September 2000 Table of Contents

The Road to Sydney:
All the World's a Stage

Representing your country in front of the world is an awesome, exciting responsibility. And it's a task rugby's Team USA does not take lightly. The squad welcomes the challenge and looks forward to the 2000 Paralympic Games, scheduled for October 18-29 in Sydney, Australia.

A Flip of a Coin

Former Phoenix Suns player Neal Walk works for the National Basketball Association team and gives inspirational talks from a wheelchair—a device he hopes he will one day no longer need. But whatever the future holds for Walk, he likely will be forever linked in the minds of sports fans to the infamous coin toss the Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks before the 1969 draft. The prize was the rights to 7-foot University of California-Los Angeles center Lew Alcindor—later later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

A Paralympic Legacy

How do you get involved in sports—and possibly become a Paralympian? The U.S. Disabled Athletes Fund, Inc., makes this dream a reality for people with disabilities across the country.

California Dreamin

Two-hundred young athletes from Hawaii to New York and Germany and Australia competed July 1-8 for national records and titles. Competitions at the Junior National Wheelchair Championship included archery, track, field, swimming, table tennis, and weightlifting.

Winners All Around

Many qualities make up "winners." At the National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG), the most skillful athletes win gold, silver, or bronze. But these Games are about much more than medals. Winning spirits, lifelong friendships, and introduction to new activities top the list. Above all, NVWG opens the door for many newly injured individuals to find encouragement, better health, renewed energy—and a way to be the best they can be at anything they try. And participants at this year's Games, held July 4-8 in San Antonio, whether novices or experienced athletes, took home a healthy dose of "the best medicine veterans could ever have."

Tennis

Tennis's 2000 World Challenge offered $36,000 in prize money for the top men, women, and quad players.

Racing

Salomon Smith Barney 10k featured what may have been the best field of wheelchair athletes ever assembled.

Timeout

Age of innocence: Its okay for kids to ask questions about disabilities.

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