Be the coach you wish you had

Archery • Baseball • Basketball • Conditioning • Dance • Fishing • Football • Golf • Grappling • Hunting • Lacrosse • Shooting (competitive) • Skiing & Sit-skiing • Snowboarding • Soccer • Softball • Swimming • Tennis • Track & Field • Tumble/Cheer • Volleyball • Wakeboarding/Water sports

We work with children with congenital, traumatic or medical limb difference or limb loss, frozen limb or highly mobile cerebral palsy. We coach adaptive techniques for mainstream sports rather than parasports so some level of mobility without a wheelchair is required for children to fully participate in one of our camps.

We adapt the child to the sport rather than the sport to the child. Our coaches have successfully played mainstream sports themselves and are able to model the skills needed to compete in traditional organized sports at a high level.

However, we are not only interested in creating competitive athletes. We see sports as a proving ground for helping our campers discover what they are made of. We want children to leave camp knowing that they are unstoppable. To support that goal, we don’t allow the word “can’t” at camp. We know that limb-different kids may do some things differently but they can do them.

Our coaches do not need to have physical or occupational therapy training or any sort of certification in adaptive sports. We believe that the lifetime of skills they have amassed playing sports in their own limb-different bodies is complementary to professional services limb-different children receive elsewhere.

We do require all coaches working with firearms to complete range safety officer certification through the NRA and we pay for those courses.

Yes. Coaches must be a minimum of 18 years of age and, at minimum, a high school graduate. We offer a junior coach program (link to page) for interested high school upperclassmen.

We provide introductory training through a mobile app, which is supplemented by in-person sessions. Our staff handles all camp logistics, including coach hotel and travel, meals, and equipment provisioning.

Before and during our camps, experienced head coaches coordinate and manage the coaching staff for each sport.

NubAbility’s education fund provides funding for two to three coaches to attend an educational seminar on a topic related to the sports we coach each year.

Volunteers do not need to have any form of medical training to coach at one of our camps. We always have a medic onsite as part of camp operations.

However, we do provide free CPR training for our coaches each year at our All Sports Camp.

Coaching assignments are determined by how many children are registered for a given camp. We try to staff one coach for every 2 ½ to 3 children in attendance.

We choose coaches for our camps based on:

• Experience in one of the sports that will be coached at that camp.
• Limb difference. We try to have at least one coach with a limb difference similar to each of our campers’ differences.
• Response time. All other things being equal, camp selection is first-come, first-served.

No. NubAbility does not provide overnight housing for campers. Children stay in area hotels with their parents. Coaches are not expected to serve as overnight camp counselors.

We provide lunch, water and sports drinks at camps. We also host group dinners for coaches each night of camp.

NubAbility books and pays for airline tickets and lodging for all coaches. We also provide transportation between hotels and camp locations. If a coach prefers to drive to a camp rather than fly, we reimburse gas costs based on submitted receipts.

We provide meals during camp; reasonable food costs on travel days are reimbursed.

Any other expenses should be approved prior to being incurred.

We provide a shirt for each day of camp, all necessary equipment for each sport, any required safety equipment such as safety eyewear or earwear, and a basic first aid kit. Coaches bring athletic bottoms, sport-appropriate athletic shoes, personal sports equipment such as baseball gloves and sunscreen.