With support from the Highlands Ranch Community Association, Douglas County Schools and the Colorado Racquetball Association, STAHRS volunteers will continue to provide racquetball lessons to Rock Canyon, Mountain Vista, Thunder Ridge and Highlands Ranch High Schools at the North Ridge Recreation Center. The lessons are part of the schools' efforts to expose their students to a variety of sports, and to highlight the availability of the facilities in their home town.
The North Ridge Rec Center has been a hotbed of local racquetball and hosted numerous National events, such a US Junior Nationals, Intercollegiate Nationals, US National Doubles, US National Seniors and will host the US National Singles championship in May 2019. The anti-bullying curriculum will be implemented with the aid of the educators and discussed in classrooms. The discussions will address basics of human behaviors and explain such violence as the epidemic of school shootings, ten dating violence, and sexual assaults.
STAHRS recently developed the Exploring Empowerment Program (EEP), which will focus on adaptive physical activities for students and adults with intellectual challenges, such Down Syndrome, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, etc. The program will also aid Disabled Veterans to build their physical capabilities and overcome mental and emotional challenges associated with PTSD from combat. The Local Lessons Program has been routinely teaching students with challenges every semester as part of their PE classes. The EEP utilizes Whipserball TM, developed by the program director, Dan Davis. The adaptive ball slows the speed of the game to allow more time for mental processing, reactivity, and physical limitations. For Vets, the ball also prevents emotional triggers associated with the crack of the ball and combat related traumas. Overtime, they become desensitized to the stimuli and transfer to using the regular ball after deprogamming their conditioned responses.