The Most Inspiring Folks I've Met in a Long Time

As a journalist, you get a story you just fall in love with every once in awhile. It's one of the perks that makes the job worthwhile! These past few weeks, I've spent getting to know and write about Alabama's Paralymic Delegation. They are not only awesome athletes, but also amazing, inspiring people. The Paralympic Games follow the Olympic Games. They are September 6-17. Special thanks to The Lakeshore Foundation for the following profiles and pictures!

Jen Armbruster
Goalball
Birmingham, Alabama

Armbruster is a 4-time Paralympian in the sport of goalball and is widely recognized as one of the game’s greatest players. She serves as the captain of the U.S. team. After helping her team win a bronze medal at the 2004 Games, she is set on winning gold in Beijing.

Sport: Goalball

Personal Profile:

Armbruster began losing her sight at age 14 and has been totally blind since 1992. Her father, Ken, is the head coach of the U.S. team. Jen currently works as a Recreation Specialist at Lakeshore Foundation, coordinating programs for youth with visual impairments.

About Goalball
Goalball is a Paralympic sport played by athletes who are blind or visually impaired. The game is played with three athletes to a side and the ball makes noise when it's in motion so that the players can locate it audibly. According to U.S. Paralympics, goalball is played on a court with tactile markings so that players can determine their location on the court and which direction that he/she is facing. All players wear eye masks to block out light and thus equalize visual impairment between the athletes. Players take turns throwing the ball, end to end, at each other's goal.

Mallerie Badgett
Track & Field
Oxford, Alabama

Badgett made her international debut at the 2007 Parapan American Games this past summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She achieved two personal goals in the 100m and 200m events.

Sport: Track and Field
Height: 4’11”
Weight: 105 lbs
Hometown: Oxford, Alabama
Current Residence: Oxford, Alabama

Personal Profile:

Mallerie Badgett has served as both a mentor for young people and as a recruiter for disabled sports programs at the Lakeshore Foundation.

Badgett recently graduated from Oxford High School in Oxford, Alabama and is attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham to study early childhood education. She enjoys sports, reading and hanging out with friends.

Major Achievements:

• 2006: Nine national records, 12 gold medals, one silver medal – U.S. Junior National Disability Championships, Tampa, Fla.
• 2005: Three gold medals, four silver medals – U.S. Junior National Disability Championships, Tampa, Fla.

Aimee Bruder
Swimming
Birmingham, Alabama

Aimee Bruder will compete in her fifth Paralympic Games this year in Beijing. Bruder’s best Games to date came in 1996, when she won two bronze medals in Atlanta. After winning four medals at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, there is reason to believe that she could have another big performance in 2008.

Sport: Swimming
Height: 4’10”
Weight: 105 lbs
DOB: August 3, 1974
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama

Personal Profile:

Bruder’s personal motto is “Small, but mighty,” which she applies to all aspects of her life. “I will try anything,” she says. “You give me a challenge, and I will do it.”
Bruder graduated with honors in 1998 from Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in recreation, park and administration. She works at the Lakeshore Foundation, an official U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site. Bruder has also talked with physically disabled kids as part of the Paralympic Academy program.
She enjoys reading Harry Potter books, playing Sudoku puzzles, attending church and watching movies. Bruder also enjoys sled hockey as a part of her cross-training. “It is great for conditioning because it is more ab work, and it tests my balance,” Bruder says.

Major Achievements:

• 2006: Silver medal, 150m individual medley; Three bronze medals, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle - International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships, Durban, South Africa
• 2004: Sixth place, 100m freestyle - Paralympic Games, Athens, Greece
• 2000: Silver medal, 4x50m freestyle relay - Paralympic Games, Sydney, Australia
• 1998: Two gold medals, 4x50m freestyle relay, 100m freestyle; Three silver medals, 50m freestyle, 150m IM, 200m freestyle; Bronze medal, 50m backstroke - IPC Swimming World Championships, Christchurch, New Zealand
• 1996: Two bronze medals, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle - Paralympic Games, Atlanta, Ga.
• 1992: Fourth place, 4x50m medley relay - Paralympic Games, Barcelona, Spain

