About the owner
Ramsey Sullivan
My name is Ramsey Sullivan. I am the owner/operator of AbledAthletes. I have been a special education teacher in Rockland County New York since 2001, and my coaching career began several years before that. As much as I love teaching and coaching, it wasn’t until 2022 that I decided something was missing. A few years ago, my youngest son was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety. Even with all of my experience in the special education setting, when it’s your own child something feels different. I noticed the way we were able to communicate best was through sports. Many classified students are not given the opportunity to express themselves through sports. What sports can do for a child cannot be understated. Training with AbledAthletes will give your child self-confidence, along with the mental, social and emotional development that is currently missing from their lives.
Testimonials
I have known Ramsey Sullivan for over 10 years. I’ve had the opportunity to coach little league, youth football and flag football with him. Ramsey is an amazing coach and an even better person. His ability to coach different types of kids in multiple sports is truly amazing. He is kind and patient. He understands that not every kid can be coached the same way and he will tailor his coaching style to meet the needs of the individual child. I have seen first hand the results of his coaching and training. His positive attitude, coupled with his work ethic and athletic experience will yield positive results in anyone he trains.
Fast forward a few years. Brennan is mainstreamed, with the assistance of a one-on-one aide in school. Last year, he started coming home telling me that he “hated” gym and recess. How could anyone hate recess? After weeks of trying to get him to communicate, I finally discovered that the kids (most of the boys) were playing soccer during recess and Brennan just couldn’t, so he would sit on the sidelines, with his aide and watch youtube on his ipad. This only isolated him even more. He was the “weird” kid, unfortunately. We all know kids can be cruel, but as a special needs parent you try to give your kid as “normal” a life as possible. You want them to have friends and socialize. For Brennan, recess and gym was a huge trigger and he hated going to school because of it. During the last few weeks of school last year, he came to me and said “mama, my dream is to be able to play sports with the boys at recess”. That is when fate stepped in. A few weeks later, I saw Coach Ramsey’s advertisement for Abled Athletes. From our first conversation, I was incredibly impressed. He was patient, incredibly knowledgeable, and willing to take Brennan on.
Coach Ramsey and Brennan immediately hit it off! I would sit in my kitchen each day watching as they ran sprints up my driveway – BRENNAN WAS RUNNING! He could barely run without tripping before, and here he was running sprints and doing ladder work with Coach Ramsey! They worked over the entire summer together. Soccer, basketball, baseball, catch, football – you name it. Coach Ramsey had Brennan doing things I never dreamed possible for him. When September came – as nervous as he was – he was ready!! For the first time ever, Brennan actually played soccer with the other kids!!! He has never looked back – he participates every single day and looks forward to Gym and recess now.
Coach Ramsey changed this child’s life! He gave him not only the tools and athletic ability to play with the other kids, but he gave him something so much more valuable. He gave him confidence. He believes in him, and Brennan sees that. Coach Ramsey has quickly become not only part of Brennan’s team of therapists, and advocates, but he has become family. His ability to connect with Brennan is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Brennan (and I) trust him completely. He can focus Brennan when needed, but also recognizes when he’s been pushed to his max and when to back down. When Brennan has a great day and perhaps stops a goal in Gym class, Coach Ramsey is the first one he wants to text. He looks forward to every session with him and never once says “not today”. Coach Ramsey is so incredibly knowledgeable and talented he works on some of Brennan’s non-athletic “issues” as he coaches him. He talks with him about food issues, helps him with social issues, and acts as his therapist. Everything associated with Brennan has only flourished since working with Coach Ramsey. I’m so grateful for him and truly cannot express how valuable he is to us!
