The Paris 2024 Paralympics will see its opening ceremony along the Champs-Elysees this week, with competition starting on Thursday.
Several athletes from Connecticut are scheduled to compete in the tournament.
swimming:
Ali Truwitt, Darien Matthew Torres, Ansonia
Wheelchair Fencing:
Victoria Isaacson, Quinnipiac
Rowing:
Ben Washburn, Madison Sage Harper, Sacred Heart University
Sitting volleyball:
Just as every athlete is different, so is every path to the Paralympics, and often athletes get their first experience with adaptive sports through a sports program like the Gaylord Sports Association Adaptive Program in Wallingford.
“It’s just as intense, just as competitive,” said Katie Jolly, program manager for Gaylord Sports. “The athletes train just as hard as any athlete who’s ever been to the Olympics.”
While none of this year’s athletes have come through Gaylord’s program, several have in the past, but for most of these para-athletes, it’s not about competing at the highest level, but rather finding the drive to compete.
“Traditional physical therapy has its limitations,” says Colleen Mosher Varano, a disability cyclist and paratriathlete who had an above-the-knee amputation of her left leg. “And that’s it. And then they say, ‘OK, go out and live your life,’ but at that point, I was still afraid to leave the house.”
Mosher Varano said the Gaylord program helped her learn to ride an adaptive bike for the first time, and now she competes in paratriathlons and has bought a farm with her husband.
“When I got into sports, when I got active, when I learned to balance on a bike, I feel like I was born out of Gaylord Athletic Association,” Varano said.
Rachel Gruss has tried just about every sport there is to experience at Gaylord, and on this day she was practicing wheelchair tennis.
Although she uses prosthetic limbs, she said choosing to use a wheelchair has actually opened up more opportunities for her.
“I couldn’t run with my prosthetic leg, but I feel like I can move around a lot more now,” Gruss said. “Being able to play tennis with able-bodied people in wheelchairs is great for me. I want to be competitive, and having the opportunity to use a wheelchair allows me to do that.”
Six of the sports offered at Gaylord are now Paralympic sports. Learn more here.