Jacob Counts

Men’s Wheelchair Basketball
Tuscaloosa, Alabama / Covington, Kentucky

Jacob Counts was selected to his first national team in 2003 and helped the U.S. qualify to compete at the 2004 Paralympic Games. Counts returned to the U.S. squad in 2007 where he made quite an impression on the coaches. He and his teammates won the gold medal at the Parapan American Games this past summer. Counts is also the assistant head coach of the men’s wheelchair basketball team at the University of Alabama.

Sport: Men’s Wheelchair Basketball

2008 U.S. Paralympic Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
The U.S. has not won a medal in the men’s wheelchair basketball competition at a Paralympic Games since it won bronze in Sydney in 2000. Amidst player boycotts and internal turmoil, the team finished a dismal seventh at the 2004 Games in Athens. Since then, a new coaching staff has been put in place and a number of new players have been brought on board. The team shocked everyone, except themselves, by winning a silver medal at the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships and improved on that with a gold medal performance at the 2007 Parapan American Games, which included a thrilling last-second victory over archrival Canada, the two-time defending Paralympic champion. With new leadership and a new core of young, talented athletes, the U.S. is a strong medal contender once again.

Mike Dickey
Shooting
Trafford, Alabama

Dickey has been a competitive shooter for seven years. He made his first U.S. national team in 2005. In December 2007, Dickey shot a perfect score of 600 to make the U.S. Paralympics Shooting Elite Team. When not in training, Dickey also enjoys fishing, flying radio-controlled airplanes and watching college football.

Sport: Shooting
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 175 lbs
DOB: September 26, 1957
Hometown: Trafford, Alabama
Current Residence: Trafford, Alabama

Bryan Kirkland
Wheelchair Rugby
Leeds, Alabama

Kirkland is a 2-time U.S. Paralympian and 2-time medalist. Last month he was nominated to his third U.S. Paralympic Team and will help lead the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby Team on its quest for gold in Beijing. Kirkland won a gold medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia and a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. In Beijing, Kirkland said he plans on helping his team get back the gold medal they lost at the 2004 Athens Games.

Sport: Wheelchair Rugby
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 170 lbs
DOB: August 18, 1971
Birthplace: Leeds, Alabama
Current Residence: Leeds, Alabama
Classification: 2.0

Personal Profile:
School: Jefferson State University
U.S. Quad Rugby Association (USQRA) Team: Lakeshore Demolition

Kirkland has been playing wheelchair rugby for 16 years. Currently, he plays for Lakeshore Demolition and has been a part of five national championships with the team. In 1998, he competed at the World Wheelchair Games where he medaled in three different track and field events (100m, 200m, 400m), and set a world record in the 200m.

Kirkland lives in Leeds, where he was born and raised, with his wife Shai. He is a member of the Olympic Job Opportunities Program (OJOP) and works as an associate at Home Depot in Inverness.

Major Achievements:

• 2007: Nominated to 2008 U.S Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team
• 2006: Gold medal - World Wheelchair Rugby Championships, Christchurch, New Zealand
• 2006: First place - Canada Cup, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• 2006: First place - North American Cup, Birmingham, Ala.
• 2004: Bronze medal - Paralympic Games, Athens, Greece
• 2003: USQRA Athlete of the Year
• 2002: Silver medal - IWRF World Championships
• 2000: Gold medal - Paralympic Games, Sydney, Australia
• 1999: Gold medal - World Wheelchair Games, Christchurch, New Zealand
• 1998: Gold medal, 200m (WR); Silver medal, 100m; Bronze medal, 400m - World Wheelchair Games

2008 U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team
Lakeshore Foundation has been the home of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team since 2002 and has found a real niche here in Alabama. As documented in the Academy Award nominated film, Murderball, the U.S. was heavily favored heading into the 2004 Paralympic Games, but was upset by Canada in the semifinals and the U.S. then went on to win the bronze medal. The team regained its international status in 2006, going 17-0 en route to the gold medal at the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships that year. The team spent 2007 developing a number of up-and-coming players and the coaching staff was faced with the difficult task of narrowing this talented group down to the 11 athletes that will represent the U.S. in Beijing. While a handful of individual sport athletes have already stamped their tickets to China, wheelchair rugby is the first team that has been nominated. The U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team selection camp was held at Lakeshore Foundation, December 13-16, 2007. Two local athletes, Bryan Kirkland and Joel Wilmoth, were chosen to represent the U.S. in Beijing.

