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Because The Children’s Museum is a place for all children and families, we believe in inclusion and access in all areas of the museum—including our outdoor sports wonderland. We are committed to exceeding your accessibility expectations when you visit the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience® because when the play is better, the day is better!
Here’s the adaptive equipment available for you to use in the outdoor sports park.
Sport wheelchairs
We have two sizes of sport wheelchairs available to use on our playing surfaces—"Adult" and "Youth". They can be checked out free of charge. Just ask one of the Coaches on-site. They’re happy to help!
Adaptive equipment in the Basketball Experience
Indiana Pacers and Fever Basketball Experience
Basketball with bells and beeper attachments for rims
Guests with visual impairments are able to hear where the basketball is with the bells and where the rim is located as it beeps.
Basketball with hand placement visual
Guests with cognitive and/or motor disabilities can use the model hands on the basketball as a guide.
Adaptive equipment in the Football Experience
Indianapolis Colts Football Experience
Cannon blasters
Our football cannon blasters are…well…a blast. They’re not just for fun, though. They can be instrumental in helping someone make a field goal.
Soft colorful footballs with holes
Footballs with holes allows for guests with varying levels of hand strength to grip a football.
Fish footballs
Fish Footballs are soft and colorful, allowing a wide range of guests to feel more comfortable playing football
Adaptive equipment in the Tennis Experience
The Seymour and Rheta Holt Tennis Center
Tennis balls with bells and streamers
Tennis balls with bells and tennis balls with streamers attached to them are great for guests with visual impairments. The streamer tennis balls are recommended for people who have low vision. The bell tennis balls are recommended for people who have more significant vision loss.
Tennis hand racket
Guests who may not be able to grip a traditional tennis racket can slide their hand into the hand racket like a mitten.
Adaptations to the Hockey Experience
"My-sized" hockey sticks and puck balls
The everyday equipment in the Indy Fuel Hockey Experience is already adaptive in nature with its light plastic sticks and larger puck balls. Different “my-sized” light plastic hockey sticks give you the opportunity to find a size that works for you. The larger round puck balls are easier to hit than traditional pucks.
Adaptive equipment in the Soccer Experience
Lightweight foam soccer balls
Our lightweight foam soccer balls are designed to move like a traditional soccer ball, but take much less force to move down the field.
Assisted kicker
The assisted kicker is great for getting guests of all mobility levels in the game.
Soccer balls with bells
Soccer balls with bells inside are great for guests with visual impairments so they can listen for the ball.
Adaptations in the Baseball Experience
Wiese Field donated by Elizabeth Bracken Wiese and J. Frederic Wiese Jr.
“My-sized” bats and balls
The everyday equipment on Wiese Field is already adaptive in nature with its “my-sized” light plastic baseball bats, giving you the opportunity to find a size that works for you. With softer baseball-sized and softball-sized balls, a variety of balls are available to accommodate everyone. They have wiffle ball style holes in them, for various levels of grip strength.
An adjustable tee is also part of the experience.
Quick catch gloves
You can use quick catch Velcro gloves to play catch with soft tennis balls that will stick in someone’s glove if they cannot squeeze a glove.
Adaptations to the Racing Experience
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pedal Car Racetrack Experience and The Hall Family Dragstrip
Reminder: close-toed shoes are required to use our pedal cars on the Drag Strip and Oval Track.
Wheelchair lane on the Drag Strip
Guests in wheelchairs are able to get in on the racing action with our adaptive wheelchair lanes on the Drag Strip. This lane runs parallel with the other four lanes so you are right there in the action!
“My-sized” pedal car
The Oval Track has pedal cars for even the smallest of racers. If you can pedal with your feet, you can race without any height requirements.
If you can’t pedal with your feet, you can race, too...
Hand cycle wheelchair attachment
This device can be attached to your chair (or our sports wheelchair) so they can use their hands to pedal and experience the thrill of racing in the Oval Track’s Tony Stewart Foundation Accessibility Lane.
