Sixth Day on the Ground - A Dad's Diary - August 27th, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

Today and most of tomorrow will be rest days for Ezra. Tomorrow is the Paralympic debut for Team Ezra and I couldn’t be more excited! I am actually writing this the morning of the 28th, so the excitement is REAL right now! Before I walk through our day yesterday, I want to share my morning ritual with you.

Morning Ritual

I immediately adjusted to local time, getting up without an alarm around 6/630am most mornings. I am surprisingly tired from a day of walking and standing around. I guess I am a true office worker…

I put my phone on silent and throw it on the floor so I don’t hear any vibrations, and this has been working really well. I usually check social and email to see what I have missed. Then I boil water to make my morning tea. I have because a serious tea drinker and brought my own tea and big tea thermos, which I often bring to the village in the morning.

I often shower in the mornings because I am too tired in the evenings. When I get back, I just want to get off my feed and veg out for a little bit. I tend to fall asleep very quickly!  I also have started to wash a couple clothing items each morning so I don’t get behind on clean clothes. I usually wash my Team US shirts (I was given a nice set of shirts) and socks seem to be my primary shortage.

I then sit down to write my daily blog and push more images on social. I am primarily using FB for the blog and Instagram for stories and images throughout the day. Hoping that is keeping folks upated! I have gained a few hundred Instagram followers which is super cool. I am at or near the 5,000 friend limit on FB, which is kind of funny.

I also check in with the family, as it is late afternoon / after school by the time I am up and talkative… The 7-12pm window here is the best time to check-in as it is late afternoon / early evening in LA. It’s so weird to be here without the rest of our family. We originally had 33 family and friends attend the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as part of Team Ezra…. It’s sad to not have everyone here. I know we would have had the best time ever if we weren’t in a pandemic.

After writing, I start to pack up. I add more USA pins to my lanyard for pin trading. I grab my backup phone charger (I have two and rotate each day so I am always loaded up with power) and gopro batteries (I have four batteries and some days have run out!). I ensure I have the credential, snacks, tea, and my taxi vouchers ready to go.

Then I go down to the lobby and have the receptionist order the TCT taxi, a taxi service that follows the Tokyo 2020 Playbook from a sanitization standpoint. A few times I have been able to carpool with some other chaperones, but we are all on pretty different schedules so it’s not as easy as we thought. There are 8 of us staying at this hotel and we see each other once in a while.

The All Important Rest Day

So yesterday was a super chill rest day for Ezra. I arrived in the village and grabbed a bite to eat in the plaza and waited for Ezra to meet me for a trip to ottobock. It turned out the transport system was not working and he didn’t want to waste any energy walking all the way. It’s surprisingly far. So I offered to come up to the village to grab the leg and bring it to ottobock.

Before I run the leg over to Ottobock, I had some gifts and letters for him. A couple sweet notes from my mom and step dad (which I forgot to give him on the plane!), and then a bunch of gifts from our Japanese friends Risa who works at Tokyo 2020 and Max from UCLA Anderson (we were in the same section and graduated ’98, so I have known max 25 years!). Max went to a Japanese shrine to pray for Ezra to have a good competition on 8/28 and 8/31. He got two certificates for us, one for each day. SOOO cool and special. And Risa got him a bunch of Japanese hand towels (description below) and a Japanese flag with dozens of written notes from her friends, family, and colleagues at Tokyo 2020! How cool is that? Also he got a couple letters from Japanese high school students, one who said he has inspired her to try sports and other things she was afraid to try! How sweet is that?

A tenugui (手拭い) is a thin Japanese hand towel made from cotton. Typically, tenugui are about 35 by 90 centimetres (14 by 35 in) in size, plain woven, and almost always dyed with some pattern. Usually the long sides are finished with a selvage, and the short sides are just cut and so soon show some fraying.[1] A tenugui is often used in ways that towels are used, such as being used as a washcloth or dishcloth, for example. They are often used as headbands, souvenirs, decorations, or for wrapping bottles and similar items. Towels made from terry cloth have largely replaced tenugui in household use. However tenugui are still popular as souvenirs, decorations, and as a head covering in kendo, where it functions as a sweatband and provides extra padding beneath the headgear (men).