Carlos Leon
Track & Field
Birmingham, Alabama / North Lauderdale, Florida

Leon has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of the world’s elite seated throwers. Leon was injured in 2005 while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, and just a few months later he was already on the field competing. Leon broke the world record in the F52 discus at the 2007 U.S. Track & Field Nationals.

Sport: Track and Field
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 180 lbs
DOB: November 1, 1984
Hometown: North Lauderdale, Florida

Personal Profile:

After Carlos Leon was injured during military service in 2005, he met 5-time Paralympian Gabe Diaz de Leon at a Paralympic Military Sports Camp, who encouraged him to get involved in field events.

Leon set a new, unofficial world record in the discus at the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials - Track & Field at Arizona State University's Sun Angel Stadium on June 14, 2008. Leon dominated the competition in the men's F52 discus with a new world record throw of 22.04m (previous 19.52m) and was nominated to the Paralympic Team which will represent the U.S. at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

At the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio, he came away with two medals and a slot on the 2007 U.S. Paralympics Track & Field Elite Team.

Leon is currently training full-time for the field events of shot put and discus, and recently moved to the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama to train as part of the U.S. Olympic Committee's VP3 program. He has also been playing wheelchair basketball as a member of the Miami Heat Wheels since 2006. He graduated from Coconut Creek High School in 2002. Leon enjoys sports, training and reading.

Major Achievements:
• 2008: world record (22.04m), discus – 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Track & Field, Tempe, Ariz.
• 2007: Silver medal, discus; Bronze medal, shot put - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 2007: Competed in Canadian Track and Field Championship, Windsor, Ontario
• 2007: Gold medal, World Record, discus – U.S. National Track and Field Championships, Marietta, Ga.

Veterans Paralympic Performance Program (VP3)
The VP3 is the newest part of the USOC Paralympic Military Programs, supporting talented, committed, severely injured veterans in their effort to represent the United States of America at a Paralympic Games. Through VP3, these veteran-athletes demonstrate to themselves and others the will and abilities that inspire others with physical disabilities and, indeed, all Americans. Lakeshore Foundation is supporting VP3 by providing two resident-athletes the opportunity to live and train here full-time as they prepare for the 2008 Paralympic Games. Both athletes, Carlos Leon and Scott Winkler, compete in the discus and shot put events.

Mary Allison Milford
Women’s Wheelchair Basketball
Tuscaloosa, Alabama / Magnolia, Arkansas

Milford is a new face on the U.S. team. She was a member of the silver medal winning world championship team in 2006. She is also a member of the University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team.

Sport: Women’s Wheelchair Basketball

2008 U.S. Paralympic Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
Since winning gold in Athens four years ago, the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team has been in rebuilding mode—half of the 2004 team retired after those Games—and is slowly working its way back up to the top. The team was defeated by archrival Canada in the finals of the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, but took home a hard-earned silver medal and the knowledge of what it needed to do to get ready for Beijing. After making a few personnel changes, the team headed to the 2007 Parapan American Games this summer with some fresh faces and the chance to test its mettle in international competition. The U.S. came away with the gold, twice defeating Canada along the way. The team now heads to the 2008 Paralympic Games with much to prove and a large target on its back.

University of Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
The University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team played its first season during the 2003-2004 school year. In the four years since, the program has shot up through the ranks of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, finishing third—its highest placing yet—at last year’s national championship tournament. To add to the program’s prestige, the Crimson Tide now boast four players on the national team, all of whom helped the U.S. win a gold medal at the 2007 Parapan American Games this past summer.

