Air Force veterans participate in national wheelchair games

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
  • Air Force News Agency
OMAHA, Neb. (AFPN) --  The eyes of the man in the wheelchair narrow as he focuses on the opponent holding the ball.

Delvin McMillan wants the ball and he is determined to get it at any cost. He reaches down and spins the battered metal wheels of his modified chair that looks like it came straight from the set of the motion picture "Mad Max." The other team has tried to slow him down all day by throwing double and sometimes triple teams at him in hopes of tiring him out.

Mr. McMillan will not be denied. He avoids his opponents by manipulating his chair to juke left and then right until he has a clear path to the ball handler. He accelerates even faster and crashes into his opponent like a heat seeking missile, causing a loud metal clanging that can be heard throughout the auditorium.

Collisions like this are common in the sport of quad rugby. The sport is a combination of wheelchair basketball, ice hockey and handball.

It was one of 17 sports featured at the 28th National Veterans Wheelchair Games July 25 through 29 in Omaha. The teams or individuals ranked in the top three of each event received either a gold, silver or bronze medals.

More than 500 military veterans participated in the event. More than 80 of those people were Air Force veterans. Participants were made up of veterans who use wheelchairs for sports competition due to spinal cord injuries, amputations and certain neurological problems. Other events at the games included: weightlifting, softball, swimming, basketball, bowling, archery and power soccer.

Quad rugby has become one of the most recognized wheelchair games due to the 2005 documentary "Murderball." Participant's wheelchairs are often knocked over in the brutal full contact sport.

"We come out here and bang on each other, but it's nothing personal," Mr. McMillan said. "I love the intensity of the sport. It stays that way for every minute of the game."

He said training to compete in quad rugby and setting goals has helped him focus. His fighting spirit was not squashed when he contacted the Hantavirus in 2001 from rat droppings in his dorm room at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The disease attacked his circulatory system and caused his lungs to collapse and his kidneys to fail. Both of his legs were amputated, below the knee, and one hand and a part of the other hand were amputated.

He refuses to feel for sorry for himself and bemoan his lot in life.

"You have to adapt and overcome," he said "It's done, so live with what you got."

Kim Byers is the public affairs director for the games and the event in Omaha. She said athletic competition is an important healing method for the veterans.

"This is a rehabilitative event," she said. "Many of our athletes were athletes before they were injured. They discover that they can still compete, and they just have to do it in a different way."

The Omaha games are the 20th event that Mrs. Byers has worked on. She said she enjoys hearing the veteran's stories and catching back up with veterans she has met in previous games. She said it sometimes feels like a family reunion to her. But even after 20 years of working in the games, she said she still gets a kick out of the spirit and perseverance of the veterans.

"I don't know how you can possibly leave here and not be inspired," she said. "Watching these guys can be a real shot in the arm when you are having a bad day. It shows that anything is possible."

The event is only made possible by extensive planning, Mrs. Byers said. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Paralyzed Veterans of America work extensively with the host site to coordinate the games. It is a year-long process. The local Omaha people shadowed event planners at 2007 games in Milwaukee and this year representatives from Spokane, Wash., did the same thing in preparation for the 2009 games that will be hosted there.

Mrs. Byers said more than 4,000 people from the Omaha area volunteered to help out in many different capacities.

Senior Master Sgt. Stephen Gooder, a bioenvironmental engineering specialist at Lincoln Air National Guard Base, Neb., was one of the volunteers. Sergeant Gooder has been in the military for 30 years and said he was excited to help out when he heard about the event from one of his friends.

"When I saw that it for veterans it was a no-brainer that I would help," he said. "I just needed a date and a time."

Sergeant Gooder said his favorite part of the week was greeting the participants at the airport. He said it made him feel good to watch them get a heroes welcome. He said he has also been impressed by their high level of play.

"They don't act like they have a disability the way they go at it in these sports," he said. "You can learn a lot from their perseverance and total unwillingness to make excuses for themselves."

Mr. McMillan's team ended the tournament in third place -- good enough for a bronze medal. Following the game, he was crowded by people who wanted to congratulate him for his effort. He said he enjoys his life and has some advice for his brothers in arms who have recently been disabled and may think that their life is over.

"Life doesn't stop at the point of your injury," he said. "In the big picture of life, it is just a minor setback. There is more to life than feeling sorry for yourself and you still have a lot you can offer the world." 

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