Wheelchair games helping to bridge 'gap between able-body and disabled'
Wheelchair games helping to bridge 'gap between able-body and disabled'

Comments 0

By Vallery Brown

Published: July 26, 2008

Stephen Smith is a man who loves to shoot pool and play basketball. He volunteers in his free time, is president of his bowling league in Moore and has a degree in architecture from the University of Oklahoma.

Featured Gallery

He is also one of four veterans from Oklahoma competing in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Omaha, Neb. Opening ceremonies were Friday, and the competitions will run through Tuesday.

The games, now in their 28th year, consist of more than 17 events, including rugby, track and field, sled hockey, softball and archery. More than 500 veterans are expected to compete, making the games the largest annual wheelchair sports event in the world.

All military veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations and neurological problems who use wheelchairs for sports competitions can participate.

Veterans contend with others who have similar athletic abilities or experience, and typically one-quarter of those participating have never been in any organized wheelchair sports competition.

"It's an honor to go to the games and compete,” said Smith, 40, who plans to compete in basketball, softball, bowling and billiards this year. It is his third year to participate.

Smith joined the Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Division in 1985 and was active as a Marine Corps combat engineer from 1987 until becoming paralyzed in a vehicle accident in 1992 at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Games are about camaraderie

Shawn Tracy, 39, an Army combat veteran from Oklahoma City, served from 1990-91 during the first Persian Gulf War. The father of two has attended the games for the past three years. He competes in basketball, softball and ice hockey.

Athletes in the hockey events vie for the puck while sitting on sleds, but otherwise traditional rules of the game apply.

"It gets pretty rough out there,” Tracy said. "As a goalie, I sit in front of the goal and take all of the shots.”

For Tracy and Smith, the games are about the camaraderie — coming together and proving to themselves and others that paralysis has not slowed them down.

"The outreach the veteran games produce bridges the gap between able-body and disabled,” Smith said.

Bill Kokendoffer, president of the Mid-America Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, works closely with many of the paralyzed veterans competing this year. His organization partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs to sponsor the games.

Kokendoffer, 56, is a quadriplegic. He served in the Navy from 1972-74.

"It's the determination of doing what you used to do or what you want to do,” Kokendoffer said. "It goes back to the saying, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way.'”

Kokendoffer, like Tracy and Smith, can see how the games bridge communities. People who watch them compete are often in awe and wonder how they do it.

"We are just like anybody else,” Kokendoffer said. "But we use a chair as our mode of transport.”