- [Instructor] So it's a little more secure.

- Right between the shoulder blades.

Cool, cool.

You look cool, do you feel cool?

- Yeah.

- Do you wanna look cool?

- Yeah.

- [Instructor] Good, because you do.

(bright music continues) - Prairieland Adaptive is a newer nonprofit to the Central Illinois area.

We are a nonprofit for adaptive sports, recreation and fitness programming for youth and adults with physical disability and visual impairment.

Essentially, what we're trying to do is fill a gap in this area and expand adaptive sports activities, recreation activities.

We're here to support those groups that already exist, and then we're trying to expand opportunities, really advocate and educate the community about what adaptive sports are and the importance of them and why it's a needed thing here in this area.

(bright music continues) - I know of no place in Springfield that I could go or even reach out to about adaptive sports.

I didn't have a community to ask.

(people chattering) - I've been a therapist, a physical therapist in outpatient neuro rehab for almost five years now.

The biggest challenge from the rehab to discharge to community, it's that bridge, it's figuring out how to get people back into life again, not just being able to walk or be independent in their wheelchair, but figuring out quality of life and community engagement and getting back out there and doing the things that they loved.

In a very similar fashion, it's establishing a relationship and a partnership with a business or entity that's already flourishing and very successful in this community and then bringing in the resources, the education and the training.

- [Instructor] Hi, Baylor.

Nice and strong.

- First Ascent Downtown has been very excited and on board with trying to figure out how to do adaptive climbing.

A couple years ago, some medical students, they were trying to get it off the ground.

I ended up getting connected with them and now we're planning on doing like once a month or every other month adaptive rock climbing sessions.

First Ascent hosts it and then, Prairieland Adaptive, we're coming in with volunteer support right now and also trying to help get more established equipment down there so that anybody can come down whenever.

- [Instructor] You're doing great, Zoey.

- The First Ascent first adaptive climbing, this was my first real adaptive sport that I got to try last fall, and it was so awesome because they had volunteers that they had specially trained here to help adaptive athletes and climbers.

And I felt so supported, they answered all my questions, they made me feel at ease and comfortable.

- [Instructor] All right, let's double check everything so we got the harness.

- Callen has used a wheelchair his whole life, so he doesn't know anything different, but he also really wants to do what his peers do.

And that be like adaptive sports, this climbing is really cool, it just allows him to do those things.

- [Instructor] All right, we're all good back here.

- When I'm climbing, I can do like anything, I feel like I can do anything.

Like, once you get to the top of the wall, you feel like I made it to the top and then you just feel good.

- We heard about what they were doing here at First Ascent, and so we brought her and she kind of got hooked on it.

It's something that we've been planning to start doing and getting more involved in and now here we are.

- The first one I climbed, I took like an hour or so, and then the second one, it took like 10 minutes.

I just love to climb a lot.

- Can I get some knucks?

That was super good.

(people clapping) - [Cody] A year ago, we hosted our first event.

It was the Adapt and Conquer Expo, where we brought in somewhere around 10 groups of a variety of adaptive sports from wheelchair basketball to track to a running clinic for amputees, rock climbing, adaptive fitness, and it was a big success.

- This was the first one that had adaptive sports that you could try, and it was in Central Illinois, it was in Peoria, and I was so amazed that these organizations exist.

- That's why we're here.

It's the magic that happens in these events that matters.

It's getting people out and just living life again.

We don't have much of this opportunity yet.

How cool would it be to have something established where people only have to drive 30, 45 minutes?

Give it a shot, try something new, get connected with somebody new, make a new friend, and give yourself a chance to just surprise yourself.

I think we have a place for everybody.

- Hey Zoey, I'm Cassie.

- Hi.

- [Cassie] Are you ready to climb this big wall?

- Yeah.

- The green one, or?

- Yeah.

- [Cassie] You're gonna go all the way to the top?

- Yeah.

(joyful music) - Meeting Cody and other people with disabilities, it just opened up my whole world.

The community is the most important part, I feel like, because when you feel like you're not alone, there's not words to explain that feeling.

I don't feel alone anymore.

- I'm not in it for the business side of it.

It's about impacting people's lives.

It's about making a difference.

Even if it's only one person's life, making a difference in them because their lives matter.

I wanna see people get out there and be successful and get back into the community.

- [Instructor] All right, nice job.

Whoo.

(people clapping) - Good job.

Whoo!

- [Parent] Woohoo!

(laughs) Look at that smile.