‘It puts a smile on my face’: Local veteran competes in National Veterans Wheelchair Games

By Holly Hodges

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WXII) — Veterans from across the country gathered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to compete in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. This annual event is presented by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Clemmons native, Roy Wilkins, is among those competing this year. The 71-year-old combat veteran lost his right leg in 2004 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Afghanistan.

He later learned the details of what happened to him years after serving, when connecting with the medic who treated him the day of the explosion. Wilkins met this medic at a wheelchair basketball game – a sport he was introduced to by the Salisbury VA.

Wilkins, who was a football and basketball star in high school and college, said he found hope and renewed purpose through adaptive sports.

“It changed my mindset,” he said. “I find out that I’m still a man and still worthy, and it’s a gift to do things that you normally do with two legs.”

This is Wilkins’ 18th year at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. This year, he chose to play on a team of new athletes and help coach them.

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