{"id":8940,"date":"2014-12-04T09:56:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T16:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=8940"},"modified":"2014-12-04T09:56:32","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T16:56:32","slug":"tigers-use-paintball-to-bond-with-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2014\/12\/tigers-use-paintball-to-bond-with-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers Use Paintball to Bond with Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"James<\/a>

James Lonergan ’16<\/p><\/div>\n

Athletes are often viewed as heroes after they make a key play or score the deciding goal. But on May 11, members of the Colorado College men\u2019s basketball team competed against veterans who are real heroes.<\/p>\n

The 14 Tigers played paintball with veterans from the Army, Marines, and Air Force with combat injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Forward James Lonergan \u201916<\/b> <\/b>worked with Susan Holmes of Operation TBI (traumatic brain injury) Freedom to organize the activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, a basketball team and a bunch of war veterans are about as different as you can get,\u201d Lonergan said. \u201cBut we had the opportunity to talk with them, hang out with them and get to know them. It wasn\u2019t about what had happened in the past, it was about what was going on that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each player was paired with a veteran and then everyone was split into two teams at the indoor facility that featured low lighting and inflatable obstacles. The veterans tried to help the players stay \u201calive,\u201d but more often than not, the Tigers were splattered with paint.<\/p>\n

The idea was conceived during a team function at Holmes\u2019 house, and she made sure they knew what they\u2019d be getting into.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked them how they would feel about playing paintball with some of our veterans and every single one of them thought that would be awesome,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I said, \u2018You realize you would be playing with snipers and other highly trained people.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

With the team on board, Holmes\u2019 next step was to select the veterans who would be able to participate. Unfortunately, not all veterans involved in the program are ready for events like this.<\/p>\n

Operation TBI Freedom was created in 2008 as part of Rocky Mountain Human Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer non-clinical case management for veterans, active duty soldiers, and their families,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cAnyone who has served one day on or after Sept. 11, 2001, who has a medically diagnosed TBI is eligible to be in our program. It could be a mild to severe case, or they could be hospitalized or be in rehab.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will never turn a veteran away. If a soldier comes to our door and does not meet our criteria, we take them to a program that can help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program, which lasts an average of two years and costs about $3,500, helps wounded veterans with basic needs, including medical assistance, education, and employment.<\/p>\n

Lonergan\u2019s teammate, Jason, served one tour in Iraq as an Army cavalry scout.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason taught me things like \u2018cover me,\u2019 \u2018hold the position,\u2019 and some other things I had never heard<\/p>\n

of,\u201d Lonergan said. \u201cBut as soon as we started, I forgot everything he had told me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason enjoyed the experience and his teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t open up easily, but James kept asking me questions,\u201d Jason said. \u201cI showed him what to do and he hit his target a couple of times. All of the veterans had a good time and would like to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

One game pitted the players against the veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat game lasted about two minutes,\u201d Lonergan said. \u201cI remember pulling the trigger and hoping by some miracle it hit somebody. The basketball players did not hit any of the veterans and we all got hit. In basketball terms, we were playing a zone defense and everyone was getting dunked on at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience is one the Tigers will carry the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a real reality check for the CC guys playing with veterans who went to war,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cThe veterans sign on the bottom line because they are going protect our rights and freedoms, including the CC guys\u2019 ability to play basketball. The CC guys understood the sacrifice and they were so respectful. They were amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience surpassed everyone\u2019s expectations and there already is talk of making it an annual event.<\/p>\n

Information: www.rmhumanservices.org\/program\/operation-TBI-Freedom<\/a><\/p>\n

James Lonergan \u201916<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Athletes are often viewed as heroes after they make a key play or score the deciding goal. But on May 11, members of the Colorado College men\u2019s basketball team competed against veterans who are real heroes. The 14 Tigers played paintball with veterans from the Army, Marines, and Air Force with combat injuries from Iraq…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-8940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-december-2014","tag-athletics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8940"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9013,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8940\/revisions\/9013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}