Adaptations to the Golf Experience
Pete and Alice Dye Golf Experience Presented by Henry and Christine Camferdam
"My-sized" golf clubs and balls
The everyday equipment in the Golf Experience is adaptive with “my-sized” clubs and balls. Various sizes of lighter golf clubs are available for you to use, whether you’re sitting or standing while playing. Golf balls are a soft tennis ball material that are just a bit larger than the average golf ball.
Longer putters with a larger club head and lighter plastic clubs are also available.
Accessibility in the Tree of Sports
The Children’s Museum Guild’s Fantasy Tree House of Sports
Elevator lift
There’s a lift located inside the tree so you can enjoy the Tree of Sports regardless of your level of mobility. The lift is located on the north side of the tree and will take you up to Level 2 inside the tree.
Adaptations to the Fitness Path and Track Experiences
“My-sized” equipment
All fitness pads along the Fitness Path and Track, including the Hershey USATF RunJumpThrow Experience, have adaptive equipment that is accessible to people who use wheelchairs. The lanes are wide enough and smooth for wheelchairs, too.
We also have foam batons for relay hand-offs and breakaway hurdles for the different track activities available in these experiences.
Everyone can get in the action
The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience® is open during museum operating hours mid-March–the end of October and included with museum admission. Advance tickets are encouraged. With the adaptive equipment available in our outdoor sports wonderland, everyone can get off the sidelines and into the action!
Get in the Action
The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience® is made possible through lead gift support from The Enid Goodrich Educational Initiatives Fund; Riley Children’s at Indiana University Health; The Herbert Simon Family Foundation/Pacers Foundation/The Herbert and Bui Simon Foundation; Old National Bank; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Efroymson Family Fund; Henry and Christine Camferdam; The Children’s Museum Guild; Elizabeth Bracken Wiese and J. Frederic Wiese Jr.; Indianapolis Colts; NCAA; Ice Miller LLP; Dr. and Mrs. George Rapp, Dr. and Mrs. John Rapp, and Mr. James and Dr. Patricia Rapp; White Oak Foundation (John and Sarah Lechleiter); Church Brothers Collision Repair; Central Indiana Honda Dealers; The LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, Inc.; Jane and Steve Marmon; Gina and Jim Bremner Family; Indy Fuel; Subway; Sodexo; The Saturday Evening Post Society; National Art Museum of Sport; Kohler Co.; Katharine and Richard Kruse; Indianapolis Motor Speedway/Hulman George Family; Hans and Nila Steck; Indianapolis Indians; Boris and Marian Meditch; The Aletto Family; Seymour and Rheta Holt; Fern Roesch; Pepsi; Susan and Steve Haines; Dorothea and Philip Genetos; Sterrett Family Foundation; Shiel Sexton Company, Inc.; Randy and Janet Belden; Bruce and Jamie McCaw; Lewis/Stitle Families; Nicholas H. Noyes Jr. Memorial Foundation; Lacy Foundation; Jamie Merisotis and Colleen O'Brien; John and Kathy Ackerman; Caltrider Family; Susie and Jack Sogard; John H. Holliday; Donna Deer; The Pheffer Family; Mr. and Mrs. Barton L. Kaufman; Elizabeth and Chris Cooke Family; Mike and Kristin Sherman; Zender Family; Capital Group; Amanda and Jason Leet; The Jeffrey M. Hagerman Family; Jeffrey H. Patchen; Kathy and Don Dunbar; Mark and Jill Boyce; Emmis Communications; Jerry L. and Barbara J. Burris Foundation; Lisa and Scott Kraege; Sonja and Ezra Burdix; RJE Business Interiors; Maria Quintana; The David and Jane Held Family; Andrew and Karin Held Family; The Paula and Glenn Bloyd Family; USTA; Carol Carlson; Rachel and Andrew Lechleiter; Allison and Dan Lechleiter; Greg and Sara Morris; Sally and Jim Schacht; and Mr. and Mrs. William Weaver.
