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Inclusive Recreation: The Nuxhall Foundation Teams Up with Accessible Ohio

• Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities • Episode 54

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Tyler Bradshaw, Executive Director of the Nuxhall Foundation and the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields, joins the podcast to discuss inclusive recreation. From baseball to softball and beyond, the foundation offers a multitude of sports opportunities for athletes aged four to eighty, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their challenges, has the chance to play. The grounds are designed with accessibility at the core, featuring a family restroom with a universal changing table and adaptive sports equipment to provide a “big league” experience for all players.

The Hope Center, a 30,000 square foot indoor facility, is set to extend the reach of inclusive sports throughout the year. With an arena for the Butler County Special Olympics and sensory-equipped multi-purpose rooms, it's a place where inclusivity will be as important as recreational fun. The foundation has partnered with Accessible Ohio, a program of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD), to ensure every detail, from wheelchair charging stations to service animal relief areas, is thoughtfully considered.

Transcripts and MP3 files are available at ood.ohio.gov/podcast.

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Narrator 00:02

Welcome to OOD Works, the podcast, a show about unique individuals and services provided by Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, the state agency that helps individuals with disabilities find a job and be more independent. Here's your host, Kim Jump. 

Kim Jump 00:18

Today, I'm thrilled for you to hear from Tyler Bradshaw, Executive Director of the Nuxhall Foundation and the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields. Tyler will share insights into the foundation's mission, their exciting future plans and how they partnered with Accessible Ohio to ensure their facilities and programs are truly inclusive. So let me tell you about Accessible Ohio. This initiative comes from the belief that Ohio is at its best when all citizens, including Ohioans with disabilities, are empowered to experience all our great state has to offer. Accessible Ohio encourages us to prioritize accessibility from the start, promote inclusiveness and ensure everyone can experience Ohio in an equitable way. Accessible Ohio specialists work directly with local partners like the Joe Nuxhall Foundation to help identify barriers, establish goals for accessibility and provide information about potential funding resources. It's a valuable resource for organizations striving to make their offerings truly accessible to all. So join me as I hear from Tyler about the incredible work of the Miracle League Fields, their partnership with Accessible Ohio and how they're paving the way for inclusive recreation. 

Tyler Bradshaw 01:39

My name is Tyler Bradshaw and I'm the Executive Director for the Nuxhall Foundation and the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields. So the Nuxhall Foundation carries on legacy projects for former Reds pitcher and broadcaster, the late Joe Nuxhall, and the primary legacy project that we carry on is the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields, which is a baseball and recreational facility for athletes with special needs, and we just have a firm belief that every individual, with every challenge, should get every chance to play and experience a sense of belonging. So we have players as young as age four. Our oldest player is 80 years old. They play in baseball and softball leagues throughout the week, and then we also have mini golf courses, playground equipment, all kinds of opportunities to remove obstacles that would prevent them from being included. We host school visit programs. We bring special education programs from all over the greater Cincinnati region, actually all the way up to Dayton. They come down to have field trips at our facility where the school delivers programming in a safe, clean, inclusive environment. We also have other providers throughout the area that will bring their residents out for programs like playing on our mini golf course or just experiencing playground equipment, having lunch at our facility. So we rock and roll all week long. Here it's. It's a busy facility that that stays hopping. 

Tyler Bradshaw 02:55

The big value that drives the work we do is taking big swings for our athletes. We want to create an amazing game day experience for them in every way, so it's not just about providing a safe rubber turf for them to play baseball games on, but it's about everything that happens around that to create this community of belonging whether that's stadium seating, whether that's concession stands where every item in there is only a dollar, video boards, our own mascot, walk-up music. Making sure that our players really feel like they're getting a big-league experience is what drives us and keeps us going, so we try to create that environment in every interaction. We wanted to remove every single obstacle that might affect a family with either a child or adult or a family member with special needs. So all of those things were incorporated in the design of this facility when it was opened in 2012, including family restrooms with a shower and adult changing table ramps, so the entire facility is accessible for individuals who might have mobility devices. 

