Softball: Wounded Warriors will inspire Brainerd fans

"Life Without a Limb is Limitless."

That's the mantra of the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team (WWAST) which will play an exhibition game July 7 at Mills Field in Brainerd and compete in the "This One's For Hop" tournament July 8-9 at Memorial Park.

WWAST is a charity whose mission is to inspire and educate others while enhancing the health and welfare of its Wounded Warrior amputees. The team consists of competitive, athletic veterans who have lost limbs while serving their country. Players are from all branches of the military and have a variety of amputations. WWAST athletes are amputees who push the limits of modern prosthetics.

"We hope that fans leave there with a great appreciation of what service men and women, who sacrificed so much, are out there continuing service to their country and to communities they're trying to help," WWAST executive director Dennis Wince said of the upcoming events in Brainerd.

Wince said WWAST has played in bigger cities but he believes smaller communities are the program's bread and butter.

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July 7

• Who: Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team vs. Brainerd All-Stars
• What: Exhibition softball game
• Where: Mills Baseball Field, 1700 Mill Ave., Brainerd
• When: Gates open 6 p.m., game time 7:30 p.m.
• Admission: Free-donations accepted

July 8-9

• What: This One's for Hop Softball Tournament
• Where: Memorial Park, 1700 Mill Ave., Brainerd
• Website: www.4hop.org

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"It's actually smaller communities that have welcomed us and have come out to pay their respects," he said. "We're excited to come up there. We know Brainerd, that area, is a patriotic area. We hope to have a good showing of people come out and see us."

Eryk Haapajoki, director of the Hopper Tournament, said his event has been working on bringing the Wounded Warriors to Minnesota for more than 18 months.

"We have raised 100 percent of the funds to bring them to the Brainerd lakes area," Haapajoki said. "The USA is the greatest country in the world and our military allows us to have the freedoms we do.

"We wanted to find a way to celebrate and honor everything patriotic and to recognize these great veterans. We decided that the Hopper Tourney in Brainerd is no better place to do this."

WWAST plays in about 25 events a year as well in a handful of tournaments. The team competed in the Sam McQuade Sr./Budweiser Charity Softball Tournament June 23-25 at Bismarck, N.D.

"It's the largest tournament in the country that's not for profit," Wince said. "We took third in our division out of 48 teams. We had a pretty good team there. Good things happened. We put some things together."

More than 30 players are on WWAST's roster, including at least two females, and the group brings about a dozen players to each event. A few of those players are trying out to make the team.

"Quite a few are starting families, having kids, so we're seeing less of those guys," Wince said. "As their kids get older, we'll be seeing more of some other guys.

"Each year is a little bit different. The person it makes it hard on is our head coach trying to figure out what 10-12 guys are going to show up, how to put the pieces on the field. Last weekend was very successful. Some weekends are not as successful."

An Army veteran, Wince said the WWAST program is all about recovery and service. It assists players in their recovery, which he said really never ends, as well as allowing them to continue to serve their country.

He cited an example of a player who's traveling to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., who's already missing one leg and may need what is considered his good leg, which has suffered considerable damage, to also be amputated.

"For him, this team is a constant help in the recovery process, as a support group," Wince said. "They learn from each other about their prosthetics. If he loses his second leg-we have a couple guys who have lost both legs-he could then turn to them for help.

"The second half (of the program) is just giving back. When they leave the military, they realize they're missing a big piece of themselves. This program allows them to put on a different uniform. It allows them to continue their service back to the nation, back to their communities."

In addition to raising funds for the cost of its softball program, WWAST hosts an annual weeklong kids camp where it brings in 20 children (ages 8-12) with amputations. WWAST players serve as coaches and mentors. WWAST pays expenses for the 20 children and one guardian.

This year, the organization added an alumni kids camp. Thi alumni camp reunited WWAST players with children who attended one of its previous kids camps.

"Some kids actually have been amputees longer than our guys because our guys lost limbs within the last 10 years-most of them," Wince said. "Some kids (with amputations) that's the only thing they know.

"The secret about our kids camps is the kids learn so much but our guys also learn a lot from the kids. It's a two-way statement. It's something truly magical to see."

The organization is also active in raising funds donated to research for heterotopic ossification, which is excess bone growth in soft tissues that occurs in the remaining limbs of combat amputees. This malady has affected many of its players and appears in 65 percent of amputations the result of a blast injury.

"When you're recovering from a blast injury to your bones, your ligaments, muscle and skin want to heal itself, but your bones want to regrow themselves," Wince said. "The bones are sort of growing, in all different, spirally, curly Q ways, push into the skin and muscle and create a lot of pain."