IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
Title
A RESOLUTION recognizing and celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs Wheelchair Football Team for its achievements in the USA Wheelchair Football League.
Intro
RESOLUTION NO. 21197, March 14, 2023
INTRODUCED BY Donna Peyton, County Legislator
Body
WHEREAS, the USA Wheelchair Football League was launched in 2019 by Move United with support from an NFL-BWF (Bob Woodruff Foundation) Healthy Lifestyles and Creating Communities Grant; and,
WHEREAS, the league has provided the first organized opportunity for adults with disabilities to play wheelchair football and has grown from four teams to eleven, with two more expansion teams on the way for the 2023-2024 season; and,
WHEREAS, the league's rules were designed to closely resemble NFL gameplay, with adaptations chosen specifically to ensure the integrity and safety of the players while keeping the game fast-paced and enjoyable for players and spectators; and,
WHEREAS, over 575 participants have been a part of the program since 2019, with an emphasis on military veteran participation, requiring a minimum of three disabled veterans on each roster to qualify for the grant; and,
WHEREAS, the Kansas City Chiefs Wheelchair Football Team has posted an overall record of 19-4, the best winning percentage in the league over the first two years of gameplay; and,
WHEREAS, the team has over twenty local participants, with fourteen qualifying for the travel roster to compete in tournaments across the country, including Tampa Bay, FL, Salt Lake City, UT, and Phoenix, AZ, where the Chiefs won the 2022-2023 Championship over the LA Rams with a final score of 7-0; and,
WHEREAS, the team has ten disabled veterans that participate in programming in Kansas City; and,
WHEREAS, the parent organization, Midwest Adaptive Sports (MAS), founded in 2011 with the goal of providing alpine skiing programming for the disabled and blind/low-vision communities, oversees the footbal...
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