WEST POINT, N.Y. (June 20, 2016) -- Along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey is a billboard featuring former New York Giants head coach, and NFL Hall of Famer Bill Parcells. It reads, "You don't get medals for trying. You get medals for results."
Be it trophies or medals, the quote is applicable across any of the eight sports being contested at the 2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games, held this year at United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, June 15-21. It also encapsulates the values of Team Army in putting together its assembled coaching staff and venue managers for the Games.
The seventh annual Warrior Games is an adaptive sports competition featuring wounded, ill and injured athletes from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Special Operations Command, as well as the United Kingdom Armed Forces.
Among the Team Army coaching staff, venue managers and advisors are a number of former Paralympians.
Participating in all seven Warrior Games to date is Dr. Rory Cooper, U.S. Army Veteran, a bronze medalist in wheelchair track in the 4x400 relay at the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation.
Dr. Cooper is also a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA), for Pennsylvania (West). Serving in this capacity he has taken a special interest in supporting Warrior Games.
In the field of athletics, trophies and medals are not the only metric by which Parcells' "results" can be measured. Results, especially for those involved in coaching, can also be assessed by other outcomes. "Think in terms of employment and furthering the education of these young athletes," said Dr. Cooper. "That's what we should promote-- life skills, a sense of balance, a change in outlook, talking about future opportunities."
Echoing this sentiment is the Wheelchair Basketball Venue Manager, Lee Montgomery. A wheelchair basketball gold medalist at the 1990 Pan American Games, veteran of four Paralympics before retiring in 1996 and Wheelchair Basketball Hall of Famer, Montgomery has witnessed a great deal of change within the sport. Now participating in his sixth Warrior Games, a central message of his is in working hard and remaining physically active.
Montgomery also believes in setting ambitious goals, saying "Some of those on our wheelchair basketball team certainly have the potential to become Paralympic athletes."
In many sports the difference between being average and world-class comes down to speed and quickness. Wheelchair basketball is no different.
A legend within wheelchair sports decades before he took over as head coach for the Team Army wheelchair basketball team is Rodney Williams. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, Williams, a member of the gold medal winning 1988 Paralympic U.S. men's wheelchair basketball team, was a pioneer in modifying wheelchairs to make them faster and more maneuverable.
"I first read about Warrior Games in 2010," said Williams. "The article mentioned the scores of the wheelchair basketball games and they seemed so very low to me. I mean, here are these athletes trying to play basketball but it's just not working out for them. So I came forward in asking if there's any way in which I can help."
In serving as a head coach, Williams says it's important for him to convey more than just the finer points of the game. "I want to get these Army athletes thinking about their future," said Williams. "Some may have Paralympic dreams. I've placed a few into college athletic scholarships. What's important is that they see and hear that there are better places to be than sitting home and getting mad at life."
For Team Army athletes to kick it up to the Paralympic level, be it in track, swimming, or wheelchair basketball, would require, not only top-notch quickness, but also a wealth of experience. According to Montgomery, many Paralympic-level athletes have lived with and adapted to their disabilities over the course of a lifetime, whereas Warrior Games athletes have only recently become wounded, ill and injured.
To the former Paralympians supporting Team Army, the objective is not simply to instill technical perfection, but something more. As yet another legendary NFL head coach, Vince Lombardi, said "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
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