Chad Ciri’s son is 15 years old and is on the autism spectrum. Chad has always wanted to start a class for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, and last year, he launched a Uniquely Abled Fitness program at his gym in Fairfax, VA, to serve his son and many others.
- “I realized there’s really nothing in our area that specifically serves that population for fitness and teaching them the basics and giving them access to the benefits of fitness,” Ciri tells Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “I built up the courage to be able to offer it on a smaller scale.”
Ciri is the co-owner of CrossFit Burke, and he started the program with just four to five kids at a time, along with some coaches who also wanted to help with his mission. He was able to grow the hands-on training program to roughly 16 kids ages 12 to 19.
- The program is now celebrating its one-year anniversary and is just one of six Uniquely Abled chapters nationwide.
- The year-round program is led by Ciri and other certified CrossFit and Adapted Fitness coaches on Saturday afternoons. The kids come for one hour and receive a warm-up, strength-focused portion, and a workout.
The class doesn’t differ too much from a traditional CrossFit class, Ciri says. The biggest differences are adaptability and patience with the kids as they learn and adjust to these new movement patterns.
- “There’s going to be a ton of trial and error and tons of positive reinforcement,” Ciri says. “If they don’t want to do a certain movement today, then that’s okay. The flexibility of being able to do that, because all we care about is if they leave with a smile and if they want to come back the next week, is an enormous victory.”
One key for Ciri when building the program was having neurotypical peers who function as “big brothers” or “big sisters” to the members of the class. These peers participate and help out throughout the class and are hand-selected from CrossFit Burke’s kids and adult programs.
- “To them, it’s no big deal. They’ve been around it enough where they don’t feel like they’re doing charity, and it’s magical for these kids to have that exposure to neurotypical peers,” Ciri says.
For gyms interested in joining Uniquely Abled and starting their own chapter, the barrier to entry is quite low. It all starts with reaching out to the organization, which will then provide programming guidelines and support to help you get started.
“Really, anyone could do it. It isn’t a huge investment by any stretch; you just need the people who are willing and able to do it,” Ciri says.
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Featured Image: CrossFit Burke
