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, cycling and track and field.
Navy Petty
Officer 3rd Class Mark Eldridge, a 2005 Central Crossing High School
graduate and Grove City, Ohio native, is a multisport athlete competing in
sitting volleyball and swimming.
Eldridge
and the rest of “Team Navy” join more than 250 seriously wounded, ill and
injured service members and veterans at the Department of Defense Warrior
Games.
Team
Navy’s sitting volleyball has not lost a game in this year’s competition and is
headed to the medal round on July 7.
Swimming
events are scheduled on the last day of competition on July 8 at the University of Illinois.
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. Jesus
Uranga, Team Navy Public Affairs
For more information about the 2017
DoD Warrior Games, please visit http://www.dodwarriorgames.com/.