Romania Wheelchair Basketball Exchange

About the Program

The Sport for Social Change Program Romania Wheelchair Basketball exchange was an exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State/Sports Diplomacy Division. From November 5-16, PH International and our subaward partner, San Diego Diplomacy Council, hosted ten Romanian wheelchair basketball players and administrators in San Diego, California. During this program, the group learned about adaptive sports and wheelchair accessibility programs in the U.S. and began creating their community action plans for accessible programs in their home communities.

During their time in San Diego, the group engaged in several sessions focused on improving awareness of adaptive sports, including hearing from a group of collegiate adaptive athletes and a paralympic silver medalist, playing wheelchair lacrosse, going adaptive surfing, and helping develop rules for adaptive squash as it becomes a new adaptive sport. The group also met with the Challenged Athlete Foundation, where they learned about how they may be able to get more funding for adaptive sports equipment in Romania. Cultural experiences of the trip included spending the weekend at Balboa Park, where participants attended the San Diego Zoo and saw local art vendors. Participants also got to touch the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla and spend time watching sea lions. At the end of the exchange, the group participated in a wheelchair basketball demonstration at a local school, where they gave students and parents the opportunity to try wheelchair basketball. Following the exchange, participants planned to do demonstrations at high schools and universities to show wheelchair basketball and the importance of adaptive sports on independence for people with disabilities.