Student Spotlight: Anthony Vitale
TNCS 7th grader, Anthony Vitale, has been giving back to the community in some fun and inspiring ways. Over the past two years, Anthony has been involved with the Sportable Crush Wheelchair Lacrosse team based in Richmond. Sportable is an adaptive sport program that provides opportunity to transform lives of people with physical and visual disabilities through sport. Anthony and the rest of his family had the fortune to volunteer, coach, and travel with the with the team this past summer.
Just before the school year started, Anthony and 12 members of the team flew to the Wheelchair Lacrosse National Championship in Denver, Colorado where more than 100 disabled athletes on 10 teams from across the country suited up to compete for the title. Athletes represented Richmond, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Phoenix, Denver, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and San Diego.
Anthony has played Lacrosse for over five years and knows the game well. “Lacrosse is a tough game at any level, but when you add metal chariots to this sport, it’s unreal,” says Anthony. It packs a different kind of punch involving speed, finesse, and team work. To be clear, Wheelchair Lacrosse is not for the faint of heart.
The shrill grind of metal on metal and the crash of helmet on helmet echoed in Denver. The wheelchairs sped up and down the outdoor rinks in chase of the national title and/or for the thrill to just compete. They smashed lacrosse sticks into each other’s backs and slammed into the walls bordering the rink, all while nimbly tossing a ball. Every so often, a player and his or her chair would be toppled over in the chaos.
Although San Diego won the Championship, there wasn’t a looser in the bunch!
Adaptive sport provides an opportunity to transform the lives of people with physical and visual disabilities. It’s a bold claim and some might question whether it can really achieve that mission. Anthony’s response, “it’s real”. Anthony was not a spectator, but worked for weeks leading up to the tournament during practices and then three FULL days during. He ran none stop as an assistant coach, responsible for warming up the goalie, teaching basic Lacrosse fundamentals (in an adaptive manor) and sharing general lacrosse knowledge to players and other volunteers in attendance, kept score, assembled and disassembled wheelchairs, and when needed ran for supplies and ever so important water.
To learn more about Sportable and Wheelchair Lacrosse USA, visit their websites at sportable.org and wheelchairlacrosse.com.
Thank to you David Vitale for writing and sharing this inspiring recap of Anthony’s hard work and dedication. We are very proud of Anthony and know that all his efforts were tremendously appreciated.