Ozark Adaptive Sports Association

Mission:

To provide individuals with physical disabilities opportunities, recreation and competitive sports programs to promote independence and enhance the quality of their lives.

Vision:

To build community awareness while advancing and maintaining current offerings. To continually assess and enhance the programs offered. To grow and stabilize funding for programs offered.

Summary:

Ozark Adaptive Sports Association (OZASA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that benefits people with physical disabilities in the Greater Northwest Arkansas area who wish to stay physically active. 

Currently in Northwest Arkansas, there is a slim offering of adaptive sports and recreation options for people with disabilities. The state of Arkansas has a population of 3,004,279 with 12.3% under the age of 65 (2016 US census) having disabilities of some kind with 500 spinal cord injuries in Northwest Arkansas alone. In the weeks and months following diagnosis of severe illness or injury, people are often left wondering: What now? Our goal at OZASA is to find these individuals and show them what IS possible by getting them back on the move. We want to build a community for people with disabilities and provide funded opportunities for them to compete in sports and recreation.

 The future goal of OZASA will be to provide a sports facility better suited for the disabled community of Northwest Arkansas to provide opportunities for athletes with disabilities to overcome barriers and allow them to partake in athletic competition that showcase their abilities to the community. 

To gain funding we will look to donors, sponsors and fundraising as we work on a means to grow and stabilize our funding. It will be the goal of OZASA to work with area rehabilitation hospitals, the University of Arkansas, other nonprofits and the Arkansas Spinal Cord Commission to build a Northwest Arkansas community for individuals with disabilities. OZASA will be looking into ways to provide the means for sports competition at the local, regional and national level. 

We want to expand their comfort zone, and help change our community’s mindset from “What now?” to “What’s Next?”