Eight injured veterans traveled to Windham last week for three days of biking, kayaking, and community through the Adaptive Sports Foundation’s Warriors in Motion program.
The program, hosted by Windham’s Adaptive Sports Foundation, ran from June 23 to June 25, with a schedule that included biking, kayaking, volleyball, kickball, and more.
Founded in 1984, the Adaptive Sports Foundation, located off Silverman Way at the base of Windham Mountain, offers sports and recreation programs for children and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities. Organizers said Warriors in Motion started in 2005 to bring outdoor recreation and a sense of community to injured veterans.
The foundation is hosting six Warriors in Motion events this summer and draws veterans from across the country, said James Mitchell, the foundation’s fundraising, events, and social media coordinator.
“This week is multisport, which is a little hodgepodge of several different things,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the program began June 23 with a 13-mile bike ride around Windham. The next day, the group rode to CD Lane Park in the hamlet of Maplecrest for kayaking. After lunch, participants took a mountain bike crash course and played volleyball and kickball at the park.
The program ended June 25 with another morning of kayaking at Colgate Lake in East Jewett.
Mitchell said the foundation reaches out to veterans groups around the country to find participants and has a running list of veterans who return year after year.
“The camaraderie is the real hero of everybody’s time here,” Mitchell said.
Camaraderie is what has kept Matthew Garrad coming back for four and a half years. Garrad, who served in the U.S. Army for seven years as a combat engineer, has multiple brain injuries from blast exposure.
Garrad, who lives in Margaretville, now volunteers with the program as an instructor, helping other veterans gain their footing.
“For a long time, I was really unwell, too unwell to do anything, or at least I thought so,” he said.
“Just from the summer time, in winter time, between being around the people and just doing the activities and just how welcoming they are, it’s like they treat everyone like family,” Garrad said. “Seven years ago I was in and out of a wheelchair. This is what dedicated people can do for people.”
For Navy veteran Saha Kumar, who served 13 years on active duty and in the reserves, the program has offered another kind of support.
“I’m still going through my mental health situations every day. I’m fighting every day,” Kumar said. “ASF has helped me to focus on my life and my future. They taught me a lot of different ways to survive.”
Kumar, who lives in New York City, is a member of his American Legion, where he tells other veterans about programs at the foundation.
“I always tell people to come here and get involved, in the winter and the summer time,” he said.
Beyond the opportunity to connect with nature, the program gives participants a chance to reconnect with themselves, Mitchell said.
“A lot of times these veterans, when they come back, they’re not as whole as they used to be. They just, sort of, go into a malaise, they stay inside and try not to be a bother to anybody,” he said. “When they come here for a program like this, they realize that they’re not alone.”
Photography by Roy Gumpel for The Overlook.
Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter and, surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.
