NEW YORK TOWERS - WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Beyond The Rim Outreach Program
Founded in 2009, the New York Towers initially set out to create an athletic program in the New York area specifically designed to give little people athletes a chance to play and practice with teammates of similar size. The quandary these athletes found themselves in was the only chance they had to play sports with other little people were annually at the LPA national conventions. There was no program to fill the void left all throughout the rest of the year. The Towers set out to fill that void and created a monthly practice schedule and embarked on a journey that would end up being more than just a group of guys and gals in a gym tossing up a basketball.
Over the next four years, the Towers flourished on and off the court. On the court they assembled a basketball team that would go on to win three straight DAAA national titles from 2010 – 2012, and become the World silver medalists in basketball at the World Games in 2013. Other on court accomplishments came at the World Games where they grabbed the Gold Medal for Team Volleyball and the Bronze medal for Soccer.
Aside from their competitions versus opponents of like physical stature, the Towers took their game to local schools all around the New York area to promote what they called the “Beyond The Rim” outreach program, bringing dwarfism awareness to students, faculty, and parents in those schools. Their record in those games, 6 wins 5 losses, but they achieved a moral victory in everyone of them by showing attendees that there is an athlete and a special talent in everyone of us. It is up to us to let that talent be discovered and fostered in our lives. They showed people that a little guy can play a “big guys sport” and opened the eyes of people to the world around them showing them that differences come in all shapes and sizes and that we are all unified by the fact that we are unique in some way.
At the end of the day the New York Towers have created the best mentorship program around for adolescent and teen little people. Giving them an organization to join with role models for them to look up to and know that life has a lot to offer them, and the sky’s the limit for their future. We have older mentor athletes on the team in their late 20’s and older 30’s who have run the mill of life and have persevered wonderfully through college, work, and through the social and family life giving the younger athletes on the team truly a big brother on a totally different level then they could get anywhere.
