I haven’t blogged in a while, but to be honest, I’ve been busy. I have a new job working full time to promote adapted sports on campus and in the community, and I just got married!!!! That’s right, Kelley and I tied the knot on August 10. It was the most surreal day of my life. I will never be able to explain the joy and excitement of that day, and the days since.

Kelley and I have an amazing relationship, built on faith and love. Without these, we could not have a successful marriage (yes I realize its only been a little over a month, but its been an awesome month!), but I also realize how much my development in adapted sports has helped me to be the husband I need to be. I learned how to work hard, set goals, travel as a person with a disability, take care of myself and all my ADLs and interact with the people around me with confidence and respect.

Particularly, for my most recent trip, being physically active enabled me to enjoy more activity on our honeymoon in Mexico. I could get out on the beach, in the water, and even into the deep ocean to swim with whale sharks! What an incredible opportunity that I would have missed if I didn’t stay active all these years! I’m a supernerd about whale sharks so when I heard that we could swim with them, I had to make it happen; Kelley took me to the Atlanta Aquarium to see the whale sharks there a couple years ago for my birthday, and I never would have dreamed that I could get so close to these amazing creatures! I was exhausted from the swim against huge waves and currents, and trying to hold myself up on the boat, but it was all so worth it, and again, possible because I grew up learning to be and stay physically active.

All of this I learned because my parents were willing to help me find a way to compete. I look forward to more and more of these opportunities for people with disabilities to have sport to help them develop personally.

It’s looking up for adapted sports NBC will be covering more Paralympics than ever:

http://www.paralympic.org/news/nbc-and-usoc-buy-media-rights-sochi-2014-and-rio-2016

Adapted sports programming is becoming a requirement of schools:

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201301-504.pdf

These are exciting times for adapted sports! I look forward to doing my part in this community and being a part of the larger movement for sport for all!