SpoFit hosted the 2nd Annual Duel in the Desert presented by Bank of America on October 25th. This event aimed to raise awareness of competitive adaptive sports was a huge success. Mari Godbout summed up the day perfectly: “I loved being able to see all of the athletes from the different sports competing in one venue and I felt privileged to be one of those athletes. It was exciting to be able to participate in this event that brings awareness about the opportunities these sports provide to the community. Everyone can be an athlete regardless of physical limitations!”
Competition through the day was fierce. Athletes included Paralympians, Power Soccer World Cup Champions, and Arizona Hall of Fame Athletes. Three sports were played throughout the day: Power Soccer, Wheelchair Basketball, and Wheelchair Rugby. Teams from Tucson and the Phoenix area battled it out on the courts with 3 games of each sport. The 1st place teams won $750 and the 2nd place teams won $250. The final standings for Duel in the Desert were:
Power Soccer:
1st- Sun Devil Power Soccer Club
2nd- Arizona Heat Elite
3rd- SpoFit Spark
Wheelchair Basketball:
1st- U of A Women’s Team
2nd- Tucson Lobos
3rd- Banner Wheelchair Sun’s D3
Wheelchair Rugby:
1st- Phoenix Heat
2nd- Tucson Renegade
3rd- U of A Wheelchair Rugby
In addition to the competitions, attendees of the event participated in raffle prizes, lunch & dinner, and an after-party to celebrate the event and the athleticism of the athletes.
Throughout the day, approximately 650 attendees came through the doors of SpoFit to see this exciting event. Without the generous support of our sponsors, this event would not have been possible. Thank you to Bank of America, Fennemore Craig, RED Development, Ability Center, Brett Approved, AZ Spinal Cord Injury Association, ABC Medical and Will2Walk Foundation.
On behalf of ABILITY360 and SpoFit, We thank our staff (especially Kayla), our volunteers, our players, our sponsor and especially everyone that came out to support the adaptive sports movement in Arizona. We hope to see you all next year for our even bigger 2-day tournament on October 23rd and 24th, 2015.
If you have Facebook you can view the photos below;