PERU — “I think sports heals a lot of things,” said Bart J. Ruggiere Adaptive Sports Center executive director Joe Hurley.

The sports center based on Bromley Mountain focuses on providing people with cognitive and physical disabilities the opportunity to participate in sports.

Individuals who never thought it would be possible to play sports are given the opportunity to do so through Bart Adaptive Sports Center.

“What it does is increase the opportunity for them to be able to do things that they never thought they could do,” Hurley said.

Those sports include snowboarding and skiing during the winter. Last year, the program was able to offer more than 500 adaptive ski and snowboarding lessons to those with disabilities.​