Courtesy Photo | (Photo courtesy Invictus Team U.S.) Army Master Sgt Michael Haley wins gold in the...... read more read more
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VANCOUVER, BC. - The paralympic-style sports competition for military service members worldwide is here. The first Invictus Winter Games at Whistler in Vancouver, Canada, are Feb 8-16th. “Team U.S. is ready,” said Army Master Sgt. Mike Haley of SOCOM, whose competitive sports are biathlon, rowing, swimming, wheelchair rugby, and wheelchair basketball. He won gold in the biathlon and silver in wheelchair basketball with his teammates.
The Infantry Senior Sergeant explained how his road to adaptive sports began while honing his skills as a jump instructor for the military. “I had a bad landing on one of my jumps, and the result of that landing is what caused my spinal cord injury, and I also broke my femur. I had impacted with the ground at about 55 or 60 miles an hour,” said Haley.
The accident happened in July 2021, leaving Haley with a broken right leg and a paralyzed left leg. His recovery at the Fort Stewart Soldier Recovery Unit included adaptive sports. Haley would excel, having competed on Team Army at the 2023 Warrior Games Challenge in San Diego, where he won medals in archery, wheelchair racing, and powerlifting and five gold medals in swimming. He is honored to be part of Team U.S. going to the Winter Invictus Games and shares some insight on getting to this world platform through adaptive sports.
“The way I see it, adaptive sports find a way to give something back to us, service members. For every single person, it's different. It's not just about sports activity but being around other service members who have gone through the same thing. I have interacted with other athletes, even recently leading up to Invictus, who had spinal cord injuries and saw me in a brace and saw me walking around in it. They didn't even realize that that was an option for somebody who was wheelchair-bound. Sometimes, it's the interactions we get to have with people within our community who understand our language and some of the things we've been through. Those interactions with other athletes give back emotional support to some athletes.”
Haley explains that this road to recovery creates an awareness of what “can” be, especially for those struggling to let go of what once was. “Some of it is inspirational support where they see people that are either better than them or on an even playing field, and you can drive each other to try to be better at your sport. Being wounded, ill, or injured can make you think something was taken away, but the inspiration is in adaptive sports for what you can do. Sometimes you get something back, and it's always different for every person.”
Gelling with his teammates at training camps from Utah to Lake Placid to JBLM has Haley feeling pretty good about what they’ve been working on. “Personality-wise, I would say that there are so many people on Team U.S. who are smiley and have good jokes, and you know they want to have a good time around each other, but you can see a fiery competitive edge in their eyes if you look for it.”
He says his favorite sport to compete in at Winter Invictus is the biathlon. “I don't know how the winter sports will look for us, honestly. We're going against places like Norway, Switzerland, and Canada; they've been in snow their entire lives. I'm coming from Florida, and you can only imagine how little snow I see there,” Haley laughed.
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.19.2025 08:49 |
| Story ID: | 490836 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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