By Rick Burke, Navy Office of
Community Outreach Public Affairs
CHICAGO – The 2017 Department of Defense Warrior
Games kicked off June 30th with competitions over the weekend in
shooting, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, and track. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alan Thomas, a Copperas Cove High School graduate and Copperas Cove, Texas native, is a multisport athlete competing in cycling, field, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.
Thomas, along with the Navy’s sitting volleyball
team and basketball team, has not lost a game in this year’s competition and
both are headed to the medal round on July 7.
Additionally, he won gold in the 100m, silver in
the 800m, and bronze in the 200m in the track competition and will compete in
cycling on July 6.
“Team Navy” joins more than 250 seriously
wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans at the Department of
Defense Warrior Games, which will end on July 8.
Navy athletes are competing against competitors
from the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Special Operations Command, Australian
Defense Force and the United Kingdom Armed Forces in cycling, track and field,
shooting, swimming, archery, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.
The Navy honors the sacrifices of wounded
warriors by providing them top-notch non-medical support through Navy Wounded
Warrior (NWW) – Safe Harbor. All enrollees in NWW are encouraged to make
athletics a key component of their recovery efforts. By promoting wounded warrior
participation in competitions like the Warrior Games, NWW helps enrollees heal
through adaptive sports.
These games provide an opportunity for athletes
to grow physically, mentally and spiritually from the sportsmanship and
camaraderie gained by representing their respective service teams in a friendly
and spirited competition. It is an opportunity for athletes to showcase their
enduring warrior spirit in the presence of their families and grateful nation.
- - Lt. Cmdr. Jenn Womble, Team Navy Public Affairs
**See link below for additional photo**
https://www.flickr.com/photos/navyoutreach/35309850960/in/dateposted-public/