Alana Nichols
Women’s Wheelchair Basketball
Tuscaloosa, Alabama / Farmington, New Mexico

Nichols is relatively new to the international wheelchair basketball scene. She was selected to her first U.S. team in 2006, and as a member of that squad won a silver medal at the world championships. Nichols will be participating in her first Paralympics in Beijing. She is also a member of the University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team.

Sport: Women’s Wheelchair Basketball

2008 U.S. Paralympic Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
Since winning gold in Athens four years ago, the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team has been in rebuilding mode—half of the 2004 team retired after those Games—and is slowly working its way back up to the top. The team was defeated by archrival Canada in the finals of the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, but took home a hard-earned silver medal and the knowledge of what it needed to do to get ready for Beijing. After making a few personnel changes, the team headed to the 2007 Parapan American Games this summer with some fresh faces and the chance to test its mettle in international competition. The U.S. came away with the gold, twice defeating Canada along the way. The team now heads to the 2008 Paralympic Games with much to prove and a large target on its back.

University of Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
The University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team played its first season during the 2003-2004 school year. In the four years since, the program has shot up through the ranks of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, finishing third—its highest placing yet—at last year’s national championship tournament. To add to the program’s prestige, the Crimson Tide now boast four players on the national team, all of whom helped the U.S. win a gold medal at the 2007 Parapan American Games this past summer.

Josh Roberts
Track & Field
Morris, Alabama

Roberts is a newcomer to the sport of Paralympic track. He took up the sport just one year ago and this past summer was selected to the U.S. Parapan American Team and competed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August. He is a native Alabamian and graduated from Mortimer-Jordan High School.

Sport: Track and Field
DOB: January 2, 1982

Personal Profile:

Josh Roberts is a former Lakeshore Foundation employee. While working at Lakeshore, Roberts became interested in sports. He started working with fellow paralympian Bryan Kirkland and coach Kevin Orr who began training Roberts in Track & Field. Roberts worked very hard to qualify for Track & Field events across the country. This summer he was selected to the U.S. Parapan American team.

Jennifer Schuble
Cycling
Homewood, Alabama

Schuble burst onto the Paralympic cycling scene in 2006. She recently took up the sport and already has an impressive collection of hardware. She grabbed one gold and two bronze medals at the U.S. Paralympics National Road Cycling Championships in June and then went on to win two gold medals and one silver medal at the UCI Paracycling World Championships in August.

Sport: Cycling
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 125
DOB: July 8, 1976
Birthplace: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Current Residence: Homewood, Alabama

Personal Profile:

Jennifer Schuble graduated from Kingwood High School in Kingwood, Texas in 1995, where she was a four-year letterman in track and field. She was also a member of the soccer team, which won the State Championship twice and made it to the National Championship final four.

Schuble attended the United States Military Academy at West Point with plans to serve as a commission officer in the military until a traumatic brain injury led to her dismissal. After leaving West Point, she enrolled at the University of Alabama. Because of head injuries, athletic doctors at Alabama would not allow her to participate in sports until she was in graduate school, when her athletic eligibility had already expired. Schuble appealed to participate in track in her seventh year. But her collegiate athletic career ended almost as soon as it started. After her first track meet, she was involved in a major motor vehicle accident in which her right arm was crushed and she had another traumatic brain injury. Schuble received her Bachelor’s degree from Alabama in 2001 and her Masters in production operation research in 2003.

Michelle Akers serves as Schuble’s role model because of her warrior spirit. Akers, who was a member of the gold medal winning U.S. Women’s National Team at the 1996 Olympic Games, was recovering from knee surgery and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Schuble admires her because she set aside her illness and gave it everything she had.

Currently, Schuble trains for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, while working as an engineer for Mercedes Benz.

Along with cycling and working a full-time job, Schuble enjoys her English bulldog, playing cello and restoring her home.