After opening these gifts, I take the leg down to the Ottobock Repair Center. I have to say the Ottobock team is amazing. They repair everything any athlete needs, from chairs to legs, to braces. They run a tight ship and bring their best people in from all over the world. THEy stock parts from all the major prosthetic and chair companies so they are ready to repair anything. It’s an amazing operation. I toured it in Rio and it was mind-blowing. We will tour this one next week once we finish the HJ on Tuesday! Can’t wait. The team at Ottobock, including Julian and Jeff, took great care of us. We just wanted to clean up the leg, tighten everything down, and make sure there were no risks that were obvious. With prosthetics (and likely all adaptive equipment), things are in a constant state of degradation, meaning you have to really keep an eye out to avoid catastrophic breaks and failures. We have gotten the call from school “Ezra broke his leg” so many times.

Within 20-30 minutes I was on my way back to give Ezra the leg. Before I could get back he wanted to grab some food so I met him at the Casual Dining restaurant, which is purely Japanese food (but way healthier).

Ez then went back for a massage and relax time in his room. I watched the Games on the TV in the public lounge that I am allowed to hang in. By 6:30pm he was ready for another meal. We went to the main dining hall this time with Jarryd Wallace , Roderick D. Townsend, Josh Cinnamo and Sam Grewe. A solid squad for sure.

I walked back to the US block with him, he went up to the athlete lounge, I stayed and watched a little more sport. Then I headed home to my hotel. Pretty uneventful day, all said and done.

But we got the leg tuned-up. We relaxed and kept the legs fresh.

Ready to jump today!!!

Clayton

Day Five on the Ground - A Dad's Diary - August 26th, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

IPC Media Day

Thursday I had to get up early and hustle to the village to meet Ezra at 9:30am for some media. Ezra went live with Paralympian (he playe 7 a side soccer or CP soccer in Beijing) Richard Fox, from the Paralympic Games, on the Paralympics Tik Tok channel.

Team Ezra and Richard had an immediate and wonderful level of comfort and camaraderie. Then after we finished the Tik Tok segment he filmed two more interviews for the IPC. In the TT segment it was fascinating to watch the comments flowing in. It is genuinely surprising to me how snarky people are on social media. I just don’t get it. I don’t really understand how/why anyone thinks that way… Ezra just laughs this stuff off, which is great.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch and cancelled an Ottobock visit in order to get Ezra some massage therapy. Without our chiropractor Amit here, we have to go heavy in massage. Ez had a team meeting at 2:30pm while I hung out on the first floor of the US “block” as the apartment building is called and did some writing and social media. It was wonderful to be there as I ran into tons of athletes, includer Para-archers Lia and Emma. Lia just had her chair cut down – the back of her wheelchair was deemed illegal and her coach cut it down to meet the requirements.

Also had a really good chat with Jarryd Wallace and Roderick D. Townsend about the fragmented nature of information around amputee blade running. We have a lot to do to better disseminate expertise and support so everyone can participate and realize their potential.

Muscling Ezra up to this level has taught me so much about the resources and expertise required to develop an elite athlete. And now with Angel City Sports I am on a mission to make sure EVERYBODY has the same opportunities to participate and compete at an elite level, regardless of your sport, background, ethnicity, income level, etc.

Afternoon Training Session with Sam Grewe

By 3:30pm we were getting ready to head out to the Okura Sports Park for an afternoon jumps session. NBC NBC Olympics NBC Sports was planning to join us, but intially couldn’t rally a crew… But then at the last minute they split a crew up to send two guys to cover this special session with Ezra and Sam Grewe. It's the only jumps session these two will have as Ezra shuts down to prep for LJ, and then has two days of rest ahead of the HJ. It's go time!

The relationship between Ezra and Sam is deep. They always say, they compete “with” each other, not against each other. Sam has literally been there for Ezra since Ezra was 9 or 10 years old. Ezra has been calling and texting Sam for high jump advice since that day. Honestly, they have never lived in the same town but they have been inseparable.

