When Eric Katz was looking to begin his career as a wheelchair athlete, his first choice was at his home school of Rutgers University. However, Katz, now 32, was forced to enroll at the University of Arizona because Rutgers did not offer an adaptive sports program at the time, a decision that may be changed.
“It meant a lot for him and he wanted to keep doing that at the college level,” Eric’s father Robert Katz said. “I’m really happy that this went through and Rutgers finally decided to go along with it.
“The quarterback who wants to play football out of high school, does he go to a school that doesn’t have a football team?”
The Monroe resident first became paralyzed at age 15 when he was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called transverse myelitis. His father said he played wheelchair basketball with a program provided by the Specialized Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick.
Katz said shortly after Eric’s diagnosis, he became frustrated with being unable to participate in sports.
“He couldn’t do all the things that he used to do with his friends, like ride a bike, roller skate or play regular basketball,” he said. “He got pretty depressed but he found a program where he went for rehab for wheelchair sports.
“Before you even go inside the room you can hear the laughter of the kids inside and his face lighted up like, ‘Hey there is life after you get paralyzed’”.
Although Eric Katz missed his opportunity to compete at Rutgers, similar athletes may not have to wait much longer as the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs has commissioned an Adaptive Sports and Recreation Feasibility Study to begin this fall.
The study will consist of three or four experts in adaptive sports and recreation programming from universities of a similar size and complexity to Rutgers.
The experts will assess the current capacity of the university, determine what would be needed to increase capacity, outline the costs of increased adaptive sports and recreation offerings and recommend how the program may be phased in given Rutgers’ physical plant and fiscal realities.
The push for the university to begin to look at providing these programs, which may include sports like basketball, swimming and track and field, comes from Katz as well as Senators Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex, Mercer) and Ray Lesniak (D-Union).
Greenstein said by implementing the program, Rutgers would be set apart from other colleges in the state.
“We want it to be a center in making sure that wheelchair athletes have a place to go to school here in New Jersey,” she said. “I hope we accomplish something here. I hope the study shows that we are able to set something up here and that we can move ahead on it.”
Greenstein said the university initially wanted to start with a survey of the current students but eventually were persuaded to take it a step further.
“Essentially, the university was willing to do some surveys of their students,” she said. “We felt this was much more tied into taking a more proactive approach where the university would reach out to students who might be willing to come to the school if the school had such a program.
“I think we are much closer to the idea of Rutgers making a commitment than when we started.”
According to Greenstein, there are approximately 50 extracurricular activities available at Rutgers, but none of them are catered to disabled students.
Tricia Yurochko, head coach of the Children’s Lightning Wheels, the paralympic sports club at the hospital Eric Katz participated in, said having an adaptive sports program at Rutgers would increase enrollment.
Yurochko said some of the more prominent adaptive sports programs throughout the country right now include University of Illinois, University of Texas, University of Arizona, University of Alabama and Penn State University.
“It is going to keep some athletes and some students in the state,” Yurochko said of the potential Rutgers program. “Some are going out of state because they’ve been on their track and field team and they want to continue to compete. So, they are going to want to go to a college that has a program that supports them. It would be a win-win situation for Rutgers, that’s for sure.”
Yurochko said there are thousands of athletes across the country eligible and looking for adaptive sports program.
“There are a significant number who would want to go to a place like Rutgers that would gives them a great education as well as provides them with the athletic outlet they are looking for,” she said.
According to Yurochko, many of the athletes competing in adaptive sports programs have plans to continue their athletic careers after college.
“A lot of these athletes are of the caliber where they are trying to make the international team where they are trying to represent the U.S. on the paralympic level or the world game level,” Yurochko said.
Greenstein said the university should consider this to be the right time to implement an adaptive sports program.
“If there were ever a time to do this, this turns out to be a pretty good one because it is the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act,” she said. “I think that would be just a wonderful thing to happen here in New Jersey.”
Greenstein also said the program might be appealing to wounded veterans coming home and looking for similar programs, as well as an education.