Major Achievements:
• 2008: Gold Medal, 500, 3K, Road Time Trials, U.S. Paralympics Cycling National Championships, Colorado Springs, Colo. and Morrison, Colo.
• 2007: World Champion, Time Trial and Road Race; Silver medal, 3K Pursuit, – IPC Cycling World Championships, Bordeaux, France
• 2007: Gold Medal, Road Time Trial – U.S. Paralympics Road Cycling National Championships, Denver, Colo.
• 2007: Gold Medal, Road Time Trial – Alabama State Championships, Sproutt, Ala.

Stephanie Wheeler
Women’s Wheelchair Basketball
Tuscaloosa, Alabama / Norlina, North Carolina

Wheeler has matured into one of the best leaders on the U.S. team. She was a role player on the 2004 U.S. Paralympic team, which won a gold medal in Athens, and now is one of the team’s most significant contributors. She is looking to help lead the women’s squad in defending its gold medal in Beijing. Wheeler is also an assistant coach and player with the University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team.

Sport: Women’s Wheelchair Basketball

2008 U.S. Paralympic Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
Since winning gold in Athens four years ago, the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team has been in rebuilding mode—half of the 2004 team retired after those Games—and is slowly working its way back up to the top. The team was defeated by archrival Canada in the finals of the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, but took home a hard-earned silver medal and the knowledge of what it needed to do to get ready for Beijing. After making a few personnel changes, the team headed to the 2007 Parapan American Games this summer with some fresh faces and the chance to test its mettle in international competition. The U.S. came away with the gold, twice defeating Canada along the way. The team now heads to the 2008 Paralympic Games with much to prove and a large target on its back.

University of Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team
The University of Alabama women’s wheelchair basketball team played its first season during the 2003-2004 school year. In the four years since, the program has shot up through the ranks of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, finishing third—its highest placing yet—at last year’s national championship tournament. To add to the program’s prestige, the Crimson Tide now boast four players on the national team, all of whom helped the U.S. win a gold medal at the 2007 Parapan American Games this past summer.

Joel Wilmoth
Wheelchair Rugby
Hueytown, Alabama

At 18 years old, Wilmoth was the youngest member of the 2007 U.S. team. He is one of the best up-and-coming players in the country and last month was nominated to his first U.S. Paralympic Team. Wilmoth is one of the youngest athletes ever selected to the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby Team.

Sport: Wheelchair Rugby
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 225 lbs
DOB: July 31, 1989
Birthplace: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Current Residence: Birmingham, Alabama
Classification: 3.5

Personal Profile:
U.S. Quad Rugby Association (USQRA) Team: Lakeshore Demolition

Joel Wilmoth started visiting the Lakeshore Foundation simply to work out. One day, a member of the Lakeshore staff approached him and told him he should check out wheelchair rugby. Wilmoth agreed to watch a practice, but still wasn’t sold. After all, he didn’t use a wheelchair to get around (he is missing his feet on both legs, and has only one finger on each hand), and the game didn’t look that physical. Wilmoth played football in junior high, and didn’t think that rugby could provide the same feeling.

When he expressed his hesitance toward the sport, the staff encouraged him to get in a chair and try it out first-hand. Wilmoth said that when he received his first
big hit and felt the resulting pain, he was sold on the game and has been playing ever since.

Wilmoth is the youngest athlete ever nominated to the U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team. He promises to be a force for the U.S. with his size and physical play, and has been praised by head coach James Gumbert as a future star in the sport.

Wilmoth recently graduated from Hueytown High School in May of 2008, and will enroll in college in 2009 to pursue a business degree. He also works as a heavy equipment operator for a construction company. When he’s not in school, at work or playing rugby, Wilmoth says he likes to spend as much free time with his friends as possible.

