Veterans from around the country are in San Diego this week. The National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic is designed to encourage people with injuries to become active.
This is the 12th year that the Veterans Health Administration has hosted this event in San Diego. Veterans from across the country, 130 in all, come to learn cycling, kayaking, sailing and surfing. A few are experienced athletes. Others, such as Army and Air Force veteran Natalie Constance-Green have just taken up their sport.
She is from New Jersey and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She just started cycling in January.
“And prior to that I hadn’t been on a bike in over 35 years,” she said. “So they work with you. You just take your time and there is everybody here to cheer you on and make you get through it.”
Rather than competing, veterans are taught strategies to adapt sports to their particular injury. They return home to make athletics part of their rehabilitation. The event began on Sunday. The veterans will be at venues in San Diego and Coronado through Friday.
