For Kapil and Sunny Bhandaram, this week is less about their own game and more about helping other kids find theirs.
The twin brothers play tennis for Cherry Creek High School, but this week they are serving as camp counselors at Colorado Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp at Aurora Central High School in Aurora, Colorado.
The free camp invites children with physical disabilities from across Colorado to try adaptive sports.
“I love sports, and I love teaching kids, and this is one of the greatest places to do it,” Sunny said. “Every single kid here is so wholesome, so nice, and they love every second that they are here.”
The camp offers activities including swimming, kayaking, tennis, hockey, rugby, basketball, fencing, archery and more.
Kapil said one of the most memorable parts is seeing campers realize what they can do.
“Say they hit a ball over the net, and they’re like, ‘oh my god, I can actually do this’, and they haven’t been exposed to stuff like this their entire lives,” Kapil said. “Seeing that click and that change in their life experiences is just really heart-filling.”
Liz Feicht, a volunteer coordinator for the nonprofit camp, said the experience reaches beyond sports.
“It’s just really cool to see the kids develop these friendships throughout the course of a week and throughout the years,” Feicht said.
For the brothers, the camp has also sparked a new project. They said the experience inspired them to launch their own nonprofit, Spark Elite, and they plan to launch the website next week.
“We didn’t realize that this is the only week in the year that they get to play these sports. We thought, ‘what if they had somewhere to play year round, and they can get better and better, and then keep coming back,’” Sunny said.
Kapil said Spark Elite aims to help adaptive athletes find programs and resources.
“That’s kind of the whole goal of Spark Elite, to advertise and compile everything into a one-stop shop for every adaptive athlete to kind of go there and be able to pick any sport they want,” Kapil said.
The brothers said the campers are what make the work worth it.
“I think it’s one of the greatest feelings anyone can ever feel to see someone else succeed or see someone else be fulfilled,” Sunny said.
“It makes me happy to see them being happy,” Kapil said.
Read more from Denver 7.
