The Adaptive Sports USA's Junior Nationals is hosted by Turnstone in Fort Wayne, Indiana this year and two of Arizona Disabled Sports' athletes will be in attendance. Matthew Geib and Valeria Duron are both archers with the organization and we are so excited to announce that they have qualified and will be attending Junior Nationals from July 21st-24th!
Matthew Geib is a 19-year-old archer who has just completed his second archery season with AzDS. Matthew has a traumatic brain injury that he sustained in February of 2016 after being hit by a school bus. Matthew had no prior shooting experience before participating in the archery program with AzDS, and now he has qualified for Junior Nationals with a score of 602 at the Desert Challenge Games. Matthew says that the AzDS archery program has led him to a great group of friends that accepts him for who he is and doesn’t judge him; he has several other participants that he considers to be friends now. His biggest accomplishment this season was beating the goal that John Dee set for him at the beginning of the season. We are so excited to have him traveling to Fort Wayne, Indiana to compete at Junior Nationals!
Valeria Duron is turning 17 years old this month and she has been in AzDS’s archery program for two years now. Valeria has cerebral palsy and she was born at 29 weeks old, so her dad calls her a real miracle. This is her first trip to Junior Nationals, and she has qualified for the event with a score of 626 at the Desert Challenge Games. Valeria thinks that the archery program has changed her life a lot, specifically by motivating her in all aspects of her life and by giving her a group of friends. Valeria also beat the goal that Coach John Dee set for her at the beginning of the season. While Valeria is still rather new to archery, she has a lot of skill and is planning to attend open tryouts for the Paralympics in September of this year. We can’t wait to watch her compete at Junior Nationals!