Nick Springer, The Paralympics and Team USA, Your Chance to Cheer For Real Hero’s

 PR Guru, Gary Springer’s son Nick is in the The Paralympics, which started on Wednesday, August 29th at 8:30pm (London Time – 3:30pm NY time) with the Opening Ceremonies being streamed on www.usparalympics.org.  Wednesday will bring the opening of the London 2012 Paralympic Games (with Prince Harry set to attend on Friday, his first public appearance since he made the papers with the Las Vegas scandal.  Baroness Grey-Thompson, an 11-time gold medal-winning Paralympian athlete, hailed the sports event at a special St. Paul’s Cathedral service last weekend for showing “the world what extraordinary athletes can do, who happen to have a disability.”

Nick Springer is the leader of the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby Team (and a Hall of Famer in the sport), the 27-year-old is going for his ninth consecutive gold medal after already claiming a Paralympic, two World Cup, two Western Hemisphere and three Canada Cup trophies. After contracting the bacterial infection meningococcal meningitis as a 14-year-old at summer camp in 1999, Nick awoke from a medically induced coma to find that both his arms and legs had been amputated. He lost his legs from the knees, down, and his arms at mid-forearm. September’s Vanity Fair did a tribute to this extraordinary young man. “I’m a rugby player. People ask me what I do, and I say I’m a rugby player and I represent my country. That’s my identity. That’s who I am.”

Nick’s mom and Gary’s wife Nancy died of liver cancer the day after Nick won his gold medal in China. Gary told New York’s Lower Hudson Valley Journal News. “I was so proud. It was one of the greatest moments. But I was also thinking that the games were over. And now I have to go tell him that we have to leave in the morning because his mother is in a coma.”

Now New Yorkers can cheer for this boy/man, his family and those who have less but use what they have.

The International Paralympic Committee, the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement, also recently announced its online coverage plans for the 2012 Paralympic Games, which will include broadcasting 580 hours of live sport from London 2012 on USParalympics.org during the competition. During each day of London 2012, the website will broadcast four streams of uninterrupted live coverage from the Paralympics with English commentary, including daily coverage of swimming, wheelchair basketball and athletics, while a fourth channel will cover a range of sports. A fifth channel will broadcast a mixture of sports with Spanish commentary.

Here is the Wheelchair Rugby schedule — (all Times are for London)

Wed Sept 5th:

Session WR01       Start: 14:00     End: 17:45                                                                       

14:00 – 15:30             Open Pool A Mixed Game 1 – USA v GBR

16:15 – 17:45               Open Pool B Mixed Game 2 – SWE v BEL

Session WR02       Start: 19:00     End: 22:45                                                                       

19:00 – 20:30             Open Pool B Mixed Game 3 – AUS v CAN

21:15 – 22:45               Open Pool A Mixed Game 4 – JPN v FRA

 

Thus Sept 6th

 

Session WR03       Start: 14:00     End: 17:45                                                                       

14:00 – 15:30             Open Pool B Mixed Game 5 – SWE v AUS

16:15 – 17:45               Open Pool B Mixed Game 6 – CAN v BEL

Session WR04       Start: 19:00     End: 22:45                                                                       

19:00 – 20:30              Open Pool A Mixed Game 7 – GBR v FRA

21:15 – 22:45               Open Pool A Mixed Game 8 – JPN v USA

Fri Sept 7th

Session WR05       Start: 10:00     End: 13:45                                                                       

10:00 – 11:30             Open Pool B Mixed Game 9 – AUS v BEL

12:15 – 13:45               Open Pool B Mixed Game 10 – CAN v SWE

Session WR06       Start: 15:00     End: 18:45                                                                        

15:00 – 16:30               Open Pool A Mixed Game 11 – GBR v JPN

17:15 – 18:45               Open Pool A Mixed Game 12 – USA v FRA

Sat Sept 8th

Session WR07       Start: 09:30     End: 17:45  – Obviously, we won’t know these till the games start                                                                      

09:30 – 11:00               Open Semifinals Mixed – Open 5-8 Classification Game 13 (3rd Pool A v 4th Pool B)

11:45 – 13:15               Open Semifinals Mixed – Open 5-8 Classification Game 14 (3rd Pool B v 4th Pool A)

14:00 – 15:30               Open Semifinals Mixed – Open Semifinal 1 Game 15

16:15 – 17:45               Open Semifinals Mixed – Open Semifinal 2 Game 16

Session WR08       Start: 19:00     End: 22:45                                                                        

19:00 – 20:30             Open Finals Mixed – Open 7/8 Classification Game 17 (Losers Games 13 and 14)

21:15 – 22:45               Open Finals Mixed – Open 5/6 Classification Game 18 (Winners Games 13 and 14)

 

Sun Sept 9th

Session WR09       Start: 12:00     End: 16:30                                                                        

12:00 – 13:30               Open Finals Mixed – Open Bronze Medal Game 19 (Losers Games 15 and 16)

14:15 – 15:45                Open Finals Mixed – Open Gold Medal Game 20 (Winners Games 15 and 16)

16:05 – 16:30               Open MC Mixed – Open Victory Ceremony

GO NICK AND TEAM USA!