Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
February 23, 2007
Pg. 1C
By Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY
In December 2005, James Stuck lost the lower half of his right leg when a bomb blew off the front of the security vehicle he was driving in Kirkuk, Iraq.
This week, Stuck moved from his home state of Pennsylvania to Oklahoma to embark on another mission to represent his country: He wants to compete in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
Stuck, 23, will live and train with the U.S. men's sitting volleyball team at the University of Central Oklahoma. He will be the first to benefit from a new U.S. Olympic Committee program that allows military veterans interested in preparing for the Paralympics to be resident-athletes at various USOC-affiliated training sites.
Resident-athlete status will give the veterans free room and board, coaching and support services.
"Representing the United States in any way, shape or form that I can is just great," says Stuck, an Army corporal at the time of his injury. "That's one reason why you sign up for the military — you do what you believe in. You get injured, and then you just take it to a whole new level."
The USOC, which formed its U.S. Paralympics division in 2001, will officially announce the program Friday and begin accepting applications at www.usparalympics.org.
The goal is to have 25 veterans in residence by July and 50 by next year. The USOC is hoping military veterans compose 10%-15% of future U.S. Paralympic teams, says Charlie Huebner, chief of U.S. Paralympics. The budget for the program is $8.1 million over the next four years.
In the last three years, U.S. Paralympics has held sports clinics and camps for disabled veterans.
Stuck attended two of those camps. A high school soccer player, he also plans to train for track.
"With me getting this opportunity and the publicity that comes with it," he says, "it helps people understand that, hey, everybody's human and certain people just deal with different things in their life."
February 23, 2007
Pg. 1C
By Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY
In December 2005, James Stuck lost the lower half of his right leg when a bomb blew off the front of the security vehicle he was driving in Kirkuk, Iraq.
This week, Stuck moved from his home state of Pennsylvania to Oklahoma to embark on another mission to represent his country: He wants to compete in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
Stuck, 23, will live and train with the U.S. men's sitting volleyball team at the University of Central Oklahoma. He will be the first to benefit from a new U.S. Olympic Committee program that allows military veterans interested in preparing for the Paralympics to be resident-athletes at various USOC-affiliated training sites.
Resident-athlete status will give the veterans free room and board, coaching and support services.
"Representing the United States in any way, shape or form that I can is just great," says Stuck, an Army corporal at the time of his injury. "That's one reason why you sign up for the military — you do what you believe in. You get injured, and then you just take it to a whole new level."
The USOC, which formed its U.S. Paralympics division in 2001, will officially announce the program Friday and begin accepting applications at www.usparalympics.org.
The goal is to have 25 veterans in residence by July and 50 by next year. The USOC is hoping military veterans compose 10%-15% of future U.S. Paralympic teams, says Charlie Huebner, chief of U.S. Paralympics. The budget for the program is $8.1 million over the next four years.
In the last three years, U.S. Paralympics has held sports clinics and camps for disabled veterans.
Stuck attended two of those camps. A high school soccer player, he also plans to train for track.
"With me getting this opportunity and the publicity that comes with it," he says, "it helps people understand that, hey, everybody's human and certain people just deal with different things in their life."