Football is the most popular sport in the United States. In fact, 5.23 Americans over the age of six played the sport in 2021, according to Statista^[1]. There is no less interest in football within the adaptive sports community, but there is far less opportunity. The USA Wheelchair Football League is one of Move United’s newer leagues, putting on Learn To Play Clinics throughout the country and hosting three annual tournaments for their eleven national teams. Since 2020, hundreds of lower body-impaired athletes have got to play football despite their disability. There is an emphasis from the league on getting veterans involved, including a minimum number of vets per team, as it is a part of the NFL’s Salute to Service initiative.

With the closest team to us here in Boston being in Buffalo, NY, we decided to host a Learn To Play Clinic in New England. Adaptive Sports New England and the Patriots Foundation teamed up to put on a fantastic 2.5 hour event for 30+ athletes from Connecticut to Maine. On November 13, everyone met up in the morning at the Socios.com Field House, the Patriots’ indoor practice facility in Foxborough. We had flown in two experienced clinicians: Rick Riessle from Tampa Bay, and Kevin Lynott from Maryland. They had a great set of instruction/lessons, drills, and scrimmages, which were more easily facilitated through the assistance of the Boston Renegades players we had to help. The Renegades are in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA), and threw perfect spirals to all the participants.

Also throwing perfect spirals were Jalen Mills, current Patriots cornerback, and Steve Nelson, Patriots Hall-of-Famer. It was really special to have them there, especially with Steve bringing his family and Jalen showing up to his practice field on his bye week. Many photos were taken with only the brightest of smiles, and the two of them even hopped in the drills. Upon the conclusion of two intense scrimmages, one of which came down to the last play, we transitioned over to a lovely lunch provided by the Patriots Foundation. A few speeches, some media interviews, and more photos occurred before goodie bags were given out. Everyone went home that day feeling great!

It was great to see how well our collaboration with the Patriots went. Joe and I began working with them months ago to plan and set this event up. Through many meetings, both in person and virtually, calls, problem-solving missions, and triumphs, we developed a fantastic relationship with the Pats- one that will hopefully bring more great things to the sport of wheelchair football. This was very exciting to me on a personal level, and seeing all the happy faces at the clinic made the many months of planning feel so worth it. Talking to parents, some of whom got emotional seeing their children play a sport that they may not have thought was possible, was my favorite part of the day.

We hope to have further wheelchair football programming in 2023, following the success of this clinic. Ideally, this will become an official USA Wheelchair Football League team, but we will have to wait and see. Until then, you can learn more about the clinic through this CBS News Boston report: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/new-england-patriots-wheelchair-football-clinic/.

– Sam Bernstein, Program Manager

^[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/191658/participants-in-tackle-football-in-the-us-since-2006/#:~:text=Tackle%20football%20participation%20in%20the%20U.S.%202010%2D2021&text=In%20total%2C%20around%205.23%20million,least%20once%20in%20that%20year.&text=Football%20is%20a%20popular%20recreational,adults%2C%20adolescents%20and%20children%20alike.