NAVY WARRIORS PARTICIPATE

The Navy Wounded Warrior (NWW) program hosted a series of adaptive sports camps at Joint Base Pearl HarborHickam (JBPHH) and Iolani High School from Feb. 6 – 10.

This weeklong camp gave wounded warriors the opportunity to try a variety of sports that included archery, sitting volleyball, indoor rowing, cycling, swimming, shooting and track.

Margo Crane, program director for Commander, Navy Region Hawaii’s (CNRH) NWW program explained what the program is about.

“The Adaptive Sports Camp is something that the Navy Wounded Warrior program does all across the six regions that encompass our program and helps to introduce sports to Navy Sailors and Coastguardsmen who may have a condition that no longer allows them to participate in a sport in a traditional manner,” said Crane. “So, they get introduced to different kinds of equipment that have been adapted for the various sports.”

Navy athletes who participated in the adaptive sports camps at JBPHH are wounded warrior members who flew in from the different regions of the United States. For one athlete, this program led him to an opportunity to transition from an athlete to a coach.

Retired Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Roel Espino joined the wounded warrior program through his command after getting into a motorcycle accident when he was once stationed here at Naval Health Clinic Hawaii.

With the help he received from the CNRH NWW program as a Navy veteran, and as an archery and shooting athlete, Espino felt he needed to give his time to coach the NWW shooting team at JBPHH for this year’s adaptive sports camp.

“I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s an experience that I’m grateful for. It’s the opportunity to help people that were in my situation is just my way in giving back to a program that’s given so much to me,” said Espino.