AURORA, Colo. — Twin brothers Kapil and Sunny Bhandaram play tennis for Cherry Creek High School, but this week they are spending their time at Aurora Central High School as camp counselors at Colorado Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp.
The free camp invites children with physical disabilities from across Colorado to try adaptive sports.
“I love sports, and I love teaching kids, and this is one of the greatest places to do it,” Sunny said. “Every single kid here is so wholesome, so nice, and they love every second that they are here.”
Kapil described the moment campers realize what they are capable of.
"Say they hit a ball over the net, and they're like, ‘oh my god, I can actually do this’, and they haven't been exposed to stuff like this their entire lives," Kapil said. “Seeing that click and that change in their life experiences is just really heart-filling.”
The camp offers a wide range of activities for its participants with sports like swimming, kayaking, tennis, hockey, rugby, basketball, fencing, archery and more.
Liz Feicht is a volunteer coordinator for the nonprofit camp. She said the experience goes beyond athletics.
"It's just really cool to see the kids develop these friendships throughout the course of a week and throughout the years," Feicht said.
For the Bhandaram brothers, watching campers discover new sports has been deeply rewarding.
"I think it's one of the greatest feelings anyone can ever feel to see someone else succeed or see someone else be fulfilled," Sunny said.
The experience also inspired the brothers to launch their own nonprofit, called Spark Elite. They plan on launching the website next week.
"We didn't realize that this is the only week in the year that they get to play these sports. We thought, ‘what if they had somewhere to play year round, and they can get better and better, and then keep coming back,’" Sunny said.
Their goal is to make it easier for adaptive athletes to find programs and resources.
"That's kind of the whole goal of Spark Elite, to advertise and compile everything into a one-stop shop for every adaptive athlete to kind of go there and be able to pick any sport they want," Kapil said.
The brothers say the kids at camp make their work worthwhile.
“It makes me happy to see them being happy,” Kapil said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.