The Move United Junior Nationals (formerly the National Junior Disability Championships and the Adaptive Sports USA Junior Nationals) is an annual

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...

organized by

Move United Move United is an American non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of parasports among youths and adults with physical disabilities. The organization operates community parasports programs via over 150 local chapters across the country. M ...

(formerly

Adaptive Sports USA Move United is an American non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of parasports among youths and adults with physical disabilities. The organization operates community parasports programs via over 150 local chapters across the country. M ...

) for junior

athletes An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...

between the ages of 6 and 22 who have disabilities, with sports including

para-athletics Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practised by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair rac ...

. Several

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

athletes started out as competitors at the NJDC. The 2019 Junior Nationals were hosted from July 14–19, by

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...

, at the Eden Prairie High School campus. The 2020 event was to be hosted in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

but was cancelled and deferred to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Events

The event was founded in 1984 by Wheelchair & Ambulatory Sports, USA and was first held in July 1984. Similar to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, the Junior Nationals are held every year in a different host city in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

through a bidding process.

Participant Eligibility Requirements

All participating athletes must be at least 23 years or younger to participate. In 2020 the games were canceled and deferred to 2021 due to the

. When the Junior Nationals returned the following year 2021 the decision was made to allow athletes, 23 years of age that would have aged out of Junior Nationals in 2020 to compete. Athletes must have a physical, visual, or intellectual impairment that is classifiable under the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) Classification System. Athletes must also achieve required qualifying standards prior to the Junior Nationals registration deadline.

Qualifying Events

List of Move United Sanctioned Competition, an NGB or High School Athletic Association sanctioned event the qualifies for the Junior Nationals that are held throughout the United States of America. April *Texas Regional Games *GUMBO North May *Challenge Games *Desert Challenge Games *Dixie Games *Gateway Games *Great Lakes Games *Lone Star Para Invitational *Russ Harvey Memorial Archery Tournament *Thunder In the Valley Games June *5280 Challenge *Angle City Games *UCO Endeavor Games *Beehive Games *Peachtree Paragames *Southeastern Regional Wheelchair Games *Turnstone Endeavor Games *Tri-State Wheelchair & Ambulatory Games August *Adaptive Sports New England Track Meet *Chicago Para-Archery Championship

Past host cities

References

{{reflist Archery at multi-sport events Boccia competitions Parasports competitions Multi-sport events St. Peters, Missouri Recurring sporting events established in 1984 Swimming at multi-sport events Table tennis at multi-sport events Disability organizations based in the United States Track and field competitions in the United States Volleyball at multi-sport events Weightlifting at multi-sport events Wheelchair racing Boccia in the United States Bowling competitions in the United States 1984 establishments in the United States