Desert Challenge Games
Lane Gram, Arizona Disabled Sports
Mark Grant, City of Mesa Parks, Recreation &
Commercial Facilities
What are the Desert Challenge Games?
• Three-day competition for people ages 6 through adulthood
with physical disabilities.
• Physical disabilities include but are not limited to amputation,
cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida,
spinal cord injury, and visual impairment.
• Current competitions include track, field, archery, swimming
and powerflifting.
• In it’s inception, the event also included boccia ball, air rifle
and pistol and table tennis.
• Qualifying event for athletes to continue to national
competitions.
Competitions
• Track
– Blind
– Ambulatory
– Wheelchair
Competitions
• Field
– Seated throws
– Ambulatory
– Shot, Discus, Javelin,
Club throw, Long
Jump, High Jump
Competitions
• Archery
• Swimming
• Powerlifting
Background
• The event is hosted by Arizona Disabled Sports and the
City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial
Facilities.
• AzDS is a non-profit organization established in 1989.
The organization provides a wide variety of sports and
recreation programs for people with all types of disability.
• The success and longevity of the event is due to the
developed partnerships.
Partnerships
• City of Mesa
• Mesa Public Schools
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Symbius Medical
Grand Canyon State Games
US Paralympics
Disabled Sports USA / War Fighter Sports
Programs
• Blaze Sports of America
History of the Event
• First annual event hosted in April of 1990
at Arizona State University Tempe
Campus.
• Hosted the Far West Regional Games as
part of the Desert Challenge Games in
1991.
• Hosted National Junior Disability
Championships (NJDC) in 1997, 2004,
and 2012.
• Hosted US Paralympic Track and Field
Team Trials in June 2008.
• Hosted the International Paralympic
Committee (IPC) Athletics Grand Prix
event in May 2013.
Success
• First event hosted 7 athletes. The most recent event hosted 225 athletes
from 3 countries and 25 states.
• The event began as a grassroots competition for the athletes involved in
the local program as well as the City of Tucson adaptive programs.
• The event continues to serve the first time athletes in the local program
but will now also draw the top ranked Paralympic athletes to the
competition.
• For the past 6 years, the event has been successful in recruiting US
Military Veterans and hosts an average of 25 Veterans at each event.
How did we grow the event?
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Organized and consistent event
Reasonable registration fees
Trained officials and volunteers
Great venues
– Host Hotel
– Competition Venues
• Event marketing
– Web site
– Facebook
• Give-aways
– T-shirts
– Awards
Questions?
Contact Information
• Lane Gram
Arizona Disabled Sports
480.835.6273
[email protected]
• Mark Grant
City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities
480.644.3651
[email protected]
• www.ArizonaDisabledSports.com
• www.DesertChallengeGames.com