At the 2026 National Veterans Wheelchair Games

25 Mountain States Chapter members competed in this year’s Games, where veterans pushed themselves and one another.

Four minutes into an adaptive fitness competition, Johelmy Figueroa’s arms were burning. She was hustling through a series of seated exercises, pushing to complete as many rounds as possible in eight minutes. Adding to the challenge, the overhead press required her to lift a 35-pound dumbbell—20 pounds heavier than the one she had trained with.

“I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” the U.S. Army veteran remembers thinking.

Figueroa, who lives in Albuquerque, was among 25 Mountain States Chapter members who traveled to Detroit in July for the annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games. The event drew about 500 veteran athletes from across the country. Over six days, they competed across nearly two dozen adaptive sports, including wheelchair rugby, basketball, power soccer and an obstacle course race known as slalom.

“The whole week, it’s like I’m the same as everyone else, and it doesn’t matter what my disability is,” said Figueroa, who attended for the third time.

I don’t feel the stress of having to explain why I’m in my wheelchair.

That deep sense of belonging is part of what keeps bringing her back. “The Games put life back into me,” she said. “I felt so much joy.”

The crowd was especially enthusiastic during adaptive fitness, and Figueroa could hear her teammates and even her grandfather shouting, sometimes screaming, encouragement. “The feeling I got from everybody cheering me on made me know I could do it,” she said. To her surprise, she won gold in her division.

While winning medals certainly feels good, athletes say the Games are about far more. Navy veteran Joe Moscynski, from Clifton, Idaho, competed in his first Games and won gold in a trivia competition called motor rally. But the highlight of the week, he said, was the time in between events getting to know other veterans. Conversations flowed without effort.

“I was talking brother-to-brother to people I didn’t even know,” Moscynski said. “It was like I already knew them.”

Air Force veteran Harold “Steve” Taylor, who lives in Aurora, Colorado, came back for his eighth Games. While the 73-year-old competed in his usual events, cycling and power soccer, he also tried something new: wheelchair basketball. The experienced players on his team, rather than making him feel out of place, offered tips and encouragement.

“The camaraderie of each other, the spirit of each other was fantastic,” he said. “It really lifted my spirits.” Taylor was happy to win gold in the 10-kilometer cycling event, but the medal was not what defined the experience. “I went there to help people. I inspire people, and people inspire me, and that’s what makes it so great.”