Inspired and impressed

I hope the 2016 Paralympics serves as an inspiration to everyone who watches them. I consider myself to be pretty decent athletic considering my disability. However when I watch all the athletes participating in this years Paralympics, I come away extremely impressed with their ability to overcome their various disabilities.

I've been able to watch a lot of the different sports including track and field, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and swimming. The only two sports I haven't been able to watch so far have been tennis and soccer. I am very curious to see how the soccer is played and hope to catch some of the games in the next couple days.

When I was a kid in Wilmington, there was a clinic that came to the duPont Country Club where I attempted to learn how to play wheelchair tennis. It became apparent pretty quickly that I did not have the abilities that were needed to play the sport correctly. When I discovered this, I decided I would rather start watching the very good players rather than try to take on the sport and be nothing but awful at it. I enjoyed attending the tournament in Wilmington for a few years and watched some of the players that went to the 1992 Paralympics.

For me, the level of play in the wheelchair basketball competition has been amazing. Shooting baskets from a seated position in a wheelchair on a regulation 10 foot high basket is quite impressive. They also have to be very strong to be able to manually move their chairs around the court for the whole game.

Watching the runners in the track and field events is something everyone should take the time to watch. If you can't watch the actual events, look it up on Youtube. The runners have a "guide" who is tethered by their arm and the synchronization is astounding. The amount of practice and trust that has to be achieved to pull this off and then run the times that they run is amazing!

The Paralympics lasts for a few more days and I REALLY encourage everyone to try and watch some of the events.

Moving on to the ordinary, the Eagles cruised into the win for their first game against a hapless Cleveland Browns. The final score was 29 to 10. The Eagles scored a touchdown on the first offensive possession of the game and never looked back. In his first ever regular season game starting at quarterback, Carson Wentz was very efficient and did not turn the football over at all.

I will not be overreacting to this game result because they may have played the worst team in the league. I hope the defensive line will be able to get more pressure on the opposing team quarterback's in future games. Next week, the Eagles play the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. After that, they play the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the preseason picks to go to the Super Bowl. So these two games will be a better measuring stick to determine if the Eagles are for real.