Tyler Bradshaw 03:57

And when you come out to a game on a Friday or Saturday, you'll actually see some pretty amazing equipment on display. We have a batter up machine, which is an assisted batter, where an individual who might not have mobility from the neck down can actually, with the help of a provider, hit a button. It swings the bat and will hit the ball off the tee. That way they get the experience of being able to have a hit. On our mini golf course we have assistive putters, so they're basically putters that sit on a pendulum. They can be wheeled up for an individual in a wheelchair and then they can tap that and make contact. We actually have a robotic putter in development that will be controlled by a video game controller. So we try to think through all of those amenities. That way our families can come here and they don't have to explain themselves to anybody, they don't have to apologize for maybe you know not being up at the plate right when their child has to swing the bat. Those kind of things have really served us well here. 

Tyler Bradshaw 04:53

It's hard not to get emotional when you see what our parents experience here on a weekly basis. We have so many parents who tell us that from the moment their child was born, we have so many parents who tell us that from the moment their child was born, they were told by a doctor that their child would never walk, never run, never smile, and they say take sports out of the equation because that's not going to happen. And when we have families come out and say I never thought I would get to experience this moment, every single week with my child, it means everything. A week with my child, it means everything. It's why we do what we do is to give those individuals that experience that all of us had growing up playing sports, that we probably took for granted. Our families tell us that having a place that's all their own is really special and really important, that it removes some of the logistical challenges or obstacles that they might face going to other places, knowing that they can come here and the restroom facilities are suited for what they need, that even the parking lot is suited for what they need. Those things are really important for us and we think about inclusion every single day out here at the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League fields, and we do that for those families to make sure that everything is perfect for them from the moment they set foot on the campus. 

Tyler Bradshaw 06:10

Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities provided us with incredible resources and we think about inclusion every single day, and there were things in this report that we had never thought of, never heard of, never experienced or never dreamt of for our players, never heard of, never experienced or never dreamt of for our players. We want to make sure that we are always on the cutting edge and always staying up to date in providing the resources that our families with disabilities require, and the consultation that we were able to take part of with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities really kind of gave us the belief and the confidence that the dreams we embark upon in the future are going to be grounded in best practices within the industry, that they're going to keep us up to date on technology and services available to individuals and families with special needs, and we feel so much more confident in taking those big swings for our players and thinking about new opportunities like a year-round indoor inclusive recreational environment. Those resources were so valuable. There were things that we had never thought of, like wheelchair charging stations, service relief areas for individuals who have companion pets. Those kinds of things are things that when you're just wrapped up in the day-to-day of what you do, you think you've got it all figured out, but then a report and a consultation and a conversation like that exposes you to new ideas and better ways to serve. So we're really thankful for the consultation and the opportunity to continue enhancing the work we do as a result of this partnership. 

Tyler Bradshaw 07:34

So for a long time we have had a dream to build an indoor, year-round inclusive recreational space for our athletes with special needs. Baseball is a great sport. Baseball in southwestern Ohio is wonderful for about six months out of the year and we constantly think about what can we do to promote year-round wellness and recreation for athletes and families with disabilities. So we are embarking upon a campaign to build the Hope Center, which will be a 30,000 square foot indoor recreational facility right here on our campus, to extend what we do into new sports, into year-round play. So we really take this mantra of every individual with every challenge gets every chance to play. And now it'll be every sport and it'll be every season when this building opens. 

Tyler Bradshaw 08:23

And, thanks to our partnership with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, we're going to be able to think through that project from start to finish and make sure every single square foot of that building is designed with their needs in mind. So, yeah, this building is going to have things like an arena that'll be home to the Butler County Special Olympics and other sports leagues that are designed for individuals with disabilities. We'll actually have a 5,000 square foot multi-purpose room that'll have sensory equipment. It'll have things like a wheelchair trampoline, a wheelchair ball pit, a wheelchair zip line. So there's lots of things that are going to be happening within that recreational room, a community meeting space, and then we'll have lots of programming that'll happen out of that building from a year-round capacity. So we're super excited to embark on that dream and we feel a lot more confident going forward with it, thanks to our partnership and when you think about just the little moments that we, as children, probably took for granted right, the experience of jumping on a trampoline or being on a merry-go-round, right. We want to make sure that we provide those opportunities for everyone. That's why we've installed things like our ability world, where individuals in a wheelchair can roll right into that, they can lock in and they can play with other individuals and experience that moment together. And the Hope Center is going to give us the opportunity to provide those year-round in a safe, clean, imaginative environment. So we're super excited to open that and it's going to give us the opportunity to provide those year-round in a safe, clean, imaginative environment. So we're super excited to open that and it's going to mean a lot to our families. 

