Catalyst Sports

About

Catalyst Sports is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering individuals with physical disabilities through adaptive adventure sports. By providing access to activities like rock climbing, cycling, mountain biking, kayaking, and hiking, Catalyst Sports enables participants to challenge themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Categories Program Adaptive Sports

Program Details

Catalyst Sports offers adaptive adventure sports programs aimed at empowering individuals of all ages with physical disabilities. Our activities include rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, cycling, hiking, and more, offered through local chapters across the southeastern United States. By providing innovative adaptive equipment and trained volunteers, the program ensures that people with disabilities can participate in these adventures, discovering their abilities and forming bonds with their communities.

Catalyst Sports is committed to breaking down the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from accessing outdoor adventures. The program prioritizes inclusivity, focusing on creating a supportive environment where participants and volunteers can thrive together. Catalyst Sports works to foster an active and healthy lifestyle for people with disabilities, providing experiences that are physically, mentally, and emotionally rewarding.

Program Goals:

To give people with physical disabilities access to transformative adventure sports.
To create inclusive and supportive communities that empower individuals through outdoor activities.
To promote active and healthy lifestyles among participants.

Catalyst Sports addresses the need for greater accessibility to outdoor adventure sports for individuals with disabilities. The program removes the barriers that often prevent these individuals from participating in physically challenging activities, allowing them to experience the benefits of an active lifestyle while being part of a larger inclusive community. Catalyst Sports is widely recognized for its impact on the adaptive sports community.

We continue to expand our reach by opening new chapters in communities across the southeastern United States. We are committed to increasing program access by introducing more adaptive equipment, and by extending services in additional locations.

Staff Composition

4 Full-time staff members
Consultants
Extensive volunteer network

Cost to Participate
Free or low cost (e.g. $10 per program). Scholarships are available if the cost is a barrier to participation.

Contact Gillian Sharp, Program Operations Director gillian@catalystsports.org (678) 458-3288 Website YouTube Channel Blogs

Services Offered
Catalyst Sports offers a variety of adaptive adventure sports and services designed to empower individuals with physical disabilities. Here are the primary services offered:

Rock Climbing – Adaptive climbing programs are run in multiple locations, giving individuals the opportunity to participate with the help of specialized equipment
Mountain Biking – Programs use adaptive mountain bikes to enable participants to ride trails that would otherwise be inaccessible
Kayaking – Adaptive kayaking opportunities allow individuals to enjoy water-based sports in a safe and supportive environment
Cycling – Both road and off-road cycling are available, with adaptive bikes provided to meet the needs of each participant
Hiking – Accessible hiking programs make outdoor adventures possible for people with disabilities, often utilizing adaptive equipment like all-terrain wheelchairs
Veterans Programs – Specialized programs designed for disabled veterans to engage in adventure sports, fostering community and empowerment
Paraclimbing Team – A competitive team for individuals who want to take their climbing skills to the next level
Cycle Loan Program – The Get Out and Ride program allows individuals to borrow adaptive bikes so they can continue riding outside of organized events
Hiking Chair Rentals – This service provides specialized hiking chairs for outdoor adventures (available for use in the Great Smoky Mountains)
Adaptive Bike/Kayak Shop - Individuals can be fitted and can test out and order with confidence using our bike/kayak shop service. Our trained staff assemble and deliver the order directly to the customer

A climber who uses a wheelchair belays another climber during an adaptive climbing program in Murfreesboro, TN. Another person in a wheelchair is watching the belayer and climber on the climbing wall. A volunteer is standing behind the belayer with her arms raised in the air. Ropes hang from the climbing wall in front of the belayer in his wheelchair.

A kayaker transfers from his wheelchair into the kayak using the accessible dock and transfer bench while two volunteers help stabilize the kayak. A third volunteer stands behind the adaptive kayaker with her arms on the adaptive kayaker’s shoulders. The adaptive kayaker and volunteer are on a wood dock next to the riverbank. Several yellow and orange kayaks are stacked on top of each in the water at the end of the dock. The river recedes into the distance lined with leafy green trees.

A group of adaptive mountain bike participants stop for a photo with a team of volunteers on bikes behind them, during the AMBC Fall Fest in Knoxville, TN. The adaptive riders are seated on their bikes smiling. Several volunteers are leaning against their bikes on the dirt bike path in front of leafy green trees.

Adaptive Mountain Bike director, Matt Kirby, kneels on the ground while helping to prepare a rider on his bike at an adaptive mountain bike ride in Asheville, NC. The two are surrounded by mountain bikes and other volunteers standing near the edge of the woods.

A group of veterans stop for a group photo at the summit of Table Rock in North Carolina during the 9/11 Tribute climb that takes place every year. The veterans are standing atop the granite dome of Table Rock smiling at the camera. In the background, the hazy rolling hills of the Great Smokies recede into the distance under a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds.

Volunteers help to attach the outriggers on a kayak. Two Adaptive Kayaking program volunteers stand in the water and stabilize the kayak. In the background, the river stretches into the distance. The riverbank is lined with leafy green trees.

Recent Case Studies

A man wearing a helmet and a green shirt rides an adaptive cycle on a forest trail. The trees and leaves are blurry, showing the speed of the cyclist.

Program

North Carolina Adapted Sports – Adapted Off-Road Cycling Program

Our goal is to increase trail accessibility by working with trail management teams to rehabilitate trails to make them accessible to adapted off-road cycles, e.g. handcycles and recumbent trikes. In addition, we work to introduce people with physical disabilities to adapted mountain cycling.

Six POCO members stand along a brick outcrop to take a picture in front of a mountain landscape. The Wallowas stretch far into the horizon behind them, and clouds blanket the blue sky.

Program

People of Color Outdoors

POCO helps BIPOC and White parents of BIPOC children reconnect with nature by creating frequent healing outdoor experiences in a variety of beautiful natural spaces. By offering guided hikes, paddling trips, birding excursions, skill-building workshops, and youth programs, we work to ensure that communities with histories of being excluded have what they need to reconnect with natural spaces, strengthen intergenerational connections, and take on leadership roles.

A child in a blue shirt and a child in a red shirt are playing the game Twister outdoors, on a surface of dried grass and leaves.

Program

Integrative OT

The Integrative OT program model provides nature-based occupational therapy services for children in the Birmingham, Alabama area. Integrative OT also co-hosts free Heeling Cancer hikes with a local massage therapist for adults undergoing cancer treatment or who are cancer survivors of any kind.