knowledge, and attitudes, and those of network building, were so strikingly positive that they led to the procurement of a U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Outreach Grant award in 2000.