Ezra was motivated in 2016 to pursue the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games mostly by watching Sam win the Silver medal. That year, I was in Rio with LA2024 (before we won the bid and got 2028). I had access to all venues and scrambled through the crazy traffic of Rio to get to the venue to watch Sam jump. I knew Ezra would want me to watch that event, more than anything else I did in Rio. (Side note, Ezra and our family was supposed to go but with Zika virus looming I was the only family member that went). I remember my driver took me through a bad neighborhood, and he told me to roll up my windows and be careful. They motorcycle thieves are known to rob people through the taxi window! I arrived pretty late, running through the stadium. I had no idea where he was jumping.

I ran down the concourse for a little bit, randomly turned in, only to be at THE EXACT LOCATION Sam was jumping at. I raced down as close to the track as I could get. It turned out, I was sitting right behind his family and supporters, including Keri Serota from Dare2tri! So COOOL. It was an amazing moment. My favorite moment was one of the competitors tweaked his shoulders and Sam walked over and gave him a little massage to help him out. THIS IS SPORT. THIS IS PARALYMPIC SPORT. We support our fellow competitors. We honor our fellow competitors. It is honestly pure sport, so beautiful… I had no idea this type of community existed in sport. It seems so contrary to the scandals, cheating, bribery, trash talking, and bitter rivalries that seem to plague many elite sports…

We first met Sam at Desert Challenge Games in Arizona hosted by Arizona Disabled Sports. Sam has gone on to win a Silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and has 3 Gold medals from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 World Championships. At the 2019 World Championships, Ezra was 14 and came in 7th in the high jump. It was so cool to watch them at that meet. They are like brothers. Their relationship will make the High Jump final that much more interesting!!! Tuesday 8/31 at 3:25am the T63 High Jump event starts! Get your access figured out ahead of time! See my posts or Angel City Sports FB page for more information!

They did a workout and jumps session with NBC filming… So fun to have their crew out on the track. They really appreciate both Ez and Sam and repeatedly said how stoked they were to be there with us. When we can work so closely with the media, I think we can really tell better stories… It feels like more of a partnership, or a collaboration… Not just the media telling the story they want to tell, which is a pretty common experience for me.

After that I went back to the hotel with LaTi and received a couple really cool gifts for Ezra from some Japanese fans. I will share more about these when I present them to Ezra later today.

The next couple of days…

Friday will be a major rest day… and in fact Saturday much of the day will be rest as well. Ezra does very well when he has closer to two days of rest.

He long jumps Saturday at 3:51am PST (look for T63 Long Jump)! We feel blessed that Regas Woods will be jumping with him!! Regas was a late add to the team and he’s one of our favorite athletes. He’s a brilliant coach, technically and emotionally, and is also a trusted friend. Having him out on the field is really good for Ezra. They both bring the right approach, have fun, but stay focused on the task at hand when you need to be focused. I am hoping they both come out and hit some PRs (personal records) and show the world their full potential!!!

Let’s goooo Ezra!

Clayton

---

Fourth Day on the Ground- A Dad's Diary - August 25th, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

Wednesday I did some power-writing, cranking out two blogs – one on the history of the Paralympic movement and one on Tuesday’s escapades in Tokyo. I got into the village around Noon and met Ezra and a few of the guys for lunch. We ended up going to “casual dining” where they serve more traditional Japanese food (i.e. healthier). I have realized that I am constantly hungry here… It’s very strange…. And I have started to slip down the slope of grabbing pizza and pasta from the first food station in the dining hall… and there’s an amazing strawberry ice cream bar that I seem to need before I depart… So despite long days on my feet, I am worried I am going to gain weight!

We then met with the IPC marketing guy Ryan, who continues to teach us cool British slang words. He uses “brill” and “ace” for good/cool. And “blimey” for not so good. Love this! Ezra went live on Tik Tok at 6pm PST today on @Paralympics! Check it out!

After lunch I had a little bit of time to relax in the Team USA area and then ran a couple quick errands like dropping off a test tube of saliva for my daily covid test! Before we knew it we were boarding the bus for the training venue. The bus was full when we arrived and the wait for the next bus was pretty long. We didn’t end up getting to the facility until 5pm or so. LaTi had a crazy drive with a driver who insisted he knew where he was going, yet he took her the wrong way! We all made it eventually and the great thing about today was that Sam Grewe made it into town! Sam did a shakeout, being his first day on the ground… Ezra did the shakeout with him and then did some long and high jump approaches. Just to stay fresh. Tomorrow (Thursday) Ezra will do a full high jump session at the Team USA training center, which is less crowded and nicer. Given the schedule, this will be his one and only high jump session before he competes. Friday will be a full rest day, Saturday he’ll do long jump, then two rest days Sunday and Monday, with long jump on Tuesday.

