NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An organization is growing that's giving opportunity to people who love competition and getting out on the ice.
There's a little sign at Centennial Sportsplex. It says, 'It's hard to be a person that never gives up.' That's one of the lessons being taught to the crew at a weekly practice, like 10-year-old Jackson Coleman.
"Mr. Forrest, there's going to be nothing to see right now except for me going in circles!" he shouted to me as the team did warm ups on the ice.
Jackson's mom saw something about the Jr. Sled Preds hockey team, and she had an idea.
"Let's get him to try this, he might like it!" Jackson said.
"Does he?" I asked.
"Yes! Very much!"
Mom knows.
Jackson was born with spina bifida.
"It effects my spine," Jackson explained. "I can't move my toes. I can't stand up. I'm in a wheelchair forever."
None of that has ever been in the way of his competitive spirit.
"I play sports normally just like anybody else does!" he said.
The Nashville Sled Preds are a team playing an adaptive sport for athletes with disabilities. They're sponsored by the National Wheelcats.
"They've overcome so much that, there's nothing that they're not capable of doing," said Michael Theriault, coach for the adult Sled Preds team.
The adults practice on the ice at the same time as the junior team.
"They go hard!" Jackson said.
Really, it's a great thing to surround the younger athletes with really good examples.
That was certainly the case with Allan Williams. Williams was an assistant coach of the Jr. Sled Preds with two children on the team. He was a flight nurse and paramedic for Vanderbilt LifeFlight. He died earlier this month in a LifeFlight helicopter crash in Wilson County.
"He was an amazing, amazing human being," Theriault said. "It's hard to speak to be honest with you. [He was] just a servant of people and to lose somebody like that hurts."
There are lessons to be learned here for the Jr. Sled Preds, and often, you see it in action.
"Sebastian, you dropped your stick!" Jackson shouted to a teammate, hurrying it over.
Working as a team, fostering comradery, and helping others are all things that Allan Williams' life was all about. Everything his life taught will be carried with the players in these weekly practices on the ice.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
This is a story I immediately went home and showed my boys - young athletes with big dreams. The Vanderbilt football team's success has stolen the spotlight - what I love about Steve Layman's story is he reveals the individual hardships it took to get there. As Clark Lea says, "we all have scuff marks." This team proves perseverance pays off!
- Carrie Sharp
