Pascagoula native taking his best shot at Warrior Games
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Sharon KyleSgt. Anthony McDaniel of Pascagoula practices during the 2013 All-Marine Warrior Games team training camp on Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Warrior Games is a Paralympic style competition to elevate wounded, ill and injured service member's abilities through athletic competition.
U.S. Marine Sgt. Anthony McDaniel, a Pascagoula native,
takes opponents by surprise on the basketball court. His competition is
not expecting someone with one arm in a wheelchair to play as
aggressively as he does.
The 2006 Gautier High School graduate had his legs and left hand amputated while he was serving in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
McDaniel is competing in track and basketball this week at the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo., which runs through May 16. The Warrior Games is a Paralympic-style competition for wounded, ill or injured service members.
"Playing with one hand, a lot of people will look at me and think I won't shoot as much or shoot from a certain place, but I prove them wrong in the game," McDaniel said. "You can't take nobody light because you don't know what they're capable of."
He shoots from "anywhere I'm open on the court," including 3-pointers. Wheelchair basketball is played on a regulation court.
"If you've got good mechanics, that's really all that matters -- you got to know your range, what you're capable of doing," said McDaniel, who was a standout basketball player at Gautier High before joining the Marines.
Mostly, he said, "believe in yourself and be positive."
McDaniel, who has three children, lives in San Diego.
He got involved in the Warrior Games in 2012 when a group in San Diego put together a basketball team and decided to try out. The team qualified at the trials at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Athletes must participate in at least two other events, so McDaniel signed on for track -- 100, 200 and 1,500 meters. He earned a gold medal in each.
Fantastic Four
McDaniel's basketball team, the San Diego Wolfpack, took the silver medal in the 2012 Games. They've trained over the last year "to compete again and play better.""Playing with these guys … it's a lot of fun. We have four guys from our team in San Diego," he said. "We pretty much have a good chemistry going on.
"It's been some hard times, but been a lot of good times. I'm having fun with these guys."
He said the team has improved. During the trials earlier in the year, the team earned the nickname the Fantastic Four.
'Instant amputation'
McDaniel said he didn't know about the Wounded Warriors or Warrior Games until after he was wounded.
On Aug. 31, 2010, McDaniel stepped on an improvised explosive device "that was instant amputation," he said.
He's told the story many times. He had located a second IED of the day with his unit, but when he dusted it off, he realized he had his foot on it.
"When it first blew up, it was like slow motion," he told a group of Gautier High students in 2010. But when he hit the ground, everything sped up.
At a hospital in Germany, he said he could tell the doctors didn't think he would make it, but he took deep breaths to slow his heart rate. "I knew I was going to make it; everyone was praying for me," he said. "I knew God's got my back."
Getting support
When he was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, McDaniel learned about the Wounded Warriors and the Warrior Games.
Since 2010, nearly 200 service members and veterans have competed annually in the Games, a partnership between the Department of Defense and U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Program.
McDaniel makes it a point to tell other Marines about the program.
"I pushed it more on my unit," he said, adding the unit has become big supporters. "They came out to support me and started spreading the word throughout the battalion.
"I think it's very important that the people in the Marines -- whatever branch you are in -- that they have an idea of what's going on with Wounded Warriors."
The 2006 Gautier High School graduate had his legs and left hand amputated while he was serving in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
McDaniel is competing in track and basketball this week at the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo., which runs through May 16. The Warrior Games is a Paralympic-style competition for wounded, ill or injured service members.
"Playing with one hand, a lot of people will look at me and think I won't shoot as much or shoot from a certain place, but I prove them wrong in the game," McDaniel said. "You can't take nobody light because you don't know what they're capable of."
He shoots from "anywhere I'm open on the court," including 3-pointers. Wheelchair basketball is played on a regulation court.
"If you've got good mechanics, that's really all that matters -- you got to know your range, what you're capable of doing," said McDaniel, who was a standout basketball player at Gautier High before joining the Marines.
Mostly, he said, "believe in yourself and be positive."
McDaniel, who has three children, lives in San Diego.
He got involved in the Warrior Games in 2012 when a group in San Diego put together a basketball team and decided to try out. The team qualified at the trials at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Athletes must participate in at least two other events, so McDaniel signed on for track -- 100, 200 and 1,500 meters. He earned a gold medal in each.
Fantastic Four
McDaniel's basketball team, the San Diego Wolfpack, took the silver medal in the 2012 Games. They've trained over the last year "to compete again and play better.""Playing with these guys … it's a lot of fun. We have four guys from our team in San Diego," he said. "We pretty much have a good chemistry going on.
"It's been some hard times, but been a lot of good times. I'm having fun with these guys."
He said the team has improved. During the trials earlier in the year, the team earned the nickname the Fantastic Four.
'Instant amputation'
McDaniel said he didn't know about the Wounded Warriors or Warrior Games until after he was wounded.
On Aug. 31, 2010, McDaniel stepped on an improvised explosive device "that was instant amputation," he said.
He's told the story many times. He had located a second IED of the day with his unit, but when he dusted it off, he realized he had his foot on it.
"When it first blew up, it was like slow motion," he told a group of Gautier High students in 2010. But when he hit the ground, everything sped up.
At a hospital in Germany, he said he could tell the doctors didn't think he would make it, but he took deep breaths to slow his heart rate. "I knew I was going to make it; everyone was praying for me," he said. "I knew God's got my back."
Getting support
When he was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, McDaniel learned about the Wounded Warriors and the Warrior Games.
Since 2010, nearly 200 service members and veterans have competed annually in the Games, a partnership between the Department of Defense and U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Program.
McDaniel makes it a point to tell other Marines about the program.
"I pushed it more on my unit," he said, adding the unit has become big supporters. "They came out to support me and started spreading the word throughout the battalion.
"I think it's very important that the people in the Marines -- whatever branch you are in -- that they have an idea of what's going on with Wounded Warriors."
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