Paralympic Collegiate Resources

Collegiate athletics are critical to Team USA’s success. Paralympic-eligible athletes are competing in a variety of programs in collegiate programs at all levels from Division I to Division III. Collegiate programs and opportunities for Para athletes are on the rise and continue to be a focus for our athletes to continue to train and receive a post-secondary education.

There are a variety of locations for collegiate athletic programs for Para athletes. The following are a few locations for programming:

• NCAA varsity programs provide an inclusive model within the athletic department for a Para athlete to compete with their peers. An athlete with a disability competes with his or her peers on the same team.
• Adaptive sport programs are programs that are primarily geared towards athletes with disabilities. These programs may be housed in an education or recreation department such as a disability services department or a college of human development. An example of this type of programming would be adaptive sport programs such as wheelchair basketball or wheelchair tennis programs.
• Club programming is available for several sports in that athletes participate on a club team with the college. These programs may be specific for Para athletes or may be an inclusive model for the sport. For example, many triathlon sport programs are housed in the club space and open to both athletes with and without disabilities and may compete together.
• Recreation programs are available to athletes with disabilities that may be continual programming or could be a seasonal opportunity.

We encourage you to review the resources below that will guide you in learning more about the collegiate space for athletes with disabilities. You can explore information on the collegiate campaign, Paralympians Made Here. You can hear from some of our athletes on why they choose their colleges, how competing collegiately helped prepare them for Team USA and how college helped prepare them for life on our athlete testimonial page. View NGB/HPMO collegiate sport resources, a listing of adaptive collegiate sport programs across the United States and learn where our national team and Paralympians have trained and competed at collegiately!

If you have any questions, please email us at ParalympiansMadeHere@usopc.org.