Ok Philly boxing fans–
If you were hoping for a boxing tie-in to the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association’s 106th Annual Awards Dinner on Feb. 1 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, you have it.
Sort of.
The PSWA is going to honor Alyson Harris, founder of local non-profit Access Sports at the dinner for her work to make sports accessible to folks with physical and mental disabilities by getting them donated tickets to sporting events.
To date, Access Sports has brought over 60,000 challenged adults and children to a variety of sporting events (that’s over 1 million dollars in tickets that were donated!).
Usually, that includes Eagles, Flyers, Sixers and Phillies tickets, as well as college sporting events, etc. But for the first time, Access Sports was able to get tickets to a boxing match. On December 2, Access Sports sent a group of sports fans to the Hopkins/Ornelas fight at the Liacouras Center in Philly.
Think about that. A group of people who strive to just be accepted, to just do the things that everybody else gets to do and often get taken for granted–in this case see the greatest Philly boxer of all-time fight in his hometown–had a night that they will never forget. Not only that, the door has been opened for them to attend other boxing matches in the future and to cheer their favorite fighters on.
But Access Sports doesn’t stop there. Along with providing adults and children with disabilities tickets, it also runs adaptive sports clinics, so this same population–which sadly so often gets left out–can actively participate in sports and competition.
Bravo to the PSWA for honoring Alyson Harris, and bravo for Alyson and Access sports for making the sport we love available to those who wouldn’t otherwise get to enjoy boxing the way you and I do.
If you’re around on Feb. 1, try to go to the dinner and applaud Alyson’s efforts. ask to sit at the Access sports table. If not, go to the Access Sports website and donate a few bucks to this worthy and noble cause. They have PayPal.
To find out more about the PSWA dinner, http://pswadinner.com/
To find out more about Access Sports, http://www.access-sports.org/
Article Provided by: Kerry O’Connor of the Philadelphia Boxing Examiner
