Getting Back On

Video posted December 12, 2013 in Sports by Deja McClendon

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Curtis Markel is an athlete through and through. He excelled as a collegiate wrestler at West Point Academy where he enjoyed lifting, running and training. That was until his accident in 2003.

After falling out of a tree during a party Markel suffered a spine injury leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. For a long time Markel believed his "life was over". But with the help of Teri Jordan and a few friends who introduced him to wheelchair basketball he found inspiration to live.

Teri Jordan, the Disability Recreation Programs Coordinator at Penn State, is the founder of the Wheelchair Basketball Experience. Jordan created the program for students, disabled and able-bodied, to compete and to see the game from a different perspective.

Markel has become a regular at the Wednesday evening pick-up games. Accepting his injury and recovering from his depression was a long hard road but now, 10 years later, Markel is back on the court and back in the game.