What is Variety Village?
www.varietyontario.com

The Variety Village Sport Training and Fitness Centre opened in 1981 to serve children with special needs. Its founding principle was to give children of any level of ability the opportunity to grow and develop to their full potential through play and physical activity. By providing opportunities for children to involve themselves in challenging situations. Variety Village builds self-esteem along with physical, mental and emotional skills.

The Village comprises a fieldhouse / gymnasium equipped with a special indoor track, a conditioning area for weight and circuit training, a small research laboratory for fitness testing, conference rooms, a residence, and a cafeteria. An aquatics wing, added in 1989, features electronically-controlled showers, special lifts and ramps to assist people with physical challenges, and underwater viewing areas for biomechanical assessment of athletes.

Variety Village is a world leader in integrated active living and features specialized programming for children and adults with special needs.

The breadth of programs allows children to see that they have the ability to do things they thought they could never do. The Village operates daily and weekly programs such as wheechair basketball, sledge hockey, kayaking, rock climbing and swimming, as well as special programs such as summer camps. Through these programs, staff and volunteers at the Village stress each child's abilities, not their disabilities.

To Joe Millage, the Village's Managing Director, the value of the work is even more fundamental. He sums it up by saying, "We specialize in creating strength; especially strength of character." He and the dedicated and enthusiastic people who work and volunteer at Variety Village constantly innovate, by designing new games, new equipment and new ways to make programs work. As a result, Variety Village activities are challenging and fun, designed to bring out the best in children of all abilities. By seeking solutions, rather than focusing on problems, Variety sends children a strong and positive message: there is always a way - it simply takes imagination and determination.