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Disabled Athletes Adapt At Camp

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

jmckenzie@tampatrib.com

Published: October 15, 2008

EAST TAMPA - Mike Fradera of Lakeland is a self-proclaimed optimist.

Despite losing both legs on Aug., 17, 2007, when an improvised explosive device blew up during an Army patrol assignment in Bagdad, the 30-year-old longtime sportsman looks enthusiastically toward the future.

"I'm hoping to train for the 2012 Paralympics in London," Fradera said. "In the military, I focused on running, but now I want to do cycling and rowing. I think that would be really cool."

On Thursday, Fradera was giving it his all on his prosthetic limbs in an event he thinks could easily set the stage for him to perform internationally in four years.

It was the Tampa Bay Military Sport Camp hosted by James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in partnership with U.S. Paralympics and BlazeSports Tampa Bay, an outreach program of the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department that offers opportunities for disabled athletes.

The three-day, noncompetitive camp enabled Fradera and other selected sports enthusiasts with disabilities to receive instruction from U.S. Paralympics Games-sanctioned coaches across the nation trained to teach adaptive sports.

He and other wounded war veterans who are being or have been treated at the VA hospital - some with traumatic brain injuries - along with non-military men and women with cerebral palsy were among the participants.

Each had the opportunity to take part in track, field, cycling, table tennis and swimming events at All People's Life Center, King High School, Lettuce Lake Park and Temple Terrace Family Recreation Complex.

Jennifer Day, a Tampa VA hospital adaptive therapist and sports coordinator, said although the camp has taken place in other states, it is the first of its kind in this area.

"The reason they were started is to see how we can better adapt people with these kinds of issues," said Day, who recruited participants by way of therapist and physician referrals and the hospital's database of patients, past and present.

Retired Army Col. Roger Neppl, who heads up the U.S. Paralympics military program, said the clinic - made possible through a Department of Defense grant - gives men and women with disabilities a new perspective on life.

"We really see lives change," said Neppl, who works out of the U.S. Paralympics headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo. "They pursue things with a new level of confidence ... It's just good stuff."
BlazeSports America coach Jerry McCole of Kingston, R.I., agreed.

"It brings such tremendous self-enhancement," McCole said. "Rather than the feel-sorry-for-me thing, they just want to feel pride in what they've accomplished."

Mark Lalli, 23, of Cleveland, can attest to that.

Recuperating at the VA hospital from two collapsed lungs, broken ribs and a shattered pelvis he incurred in a helicopter crash Nov. 8, 2007, in Italy, the former Blackhawk helicopter crew chief and track-and-field sports buff is thrilled to be "out from under the boredom of those four walls."

"They are helping me with track, the shot put and the discus, and the coaching is great," Lalli said. "It's great to be outdoors and an awesome feeling to know you can adapt to doing the things you've always loved."

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849.

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