(extract from Al Día from Tuesday, April 12th, 2011)
Karla Barquero, colaborator
redaccion@aldia.co.cr

The court of the gym turns into seating, and from that position and with the help of their remaining limbs, they move around and score against their opponents.

This is about the twelve players that integrate the National Handicapped Volleyball team, whom are participating for a third time in the Paralympic Games, in November of this year.

Serves, passes and scoring are done from the ground, although some of them have lost feet, legs or arms, they all take advantage of their remaining limbs to play, and all of them have a common optimism and love for the sport.

Also, another similarity that they have is the reason why they were amputated.

The mayority, seven of them, lost limbs due to traffic accidesnts.

Such is the case of Orlando Castro, whom lost his leg and left arm more than eight years ago.

“I used to travel on a motorcycle from work to my house, when a young man with a stolen car and driving under the influence, impacted me head on”, remembered Castro.

On the other hand, three of his teammates owe their affiliation with the team to other illnesses.  Poliomyelitis, that attacked Filemon Cartin and Jesus Mejias; and cancer, that stole away Eladio Rojas’s right arm.

The other two team members (Édgar Solano and Carlos Castro) suffered an amputation due to accidents at his place of work.

Resources Urgently Needed

On April 27th this National Team will be sparring against Canada, but need resources to cover travel and living expenses.  If you wish to collaborate, call 8824-0070.