Blue Journey Unified

Blue Journey Unified offers people living with SCI/D ongoing opportunities to join those with and without physical challenges for pool training (swimming and prone paddleboarding) in the winter and open water prone paddleboarding in the summer. In prone paddleboarding participants lie down face first on a lifeguard racing board-style craft and move through the water using their hands and arms. The sport provides a unique opportunity for people with SCI/D to participate in an athletic/recreational activity with minimal need for special equipment or accommodation. When people with and without SCI/D paddle next to each other it is virtually impossible to discern who arrived at the beach in a wheelchair. 

To do this, BJUP creates communities of people with and without SCI/D that come together on a regular basis to train and socialize. The ideal program offers sessions in the open water and/or pool on a weekly basis with the intent that more advanced athletes with SCI/D will form friendships with others in the community to enable more training sessions that are one on one or smaller groups. This sustainable, ongoing program focus creates opportunities for people with SCI/D to paddle with friends and family for recreation as well as athletic training and competition in both adaptive and non-adaptive sports events. Swimming and paddleboarding can increase physical and emotional well-being and ameliorate secondary conditions commonly experienced by people with SCI/D, including poor posture, muscle imbalances, compromised skin integrity, decreased cardio-vascular and pulmonary health, and muscle spasticity.

What we offer:

• Ongoing, weekly open water swimming, paddling and surfski sessions Spring - Fall
• Ongoing, weekly pool training sessions at the Ocean City Aquatics and Fitness Center - Sessions include water confidence development, swim workouts and prone paddling workouts
• Advanced Performance Training & Coaching
• Races & Event support in for form or logistics, equipment and partners