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.
Retired Navy Chief
Petty Officer Javier Rodriguez, a Bayamon, Puerto Rico native, (middle), is a multisport
athlete competing in cycling, sitting volleyball, and wheelchair basketball.
Team Navy’s
sitting volleyball team and basketball team have not lost a game in this years
competition and both are headed to the medal round on July 7. Rodriguez is also
scheduled to compete in cycling on July 6.
Rodriguez 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, which
end 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. Jesus Uranga,
Team Navy Public Affairs
For more information about the 2017 DoD Warrior Games, please
visit http://www.dodwarriorgames.com/.