A key component of military service regardless of the era challenges one’s physical abilities. Remember all of those long ruck marches, unit fun runs, and PT tests? Yes, like many of you I try not to as well, but one cannot argue against the amount of research and information about the benefits of exercise to combat adverse health and mental health conditions. More importantly, organizations like USABA; Team Red, White, and Blue; Achilles, and your local sporting groups built tremendous communities with a vested interest in the wellbeing of those who elect to participate. USABA just rolled out a new…
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With the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue looking down on them with arms outstretched, Jaclyn Smith and her boat mates stepped onto the deck prepared to row one of the biggest races of their athletic careers. At the sounds of the start signal, Smith and her boat mates worked to push past Great Britain and take the lead. The race was making her reflect on her humble beginnings as a rower, the hard work she and her teammates had put in the last four years to prepare, and the two people who had supported and encouraged her from day one…
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Updated August 31, 2016 12:00pm MST Next month, U.S. Paralympic athletes will ride on the success of their Olympic counterparts who topped the medal count with 121 total medals – the most ever for a U.S. team in a non-boycotted Games. Among the 289 athletes named to the U.S. Paralympic Team are 46 athletes who will be competing in visual impairment categories, 8 of whom are guides. These 46 athletes will compete in 7 different sports: cycling, goalball, judo, rowing, swimming, track & field, and for the first time ever, paratriathlon. Seventeen of these athletes are returning Paralympians having previously competed in at…
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The average person does not experience a dream coming true twice, but Natalie McCarthy is far from average. For the second time, McCarthy will compete at the World Para-Rowing Championships in the legs, trunk and arms (LTA) mixed double skulls. After losing her sight at a young age from a brain tumor, McCarthy focused on excelling in sports as a way of proving she could overcome this challenge. McCarthy attended her first U.S. Association of Blind Athletes Adaptive Rowing Camp in 2013. “[USABA Rowing Adaptive Camps] have helped me become a better athlete in several ways. One of the most…
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World-renowned rowers Ellen Minzner and Andrea Thies conducted an Adaptive Rowing Camp to improve fitness levels and refine technique on the Charles River in Boston this week. In partnership with Community Rowing Inc. (CRI), Minzner and Thies, and a team of stellar coaches and coxswains, USABA hosted the fourth annual Adaptive Rowing Camp May 30 – June 3, 2015. USABA partnered with Community Rowing, Inc. to put together a program that included ‘learn to row’ instruction for beginners, drills and critique for more advanced rowers and informational workshops between sessions on the water. “This was our first year at Community…
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