James J. Peters VA Medical Center

National Veterans Wheelchair Games at Home with Air Force Veteran Kenneth Hernandez

This past week, the first-ever National Veterans Wheelchair Games at Home (NVWGatHOME), was held. In partnership with Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), the national team worked with adaptive sports professionals, VA clinicians and staff to bring an exciting week of competitive sports for wheelchair athletes to complete at home. The mission of the National Veterans Wheelchair Games is to empower Veterans to be active, independent and engaged in sports, fitness and recreation throughout the year, not just one week of the summer. Each of the NVWG at HOME events represent sports Veterans can do within the stay at home and social distancing guidelines. Most importantly, the events chosen represent the NVWG element and new and emerging sports for disabled Veterans.

Our Air Force Veteran, Kenneth Hernandez, represented our facility in competition. Here's an Instagram clip of Kenneth training with ball slam burpees as he prepares for the Cascade Cup, an adaptive fitness challenge. More than 125 Veterans from across the country competed in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games at HOME. From adaptive gaming, adaptive fitness, cycling, disc golf and more, the virtual competition is supporting the fitness, sport and healthy engagement of our Veterans and inspiring the rest of the community to get engaged.

Congratulations to Kenneth and all the athletes for their dedication and determination to conquer this year’s events. Well done!