Adaptive Sports is not just a game changer; it’s a life changer!

FALLS CHURCH, VA.- Retired Army Sgt. First Class Gabi Cha made no bones about the fact that she was competing at an elite event at the best place ever. “Being at Warrior Games this year is great because it’s here at Disney, and THIS is where all the magic happens,” said Cha after winning multiple medals for Team Army in track at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando.

The two-time Warrior Games athlete on Team Army and a Team US athlete at the 2022 Invictus Games in the Netherlands, says the world of adaptive sports is a game changer for wounded, ill, or injured servicemembers. “I think from the outside looking in, it is probably very easy to see it and say, oh, it’s just sports, but when you are the person in the trenches – and I was former staff and an athlete and a mentor, I will tell you it’s not only a game changer it’s a life changer.”

She added, “When people are stuck in barracks without family or their unit, who they are identified with, they get stuck in their thoughts, and the only way out is adaptive sports. During the recovery process, it can be very depressing if you only look at what you cannot do anymore. Adaptive sports give you hope.”

That hope brought Cha to where she is today after suffering injuries in Baghdad in January 2007. “I thought I had made a full recovery from those injuries in my back and buttocks from a deployment. Five years later, in 2012, I was a drill sergeant, and my hip and back issues got worse. I had multiple surgeries, and one of those surgeries didn’t go well and caused my right leg paralysis,” said Cha, who learned she still had shrapnel in her back and buttocks, causing permanent nerve damage.

She needed her quad and hip flexors reconnected. Two hip replacements later, she is 38 years old and winning in adaptive sports, and she says it’s not without strange looks.

“In the hospital, it was weird because everyone was shocked to learn I am this young with two hip replacements. Trust me, that wasn’t the plan,” she laughs.

Cha shared that much of what’s happened in her life over the past 18 months was not part of her plan either. “Since my personal life has turned upside down this past year and a half, my goals have changed slightly. I am trying to realize there is still life. My mom passed very unexpectedly and tragically,” said Cha, having just returned from a World Cup competition on the USA Wheelchair Rugby team one weekend last year when she got a call about her mom. Several months later, her grandmother passed away.

The combat medic chooses to channel her energy into the present and recognizes the opportunities before her. “When I did Warrior Games the first time, I did well, but to come back a second time and be a mentor for the first-year athletes is such a special opportunity.” Cha did well this second time, winning bronze, silver, and gold medals in track, cycling, and field.

It’s not a medal count for Cha. She’s happy helping others grow in adaptive sports as a mentor and is looking at her life beyond the games. “Watch for the magical moments with us as athletes going forward and for our friends and family. Hey! I’m learning how to sit-ski and bobsled. I will be working with the national wheelchair rugby team, and getting focused on long-distance hand cycling marathons. There is still life.”