We finished up pretty late, maybe 7pm or so. We had another long wait for the bus. I think this is something that is complex to understand – transportation! Think about coordinating 4,000 athletes plus coaches and staff, moving around the city to dozens and dozens of venues…. And they mostly want to go at the same time – morning session and afternoon session. Once the competition starts for track, it might get more complex with the additional venue.

We got back to the village about 815 or so, maybe later. We went straight to dinner. We keep running into Lex Gillette and Wesley his guide at meals. We love these guys so it’s awesome to eat with them.

BTW Ezra has a great room. Hunter Woodall, Trenten Merrill, Sam Grewe, and Tanner Wright. The guys all get along and there are already a few pranks going on…

After dinner, it was pretty late. I tried to find my security guy Toyoda, who calls my taxi, but it was a day off for him. So I hiked back to the plaza where the main entrance is. Unfortunatley, the entrance was closed and I had to walk really far around a bunch of buildings to get back to the parking lot where I was able to order my special “TCT” taxi cab.

I got home and pretty much passed out. My feet have been killing me walking and standing all day!

Clayton

---

Tokyo News Day 3 - August 27th, 2021

August 27th, 2021

Day 3 saw several world records broken and featured some more high-level action across a number of sports. Check out the results from the third day of competition below and find out what to watch next!

We have launched a worldwide campaign to make Tokyo the most-watched Games ever. To get the message of this campaign out to the world, we are using the hashtag #TokyoWatchParty and encourage everyone to post themselves tuning in. Tag 2 or more friends to challenge them to do the same. Invite everyone to turn their eyes toward Tokyo over the next couple of weeks and let's spur the change we know is possible!

Today's Top Results

Track and Field

• Nick Mayhugh won the gold in the T37 100m race in spectacular fashion. He became the first in his class to break the 11-second mark, earning him the World Record.

• Lex Gillette won his fifth silver medal in the T11 long jump.

• Raymond Martin won silver in a nail-biting finish of the men's 400m, T52 Final.

Goalball

• USA Men’s suffered a hard loss to an energetic Japan by the score 11-1. Daryl Walker had the lone goal for the US. They have a day off before trying to bounce back against Algeria.

• USA Women shared an impressive team victory over Egypt 10-0. This was a total team effort with 4 goals by Amanda Dennis, 2 by Eliana Mason, 2 by Lisa Czechowski, and 2 by Asya Miller.

Swimming

• Mallory Weggemann won gold in her first race of the Tokyo Games! Her American teammate Ahalya Letterberger took the silver in the Women’s 200m IM SM7. Mallory set a Paralympic record for this event!

• Jessica Long won her 24th Paralympic Medal as she took home the Bronze in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S8.

Wheelchair Basketball

• The Team USA men (defending gold medalists) took on Iran and came away with a dominant win by 24 points.

• Steve Serio led with 12 points and 10 assists. Matt Scott contributed another 4 points and 6 assists.

Wheelchair Rugby

• Team USA beat Great Britain in a very close game with a final score of 50 to 48.

• Chuck Aoki continues to lead the team with 20 tries, and Joshua Wheeler was the second-leading scorer with 17 tries.

Judo

• American Robert Tanaka was defeated by ippon in his Paralympic debut by Rudenko Viktor of RPC in the men’s -66kg division. Next up for Team USA is Liana Mutia in the women’s -63 kg division against Kudo Hiroko of host nation Japan.

Wheelchair Tennis

• The first rounds of matches kicked off for the Americans. Casey Ratzlaff won his first round against Frenchman Frederic Cattaneo, 6-2, 7-5.

• The USA quad doubles team lost to a tough Dutch duo, and the USA women's doubles teams fell to China, knocking them out of the doubles draw.