Tyler Bradshaw 09:50

One of the things that we really want to take out of the equation for our families are just those logistical challenges. And when you think about a Special Olympics program, they are basically fighting for floor space. With a basketball league, for example, you know, hey, this high school team is done practicing at this time, so we'll take the floor after that. And if you're a parent, you've got to think through what doors are going to be unlocked. Where do I park? Are the restroom facilities going to be safe and inclusive for my child or my family member? Giving them a dedicated space takes all of that out of the equation. They know the game plan, they know how to get there, they know how to navigate the space and it's reliable and predictable every single time. So those are the things we're trying to think through in why this building matters, why it's important, and we know that all along the way, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities is going to be there to provide us with the guidance and expertise that we need. 

Tyler Bradshaw 10:40

There are so many things in a project especially if you're building a building that are going to From that planning moment that you set foot, you are allocating square foot space and design, from the moment that you start thinking about that project, making sure that you've thought through all those logistical challenges like doors and entryways and covered sidewalks and drop-off circles, all those kinds of things. It's vitally important. It's vitally important. Also, the thing that I think about quite often is that our families are thinking about how to navigate this place before they ever sign up, before they ever set foot on the campus one time. So being able to provide them with an experience before the experience, those online resources and accessibility predictor, social narratives, all of those things that help them really be confident in the experience, to know that the organization is serving those families, those are things that Opportunities for Ohioans with disabilities have helped us to think through from a best practice perspective and we're going to do a better job serving our families as a result of this partnership. 

Tyler Bradshaw 11:47

Moving forward, we hope, above anything else, they feel loved, they feel valued and they feel like they matter because they do to all of us, and I can't tell you how many people we have come out to this facility on a Friday night or a Saturday morning that they don't have any connection to an athlete out on the field. They don't know anybody, they're just here to cheer and be a part of the magic. That's the feeling that we want our athletes to walk away with. We want them to feel like big leaguers when they're out on this field. We want these stands to be packed with people cheering them on, with signs and noisemakers supporting what they do. Because we know that how you interact with individuals with disabilities, that says a lot about the fabric of your community, and if you can get more people in your community involved in those relationships, it greatly enhances that community as a place to live, as a place to work, as a place to be a part of, and that's what we hope this facility does. We hope that it provides a refuge and a safe place for families that might not feel like their needs are listened to or that they matter to other organizations. We want to turn that entire model on its head and let them know that their needs come first. 

Tyler Bradshaw 13:02

Yeah, it gets exciting, because there's never any shortage of ideas of things we can do to serve the individuals in our community, and I think the thing that surprises me more than anything is that it just continues to grow. When we started our youth league we had 25 players playing out here and just this past Saturday we kicked off our youth league and we now have over 125 players that we're serving. Our adult league is over 150 players and through school visit programs and outside provider visits, we're serving over 1,000 individuals with disabilities at our facility on an annual basis. That's really exciting and that causes us to think about how we can even expand what we do and grow in new and exciting ways in the years ahead. I think, from a utility perspective, we are trying to get a handle on walking through a day in the life of an individual with special needs and what kinds of things that we might not think about that we can implement in that building. So, from a utility perspective, things like wheelchair charging stations that's big to us. So, from a utility perspective, things like wheelchair charging stations that's big to us. 

Tyler Bradshaw 14:12

Accessible restrooms and making sure that those are easy to navigate, easy to use for individuals with a variety of different needs. One idea that we had never considered before which looking back, shocks me that we had never thought about it was the idea of a page on our website just devoted to accessibility right, giving that family kind of a how-to-before-you-get-here guide on what you're going to experience. So we're thinking through how to implement that on our website, as well as the use of social narratives. We had never thought about that as a way to increase confidence in what we do to the families that we serve. As things have progressed here at the Joe Knox All-Miracle League fields, we have seen an increase in recent years of developmental disabilities, sensory disabilities, and we have not really thought about how we might be able to keep pace with that. So now we're thinking about implementing things like a sensory night where we play a game where the music's turned down low, the sound effects are off and we minimize some of those things, adding things like resource bags and things that our families can get to in a moment of need. 