Major Achievements:
• 2007: Nominated to 2008 U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team
2008 U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team
Lakeshore Foundation has been the home of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team since 2002 and has found a real niche here in Alabama. As documented in the Academy Award nominated film, Murderball, the U.S. was heavily favored heading into the 2004 Paralympic Games, but was upset by Canada in the semifinals and the U.S. then went on to win the bronze medal. The team regained its international status in 2006, going 17-0 en route to the gold medal at the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships that year. The team spent 2007 developing a number of up-and-coming players and the coaching staff was faced with the difficult task of narrowing this talented group down to the 11 athletes that will represent the U.S. in Beijing. While a handful of individual sport athletes have already stamped their tickets to China, wheelchair rugby is the first team that has been nominated. The U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Team selection camp was held at Lakeshore Foundation, December 13-16, 2007. Two local athletes, Bryan Kirkland and Joel Wilmoth, were chosen to represent the U.S. in Beijing.

Ron Williams
Cycling
Birmingham, Alabama

Williams is a 2-time Paralympian (2000, 2004), winning silver and bronze medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. He will return to the U.S. team as they head for Beijing, China in September to compete in his third Paralympic Games. Williams hopes to add to his medal collection.

Sport: Cycling
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 155
DOB: November 20, 1973
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama

Personal Profile:

In 1989, Williams was diagnosed with (and subsequently survived) bone cancer. In the years he should have spent in middle school, he went through chemo and the amputation of his left leg below the knee. Through competitive cycling and community involvement, Williams aims to increase awareness of people with disabilities.

Williams graduated from Georgia College in 1997 with a degree in General Business. In college, he was a member of the National Championship Men’s Waterski Team and still holds world records in disabled slalom and ski jump events today. After college, he went to work for Southwire Company as their sales representative for Alabama, a position he has held for the last eleven years. It was also after college that he began focusing his athletic abilities on the bike. He competed in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, earned a silver and a bronze medal at the 2004 Games in Athens, and now is preparing for Beijing.

Aside from competing in both able-bodied and disabled cycling races, Williams serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Camp Sunshine, a camp for kids with cancer in Atlanta. He also serves as an athlete representative to the International Paralympic Cycling Committee and a spokesman for the Cancer Committee and Disabled Athletes. Williams enjoys delivering his message of Setback, Survival and Success to business groups and schools. He also enjoys hiking, traveling and spending time with his wife Brooke, a pediatrician.

For more about Ron, check out his Web site by visiting www.ronswilliams.com

Major Achievements:
• 2008: Gold medal, Road Time Trials- U.S. Paralympic Cycling National Championships, Morrison, Colorado.
• 2004: Captain of the U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team, Athens, Greece
• 2004: Silver medal- Team Sprint, Athens Paralympic Games
• 2004: Bronze medal- Combined Road Race and Time Trial, Athens Paralympic Games
• 2004: ESPY award nominee, Best Athlete with a Disability
• 2003: Bristol-Myers-Squibb Tour of Hope team member, riding across the U.S. with Lance Armstrong to raise awareness for cancer clinical trial research
• 2003: Silver medal – Combined Road Race and Time Trial, European Championships, Prague
• 2002: Silver medal, Road Race – World Championships, Germany

Scott Winkler
Track & Field
Birmingham, Alabama / Grovetown, Georgia

Winkler was exposed to discus and shot put at the 2006 USOC Paralympic Military Sports Camp and has quickly experienced international success. He is the current world record holder in the F54 shot put. Winkler joined the Army a few years after high school and became a service technician. In the late 90’s, he took a two-year break from the Army, but he realized it was where he belonged and returned. In 2003, Winkler fell off an ammo truck in Tikrit, Iraq, resulting in paralysis.

Sport: Track & Field

Veterans Paralympic Performance Program (VP3)
The VP3 is the newest part of the USOC Paralympic Military Programs, supporting talented, committed, severely injured veterans in their effort to represent the United States of America at a Paralympic Games. Through VP3, these veteran-athletes demonstrate to themselves and others the will and abilities that inspire others with physical disabilities and, indeed, all Americans. Lakeshore Foundation is supporting VP3 by providing two resident-athletes the opportunity to live and train here full-time as they prepare for the 2008 Paralympic Games. Both athletes, Carlos Leon and Scott Winkler, compete in the discus and shot put events.