The 45th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games was held at Huntington Place in Detroit earlier this month.
When the games began in 1981only 77 veterans gathered to participate. Now, over 500 vets compete in more than 20 events. 2026 marks the first time the games were held in Detroit and brought people from across the nation to the city.
“Detroit is proud to be home of more than 22,000 veterans,” Victoria Westbrooks addressed the crowd on behalf of Mayor Mary Sheffield. “And we are committed to supporting those who have served our nation. Hosting this milestone event is a reflection of that commitment and our city’s spirit of resilience.”
One of the many competitors was Lisa Maddox, who served in the Army for nine years. Maddox competes in many events including pickleball, table tennis, softball, basketball, field events and air pistol. She says she enjoys the wheelchairs games not only for sports, but for the unique opportunity it presents.
“There’s a camaraderie that not just having a disability but also being a veteran that is here. That is not the same in other adaptive competitions,” Maddox said.
Maddox says vets have a deep connection.
“Even though we’re different services we all went through what I call a ‘similar suck’ in BASIC training or bootcamp. It’s hell. And we all went through that BASIC training so that’s the similarity.”
William Ward served in the military for 16 years and has participated in the games for many years. At the 2026 games, he competed in the wheelchair slalom, a sort of obstacle course race.
“This is the one event that’s one of the toughest,” Ward says. “I stopped doing it for like the last two years and because it’s always a challenge, one of the hardest ones. I don’t know my results yet, but I think I did pretty good.”
The Detroit games were the fourth for Air Force Veteran Eva De Jesus. She says the event has helped her grow as a person.
“It’s more than sports,” De Jesus says. “For me, it’s the community, the people you meet, how you see people in, sadly, worse conditions than you are and do more than you do. So, for me it’s just a learning and beautiful experience to be here.”
The 2026 Wheelchair Games’ opening ceremony was held on July 8 and it ended with a closing ceremony on July 14.
This story originally aired July 15, 2026.
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