'Friendships and connections': Program for special-needs teens teaches more than sports

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14-05-2025

BOYNTON BEACH — As a group of students participated in sporting activities and games at the Mandel Jewish Community Center's Boynton Beach campus, teen Lexi Klein offered words of encouragement.
She greeted one participant with a high five after a game of musical chairs. She helped another practice a drill with a hockey stick. The activities are part of a JCC sports program that Klein created to benefit teens with special needs.
The 16-year-old Boynton Beach resident is founder of the Shooting for the Stars, a weekly after-school program. She said she launched the program to encourage physical activity and promote inclusion, pairing teens with special needs and teen volunteers from Park Vista High School for activities such as basketball, soccer and volleyball.
"It's about getting them to do activities and it's about giving them opportunities that we necessarily take for granted sometimes," said Klein, a Park Vista sophomore. "It's also about (making) connections and allowing for them to speak and build friendships. So it's not just necessarily about these physical activities, it's about building friendships and connections.'
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The program began its winter session in January and concluded in mid-March. Candi Spitz, the mother of Brendan and Jaden, 17-year-old twins with autism, praised the program, saying it has given her sons an opportunity to interact with peers in an inclusive environment.
"It truly is an inclusion program," Spitz said. "My kids go to a special school. They go to Palm Beach School for Autism, so they're constantly involved with kids who are just like them… This is an opportunity for them to be with typical peers who are also teens, getting to have fun, play games, sing songs, play sports."
John Kabot, director of inclusion for the Mandel JCC, said the program has helped the participants build friendships that extend beyond the JCC.
"Seeing this program, where our teens started as volunteers, who became friends to our participants, has really been so special because now I'm hearing about them seeing their friends in the hallways and talking to them in school and it's going from this really JCC program to transferring over into the real world," he said.
The JCC's Center for Inclusion offers a variety of programs for young children, teens and adults with disabilities. Lexi said the program's main goals are friendship and fun.
"My favorite part is seeing the smiles on their faces and seeing how happy it is for these kids to get these opportunities," she said. "I think it's special seeing everybody come together and really have a good time."
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at [e-mail] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Teen-run JCC sports program pairs special needs, mainstream teens