Table Tennis

• Tahl Leibovitz lost a close quarterfinal match to #2 ranked Ivan Mai of Ukraine final score 2-3. What a great battle to close out his 6th Paralympic Games.

• Michael “Cowboy” Godfrey (seated class 1, world ranking #25) lost to Hungarian athlete Major (0-3) and to Bogato of Italy (1-3).

• Jenson van Emburgh was victorious in a nail-biting (3-2) quarterfinal matchup against German athlete Thomas Bruchle. Jenson advances to the Class 3 semifinals where he will face Panfeng Feng of China.

• Ian Seidenfeld (standing class 6, ranked #15) got a win over Christian Dettoni of Chile to advance to the Class 6 semifinals. Ian will face Paul Karabardak for a shot at the podium.

Rowing

• Team USA’s Hallie Smith finished 6th in the Women’s Single Sculls heat and qualified for repechage.

• Team USA’s Blake Haxton finished 5th in the Men’s Single Sculls heat and qualified for repechage.

• Team USA’s Laura Goodkind and Russell Gernaat finished 5th in the Mixed Double Sculls heat and qualified for repechage.

• Team USA’s crew finished 1st in the Mixed Coxed Four heat and qualified for Final A.

Archery

• Today wass ranking rounds, which determine the draw for the elimination rounds.

• In Women’s Individual W1, Lia Coryell ranked 5th.

Equestrian

• Roxanne “Roxie” Trunnell and her horse Dolton earned a dressage gold medal for the Individual Test event for Grade I classification. This is the first USA gold medal in Para-Equestrian in over 25 years!

To follow along with the results in real-time, here are a few resources to help:
Daily Schedule of Events
NBC Sports App
TV and Streaming Guide

---

What To Watch

Catch some of the ACS Paralympians in action Friday night and Saturday morning.

Ezra Frech: Long Jump T63 Final
Matt Scott: Team USA Men's Wheelchair Basketball
Chuck Aoki: Team USA Wheelchair Rugby
Kyle Coon: Triathlon, Men's PTVI
Eliana Mason: Team USA Women's Goalball
Mallory Weggemann: Swimming; Women's 100m Breastroke SB6
Courtney Ryan: Team USA Women's Wheelchair Basketball
Trooper Johnson: Head Coach USA Women's Wheelchair Basketball
Laura Goodkind: Rowing; PR2 Mixed Double Sculls
Here is the TV Schedule for Friday Night/Saturday morning:
Triathlon, Track & Field 2:30-6:30 p.m. PT Olympic Channel (Live Stream)

Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby 9:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. PT NBCSN (Live Stream)
Swimming, Track & Field, Goalball, Wheelchair Basketball 12:00-6:00 a.m. PT NBCSN (Live Stream)

Individual Sports TV/Streaming Schedule:

Wheelchair Basketball
USA vs China (W) 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

USA vs Great Britain (M) 1:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Wheelchair Rugby
Semifinal: USA vs Australia 1:30 a.m. PT Live Stream

Track and Field
Session 1 5:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Session 2 3:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

*Ezra Frech T63 Long Jump starts at 3:51 a.m. PST

Track Cycling
Time Trial (Women's C1-3) 6:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Individual Pursuit Qualifying. 6:36 p.m. PT Live Stream

Time Trials (2 Classes) 19:20 p.m. PT Live Stream

Individual Pursuit Finals 11:15 p.m. PT Live Stream

Swimming
Swimming Heats 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Swimming Finals 1:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Goalball
USA vs Japan (W) 9:15 a.m. PT Live Stream

Triathlon
Men's PTS4 / Women's PTS2 2:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Men's PTVI / Women's PTVI 4:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Table Tennis
Quarterfinals, Semifinals: Standing Table 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Quarterfinals, Semifinals: Sitting Table 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Finals: WS11, MS6, MS9 Singles 12:30 a.m. PT Live Stream

Finals: MS3, WS1-2 Singles 2:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Today's schedule can also be seen at NBCOlympics.com

---

Top Stories

Angel City Sports Tokyo Blog

Paralympic Games Day 3 Roundup: Nick Mayhugh announces arrival as sprint star

Mallory Weggemann shines in SM7 200m IM final

USA's Nick Mayhugh explodes for 100m gold in world record

Born without arms, shot during childhood, fleeing war zones: Refugee Paralympic Team's inspiring stories

Interviews with Paralympians -Angel City Sports Podcast - Sports Saved My Life

Tokyo News Day 2 - August 26th, 2021

Day 2 saw the US Team win its first gold medal of the Games, and featured some wins in wheelchair basketball, goalball, wheelchair rugby, and more. Check out the results from the second day of competition below and find out what to watch next!

