Susan Miles has always had passion for helping the disabled. Now as the director of Champion Athletes of the Ozarks, she runs and organizes services for children and adults with disabilities.

These services include everything from bowling to learning how to develop friendships. Their goal: build self-esteem, self-confidence, and social skills to progress towards normal living.

Champion Athletes, which launched in 2002, serves the disabled in the Ozarks area.

In an interview with The Scoop, Miles shared the story of how it all began and how you can volunteer.

Q: What is the story of how Champion Athletes began? 

This is our 12th year. We started talking to parents to find out what they needed, what we could do to help, where [there were] services missing. Parents were saying, ‘What do I do when my child can’t read? What do I do when my child needs to start looking for a place to live? How [do I] teach those independent skills and life skills? What do I do because my child has no friends?’ When we talked to parents, we realized that a sports program only serves half of the individual. There’s so much more to making our lives successful. That’s what makes us very unique.

Q: Tell us about the mission of Champion Athletes.

To build self-esteem, self-confidence and everyday life skills, therefore enhancing the lives of children and adults with disabilities through education, sports competition and new opportunities.

Q: Champion Athletes provides sports activities for the disabled, but what additional activities do you provide?

There are several programs that provide sports to individuals with disabilities. We do that, and we also have the life-skills side. We provide math classes, reading classes, storm safety classes, and we’re working on a nutrition program. We take about eight trips during the year. We have fun but, at the same time, work on social skills and behaviors such as appropriate behavior at a country club if you have never been, making friends, and maintaining friendships. We want to work on the things that make the whole individual successful.

Q: Tell us about a personal experience you have had through Champion Athletes.

Every day is a new experience. Every day for 39 years, our individuals have taught me so much more than I could have ever imagined. We have an individual now who is 54 years old. Till about eight years ago he was perfectly normal — had a wife, child, job, house, and went to work every day. He fell in the bathtub and had a massive head injury; he is now blind and functioning on the level of about a 5-year-old.

In about a month, he will have participated in Champion Athletes for a year. He is unbelievable in the things he can do. He will try anything and has the best attitude in the world. He can hit a golf ball straight all the way across the lake and bowls 130 consistently. In basketball, if we stand under the basket and make a noise, he can almost always make it. The thing about him that is phenomenal is he is always in a good mood, wants to learn, wants to talk to people, and is polite.

His daughter is now 17 years old. His wife now takes care of a 5-year-old, which is a tremendous amount of work. What’s happened to their future together? What happens when his daughter graduates from high school? She will celebrate it alone. He doesn’t even understand what high school is. What happens when she gets married? Has a baby? All of those are milestones in your life that your parents typically celebrate together. Although, his wife is always gracious, happy, interested in the things he is doing, and his daughter is just as wonderful. In no way do they ever look at anything negative. I’m just blown away. He has made such an impact on all of us over the last year.

Q: How would one get involved or volunteer?

We survive by volunteers. You are talking to our entire staff. You can call our office, email me, or sign up through the website. Any way that we can reach volunteers, whether it’s through community fairs or campuses, we try to. We are always looking for interested volunteers.

Q: Tell us about the success of Champion Athletes so far. 

We have grown very quickly. Twelve years is a long time. It is a long time for a new nonprofit organization to make it. We are now serving 640 individuals. That is a small number compared to some of the well-known organizations. We want to serve anyone would needs our services, but also stay very hands on and have personal relationships with the individuals. That’s what makes us very different.

Q: Champion Athletes has been established since 2002. Where do you see the organization in the future?

In the next few years, I think the program will continue to grow. We are just about out of space here. Staff is going to have to increase. We would like to expand substantially our life-skills classes, such as having a full kitchen. I would like to have the facilities and resources to truly teach skills. My hope for the next few years is that we will have a larger space with those resources.