Each year for the past 35 years, hundreds of veteran athletes gather from across the country for one the largest wheelchair sporting events in the world – the National Veterans W
heelchair Games. The event brings together more than 500 athletes for a multi-day competition that combines rehabilitation programs with athleticism for veterans confined to wheelchairs due to injury.
Though participants train for the games, some of the events are harder to practice for than others. It’s challenging to get your hands on a specific part of the obstacle course called the Super G, for example. A replica of that part of the course didn’t exist – until recently.
“We were given a few pictures of the obstacles and asked if we could make it happen,” saidRebecca Muldoon, store manager at store #256 in Tampa, Fla. “It was like a jigsaw puzzle, but I’ve got great builders on my team who I knew could replicate this part of course from scratch.”
With pictures in hand, Rebecca met with therapy and spinal cord injury experts at James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital to make sure the team was planning appropriately. Assistant manager Mike Gosnell and the store’s expert builder Terry Miller took over from there. After hours of sketching, precutting wood and spending a full day sitting in front of a drill press, all of the plans were in place for 15 store associates to build 6 courses alongside American Legion volunteers.
“The planning and labor that went into the project was pretty intense,” said Rebecca, “but it’s nothing compared to the benefit these courses will provide to patients at the hospital as a part of their physical therapy and training for future Wheelchair Games.”
Check out the completed courses in action, as an army veteran with experience in the Wheelchair Games tests out the newly built obstacles.
