Amputee Soccer League in Washington state celebrates 30th year
From
KXLY-TV:
COEUR D'ALENE, Wash. -- A Coeur d'Alene man is celebrating 30 years of World Cup soccer, but it's not the World Cup you might expect; the players have one leg and the goalies have one arm.
Don Bennett (pictured), a businessman by trade, has an incredible resume. He was the first amputee to climb Mount Rainier. Won gold and silver in skiing and also founded the Amputee Soccer League in Seattle 30 years ago.
A Coeur d'Alene man is celebrating 30 years of World Cup soccer, but it's not the World Cup you might expect; the players have one leg and the goalies have one arm. KXLY4's Colleen O'Brien reports.
Bennett lost his leg in a boating accident in 1972. He says he spent a few days sulking and wondering what he'd do with just one leg, but while in line to pick up his prosthetic saw a man in a wheelchair and says from that point on he never complained about having one leg again.
The idea to start an amputee soccer league started as an accident. Bennett was living in Seattle at the time and was watching his son try to play basketball. He kept missing the basket and each time Bennett would kick the ball back to his son.
“So I thought if we can ski with one leg, why can't we play soccer,” Bennett recalls.
He and a few friends who were also amputees began experimenting with crutches and kicking the ball around. Soon they found themselves challenging soccer players with two legs – but made them use crutches and hold a leg up.
“The crowd started cheering for us and we beat them three to one,” Bennett said.
The game caught the attention of local media, and most surprising to Bennett amputees in El Salvador.
“A lot of people think they're despondent, but finally when they start playing soccer, they build up their confidence, their self esteem, they start feeling good about themselves and many of these players are becoming super stars in their own country,” Bennett said.
The need for amputee soccer leagues was evident in how fast the sport picked up. Thirty years after Bennett kicked the basketball, sparking the idea for an amputee soccer league, 26 countries are home to hundreds of teams.
One place he'd love to see a team? The Inland Northwest. Bennett also plans to reach out to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
“They're looking at all their limitations, so I want to get back to those people and show them that they can get back on the field, feeling good about themselves,” Bennett said. “Anyone with confidence and self esteem, they can do anything they want.”
Bennett played on the USA team in 1995, but now works as the ambassador for amputee soccer. He'll travel to Argentina on October 16th for the next Amputee World Cup game, where he'll present the Don Bennett Golden Foot Award – a spin on the actual World Cup's Golden Boot Award.