Tyler Bradshaw 15:26

Those kinds of things from the report really stood out to me and again, it was great because some of the recommendations in the report they were big scale things, right, things that we need to think about moving forward, that are going to take a lot of time attention, and then there were some things that might cost us $25 and just a little bit of time to think through. That would greatly enhance the experience for our families, for our families. So we're just really thankful for all of the recommendations and the guidance and the support and the promise to be there as we continue to grow and progress, that this is going to be a resource moving forward. It's really reassuring when you're designing these community spaces, like we are with the Hope Center. It's so important to think through how that space is going to operate from the moment somebody arrives there from the parking lot, not just once you're inside the building and not just the stuff. That's kind of easy to check off a checklist from an ADA perspective, right. But how do you go above and beyond to make sure that this is a space that is inclusive to every single person who's there? And I think that that's what the partnership with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities has done for us, is it's caused us to think beyond some of the disabilities that we're comfortable or that we've had experience in serving, to think about the increase in individuals with developmental disabilities and how you might be able to serve them. Think about, you know, workforce opportunities, right, when we open this building. What about concession stand opportunities and working there? What about opportunities to manage and maintain and clean the building? Those opportunities are there. So I just think we're thinking through things from a much more comprehensive space than we ever have before. 

Tyler Bradshaw 17:06

Fairfield, where the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League fields are located, is no doubt a better, more acceptive, inclusive community because of what happens here on a weekly basis. Our community has gone all in to make this happen. When you look at this facility when it was built it was about a $3 million facility and $2 million of that was donated in kind labor, materials, equipment, people coming out to make this place happen and to bring it to a reality. The beautiful part about all of that is that it has continued to grow. It has continued to get bigger and good things are happening in our community as a result of this being here. 

Tyler Bradshaw 17:44

When we think about big swings and those big dreams for our special needs athletes, we were inspired by the Cincinnati Reds opening day parade and we said how awesome would it be for our players to have an opening day parade. So we now, every year, at the start of our spring season, we have an opening day parade where hundreds of our players and families walk in that parade. They ride in trolleys, we have a marching band, we have mascots, we have ponies, we have all kinds of stuff to celebrate them, to give that experience. I love watching our families in that parade, but more than anything, along that mile and a half route, I'm inspired because people in the thousands come out, they line the streets in our community and they cheer on our athletes. That's the kind of place I want to live in, that's the kind of place I want to live in, that's the kind of place I want to work in, and I have no doubt that this place has been the catalyst in creating that accepting, inclusive environment. So we're just excited to be a part of that, to give people a place where they feel changed at the soul level. That's what we want to do every single day that we're out here. One that sticks with me we have a player, hunter Phelps, who started out in our youth league. He now plays in our adult league, but he also volunteers as a coach. He'll stand at third base and stand out of his wheelchair. He's in this wheelchair along the parade route and he's just got a sign that says baseball is my superpower, right, and that's the emotion we want to create within the individuals who get to play here, but also the people who witness it and see it on a daily basis. 

Tyler Bradshaw 19:26

There's no shortage of resources when it comes to how to serve individuals with disabilities, but there's often a shortage of time and resources amongst the parties and individuals that are responsible for doing that work. Having a resource in our state like Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities really changes the game because it connects us all of our organizations that are time strapped, budget strapped. It connects us with these resources that we never knew existed. That is an incredible, incredible service and an incredible resource. And to have that in your back pocket, to go out confidently and say we know that we're doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and really being accepting because we've got lots of research and resources and things that have been provided to us, it's a really reassuring thing. It gives us the confidence to do big things and to dream even bigger. So we're just, we're very excited to have this as a resource in our community. 

Tyler Bradshaw 20:26

But you know, I think a lot of people would assume like wow, look at the facility, they've got it all figured out. And I remember I kind of thought we probably do. 

And then I get the report that was sent over and I just remember sitting at my desk like never thought of that, never thought of that, never thought of that idea, and that was both a kind of eye opening moment to me. 

Tyler Bradshaw 20:51

But it was also a good feeling knowing that like, okay, we can do that, we can do that, we can implement all these things, like they're easily achievable and they can make a big impact with the families that we serve. That's what I loved about it. It wasn't the type of report or consultation where, hey, you guys need to spend $3 million to get up to speed on this, this and this. You can buy this one thing for $25, that for somebody who has a sensory disability that might be able to change their experience out at your facility, or you can check out this website that's already been done by another party in the state and you can really take those ideas and adapt them for what you need. That's so much better for us than having to start at the ground up right, to have a starting point and to have resources to guide us all along the way. It's just been incredible. 

Kim Jump 21:45

A transcript of today's episode is available at OOD.Ohio.Gov/Podcast. We welcome you to subscribe and leave a review. We're on social media at Ohio OOD. Do you have a disability? Do you want a job? We can help OODWorks.com.