Dralla Foundation Announces 2021 Grant Recipients

Dralla Foundation is making more unforgettable days possible starting later this year in Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, and New York.  The recipients of Dralla’s 2021 grant awards are Catalyst Sports, Friends of Greensboro Parks and Recreation Foundation, Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association and STRIDE Adaptive Sports.

Grant awards will go towards the following events:  two adaptive mountain bike experiences, a Paralympic track and field experience, and an outdoor sled hockey event. 

One of the adaptive mountain biking experiences will take place in Knoxville, TN and the other will take place in Greensboro, NC.  These are both part of a greater tour, the Greensboro leg being the newest location and the 9^th city on the Catalyst Sports Tour.  Children, adults and veterans affected by physical disabilities will receive a comfortable, adaptive bicycle, a fellow participant, and four trained volunteers to accompany them on their ride through local mountain bike trails.  This will allow members of the community who have been previously unable to access mountain biking trails to engage in a meaningful outdoor recreation activity.

The Paralympic Track and Field Experience is a full day of events that welcomes youth, teen and adult participants. Attendees, depending on their functional ability, will have the chance to try Paralympic track and field events including javelin, discus, and shotput, wheelchair and ambulatory track, long jump, and high jump.  Other events will include conditioning sessions and a lunchtime panel discussion with past and current Paralympic athletes, some of whom began their athletic training at GLASA (Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association).  The second day of the clinic, Performance in Track and Field, will be by invitation only for participants who have an interest in training more competitively, with Paralympic competition as a possible goal.

The outdoor sled hockey event will take place on Crooked Lake in NY.  Every player will have the chance to play “pond hockey” in an outdoor tournament similar to the NHL’s outdoor Winter Classic game.  Pond hockey is a throwback to the birth of the sport, and the nostalgia has made the NHL Winter Classic a favorite among players and fans.   An opportunity like this to connect with and experience hockey’s roots has never been available to sled hockey players with physical disabilities in the Northeast.

Learn more:  Dralla Foundation