'Wounded Warrior Amputee' Veterans Are Empowering Kids With Missing Limbs In Softball Camp
The vets are mentoring kids in a summer camp dedicated to a sport they love.
— -- Army veteran Nicholas Clark lost his leg below the knee when his Humvee was ambushed in Afghanistan in 2007.
But that didn't stop him from becoming a competitive skateboarder.
It also didn't stop him and other softball-playing veterans who lost limbs in battle from traveling the country playing able-bodied teams in competitive, celebrity and exhibition games, the World Warrior Amputees Softball Team (WWAST) says.
This week, the vets have been empowering young boys and girls with missing limbs in the first ever West Coast Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team's Kids Camp in Mission Viejo, California.
"They're the real heroes and the fact they're giving up their vacation time to help these kids learn is just so amazing," Matt Watson, the father of one of the kids, told ABC News station KABC.
Watson and his 8-year-old son, Clay Watson, who is missing part of his left arm, traveled to the camp in California this year from Sugar Land, Texas. Kids from all over the US come to participate, according to WWAST.
But the young girls and boys, ages 8-12, aren't the only ones who feel changed after attending the week-long summer camp, which ends June 13.
"We all kind of help each other," Clark, originally from Washington State, told KABC. "The kids help us too."
And kids also learn other practical skills in addition to softball.
"We have one of our players who's missing his whole shoulder quadrant," camp founder Susan Rodio told KABC. "He, last year, taught one of the kids who was missing his arm how to tie his shoes with one hand."
The group said it will be holding two softball games Friday night at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo -- one between the kids and another between the veterans and able-bodied athletes from the Orange County All-stars.
"We're giving back not only to veterans but [to] kids, and these kids will give back to other kids," Clark said. "It's like this huge chain reaction of positive good vibes."
