| SPORTS ROUNDUP
For six Shriners Hospitals for Children patients, trying a new approach to fitness may have taken participating teenagers out of their comfort zone, but the end result proved a positive experience.
Nick Scott, an Ottawa, Kansas native, was a patient at the Chicago Shriners Hospital from 1999-2003 after sustaining a T-12 spinal cord injury (SCI) resulting from an automotive accident in August 1998. Specializing in SCI, the Chicago Shriners Hospital offers a wellspring of programs, both clinical and recreational, for patients with SCI. Reflecting on the day he was told he was paraplegic, Nick says, “A part of me died, yet another part of me was born.” Having the choice to give up or remain positive, Nick graciously chose the latter.
In fall of 2005 Nick began bodybuilding, and soon became a pro in the sport, entering and posing for championship competitions. Nick has since achieved prestigious titles such as USA Wheelchair Championship for Heavy Weight. Perhaps most impressive is Nick’s entrepreneurship: he produced and manages the wheelchair bodybuilding Web site www.wheelchair-bodybuilding.com. As a Certified Fitness Consultant and Specialist in Performance Nutrition, Nick is both a fitness trainer and often a guest speaker at special events, including his “alma mater” Shriners Hospitals for Children–Chicago.
As a part of the hospital’s continual effort to keep teens with SCI active and healthy, staff members came up with an initiative close to Nick’s heart, and created a Wheelchair Bodybuilding Week at the Chicago Shriners Hospital. The idea came from Spinal Cord Injury Medical Director Dr. Lawrence Vogel and Director of Spinal Cord Injury Services Sara J. Klaas.
Participating patients came from Oklahoma, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. Using the hospital as home base the week included daily workouts with Nick, outings to local fitness centers, massages from Advanced Physical Medicine, and nutrition training with hospital dieticians. Sara charted a well-rounded itinerary and worked with Nick to plan and run the event, and other hospital staff pitched in to help make the week a success.
Along with sore muscles, the teens came away from Bodybuilding Week with newfound confidence. Julio Maldonado Wilbanks, from Crown Point, Indiana, said, “I feel like I want to go home and do more and be more active. I picked up some great techniques this week, and watching the other guys challenge themselves encouraged me to do the same.”
In addition to giving his time and talent, Nick worked with The Burn Machine, a company specializing in the asymmetrical barbell system, to donate five speed bags, three cross-trainers, and one ultimate burn machine to the hospital: equipment used for upper-body workouts. The week served as the only Wheelchair Bodybuilding camp in the country, and the hospital hopes it will be an annual event.
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