Power Buddies MTL: Where friends meet for adapted physical activity

by Nicole Proano

Troupe. Gang. Crew. Posse. There are many labels that can describe a group of friends who get together regularly to hang out and catch up. Yet this group calls itself by another name: Power Buddies MTL. It began as a small handful of neurodivergent young adults who met up on Zoom during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to participate in a physical activity, like yoga, dancing or boxing. Since then, it has grown into a larger community of friends who meet routinely for excursions organized by the group’s co-founders, Muhan Patel, Ghida Monla and Petros Lazanis. 

Patel, a Physical Education student at McGill University, said Power Buddies was a way to sustain the relationships made with people he worked with while coaching an adapted basketball team, working at Peter Hall School and a sleepaway summer camp for young adults. 

For Patel, a guiding question that fuelled Power Buddies was “how are we going to make this our own thing and not just be staff members at a camp who disappear until the next [year]?”

In its early stages, Power Buddies grew through word of mouth. Once they were allowed to begin in-person activities, relationships within the group grew stronger. “We’ve become a family that meets up every week,” Patel said. 

The group activities Power Buddies now engage in tend to be seasonal. There will be Zumba outside in the park when the weather allows, or a team sport like soccer or basketball. During the winter months, bowling is a group favourite, but trips to the Biodôme, the Montreal Science Centre and the Aquadôme are also highly anticipated. 

To maintain the adult quality of conversations that can comfortably be had, members must be 18 years and over. Everyone must pay their own way for costs associated with the activity of the week, but there are no additional fees aside from that. 

Inclusion was an unexpected result of Power Buddies and is now a secondary goal. “It’s also about bridging the divide,” Patel said. “We didn’t push any inclusion on other people, but inclusion became second nature once they became friends with participants.” 

For information or to inquire about joining, visit powerbuddiesmtl.com.