The Move United Junior Nationals (formerly the National Junior Disability Championships and the Adaptive Sports USA Junior Nationals) is an annual multi-sport event organized by Move United (formerly Adaptive Sports USA) for junior athletes between the ages of 6 and 22 who have disabilities, with sports including para-athletics.
Several Paralympic athletes started out as competitors at the NJDC.
The 2019 Junior Nationals were hosted from July 14–19, by Eden Prairie, Minnesota, at the Eden Prairie High School campus. The 2020 event was to be hosted in Denver, Colorado but was cancelled and deferred to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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 Junior Nationals are held every year in a different host city in the United States 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 COVID-19 pandemic. 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 that qualifies for the Junior Nationals that are held throughout the United States of America.
March Baltimore Para Classic presented by EY Tri-State Regional Swim Meet
April Texas Regional Games GUMBO North Lone Star Para Invitational Palmetto Games
May Challenge Games Dairyland Games Desert Challenge Games Dixie Games Gateway Games Great Lakes Games IM ABLE Foundation’s Got the Nerve? Lone Star Para Invitational Russ Harvey Memorial Archery Tournament Thunder In the Valley Games
June 5280 Challenge Angle City Games Adaptive Sports New England Track Meet Bennett Blazers Invitational UCO Endeavor Games Beehive Games Gopher State Games KC Ultimate Games Peachtree Paragames Pine Cone Classic Southeastern Regional Wheelchair Games Sportable River City Slam Turnstone Endeavor Games Tri-State Wheelchair & Ambulatory Games University of Michigan Adaptive Track & Field Meet
August Adaptive Sports New England Track Meet Chicago Para-Archery Championship JTCC College Park Championships
September GLASA USTA Tennis Tournament
October GUMBO State Governor's Games
Past host cities Edition Year Location city / county / state Venues Host 1st 1984 Dover, Delaware 2nd 1985 Fishersville, Virginia 3rd 1986 Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 4th 1987 Lawrenceville, New Jersey Rider College Children's Specialized Hospital 5th 1988 Johnson City, Tennessee East Tennessee State University 6th 1989 Cupertino, California De Anza College 7th 1990 Ft. Collins, Colorado Colorado State University 8th 1991 Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Children's Specialized Hospital 9th 1992 Orlando, Florida Walt Disney World 10th 1993 Columbus, Ohio Ohio State University 11th 1994 Edmond, Oklahoma University of Central Oklahoma 12th 1995 Ft. Collins, Colorado Colorado State University 13th 1996 Birmingham, Alabama Samford University Lakeshore Foundation 14th 1997 Mesa, Arizona Mesa High School 15th 1998 Bellevue, Washington 16th 1999 Albuquerque, New Mexico 17th 2000 San Jose, California San Jose State University City of San Jose 18th 2001 Piscataway, New Jersey Rutgers University Children's Specialized Hospital 19th 2002 New London, Connecticut Connecticut College 20th 2003 New London, Connecticut Connecticut College 21st 2004 Mesa, Arizona **Mountain View High School 22nd 2005 Tampa, Florida New Tampa YMCA University of South Florida Shriners Hospital, Tampa 23rd 2006 Tampa, Florida Freedom High School New Tampa YMCA Shriners Hospital, Tampa 24th 2007 Spokane, Washington Spokane Area Spokane Adaptive Sports 25th 2008 Piscataway, New Jersey Rutgers University Children's Specialized Hospital 26th 2009 St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis Area DASA - Disability Athlete Sports Association 27th 2010 Deerfield and Lake Forest, Illinois Deerfield High School Hyatt Deerfield Lake Forest High School Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association 28th 2011 Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw State University Tri-State Wheelchair Athletic Association 29th 2012 Mesa, Arizona Mesa Community CollegeArizona Disabled Sports 30th 2013 Rochester, Minnesota Century High School Rochester Recreation Center UCR Regional Sports Center Rochester Amateur Sports Commission 31st 2014 Ames, Iowa Cyclone Sports Complex Gateway Hotel and Conference Center Iowa State University Adaptive Sports Iowa Iowa State University Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau32nd2015 Union County, New Jersey Union County, NJ Park SystemRenaissance Woodbridge Hotel - Iselin, NJ Children's Miracle Network Hospitals at Children's Specialized HospitalTri-State Wheelchair and Amputee Athletics (TSWAA) 33rd2016 Middleton, WisconsinBaumann Outdoor Pool complexMadison Marriott WestMiddleton High SchoolMiddleton Parks System Adaptive Sports USAMadison Area Sports CommissionMiddleton Tourism Commission34th2017Middleton, WisconsinBaumann Outdoor Pool complexMadison Marriott WestMiddleton High SchoolMiddleton Parks SystemAdaptive Sports USAMadison Area Sports CommissionMiddleton Tourism Commission35th2018 Fort Wayne, IndianaTurnstone36th2019Eden Prairie, MinnesotaEden Prairie High School37th2021Denver, Colorado Delta Hotels by Marriott Denver ThorntonHorizon High SchoolMountain Range High SchoolNorth StadiumTrail Winds Park and Recreation CenterVeterans Memorial Aquatic CenterChildren's Museum of Denver Marsico Campus38th2022Metro Denver, ColoradoDenver Marriott Westminster Mountain Range High School North StadiumTrail Winds Park and Recreation CenterVeterans Memorial Aquatic Center39th2023Hoover, AlabamaBirmingham CrossPlex Finley Center Hoover Met Stadium Lakeshore Foundation Campus Oak Mountain State Park Spain Park High SchoolCity of Hoover Greater Birmingham Convention & Vister Bureau Lakeshore Foundation 40th2024Hoover, AlabamaBirmingham CrossPlex Finley Center Hoover Met Stadium Lakeshore Foundation Campus Oak Mountain State Park Spain Park High SchoolCity of Hoover Greater Birmingham Convention & Vister Bureau Lakeshore Foundation
References