We have launched a worldwide campaign to make Tokyo the most-watched Games ever. To get the message of this campaign out to the world, we are using the hashtag #TokyoWatchParty and encourage everyone to post themselves tuning in. Tag 2 or more friends to challenge them to do the same. Invite everyone to turn their eyes toward Tokyo over the next couple of weeks and let's spur the change we know is possible!

---

Today’s Top Results

Goalball

• USA Men's Goalball started with a big win over defending world champs Brazil! Team USA overcame their penalties and locked in defensively to come out on top 8-6 in their first game of pool play.

• Calahan Young led the way with 4 goals.

Swimming

• 17-year-old Anastasia Pagonis won Team USA’s 1st gold medal of the Tokyo Games- breaking the World Record twice in the Women’s 400m freestyle S11! She dominated the race finishing nearly a half a length ahead of everyone else.

• 17-year-old Gia Pergolini also won gold and broke the world record in the Women's 100m Backstroke S13.

Wheelchair Basketball

• The Team USA women (defending gold medalists) won their second round of pool play against Spain, putting on a dominant performance by the young team.

• Rose Hollerman led in scoring with 20 points, and Courtney Ryan followed closely with 18 points.

• The Team USA men (defending gold medalists) took on Germany in a closely contested game up until the end. They came away with a win of 58-55.

• Brian Bell was the top scorer with 20 points, and Matt Scott contributed 4 points and 10 assists.

Wheelchair Rugby

• Team USA beat Canada with a close final score of 58 to 54.

• Chuck Aoki led the scoring with an incredible 30 tries.

Track Cycling

• Americans Aaron Keith and Chris Murphy just missed out on making it to the podium in their prospective races.

Table Tennis

• Tahl Leibovitz is entering his 6th Paralympic Games with a world ranking of #10 for class 9 (standing). Tahl had a dominant second-round performance to win 3-0 over Spain’s Pérez Gonzalez.

• 21-year-old athlete Jenson van Emburgh is currently ranked #10 in the world for class 3 (seated). Jenson had a dominant performance to win 3-0 in his second-round match against Svatos (CZE).

Wheelchair Fencing

• Americans Terry Hayes, Ellen Geddes, and Shelby Jensen continued in competition on Thursday, unfortunately falling to some tough competition.

Equestrian

• American Beatrice da Lavelette and Kate Shoemaker move on to the Freestyle round in their Paralympic debut.

To follow along with the results in real-time, here are a few resources to help:
Daily Schedule of Events
NBC Sports App
TV and Streaming Guide

---

What To Watch

Catch some of the ACS Paralympians in action Thursday night and Friday morning.
Matt Scott: Team USA Men's Wheelchair Basketball
Chuck Aoki: Team USA Wheelchair Rugby
Calahan Young: Team USA Men's Goalball
Eliana Mason: Team USA Women's Goalball
Mallory Weggemann: Swimming
Lex Gillette: Track and FieldHere is the TV Schedule for Thursday Night/Friday morning:

Track & Field, Wheelchair Rugby, Cycling, Goalball, Wheelchair Tennis6p-12a PT NBCSN (Live Stream)
Swimming, Track & Field, Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby, Judo12a-6a PTNBCSN (Live Stream)

Individual Sports TV Schedule:

Men's Wheelchair Basketball
USA vs Iran (M) 1:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Wheelchair Rugby
USA vs Great Britain 1:30 a.m. PT Live Stream

Track and Field
Session 1 5:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Session 2 3:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Track Cycling
Time Trial (Women's C1-3) 6:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Individual Pursuit Qualifying. 6:36 p.m. PT Live Stream

Time Trials (2 Classes)1 9:20 p.m. PT Live Stream

Individual Pursuit Finals 11:15 p.m. PT Live Stream

Swimming
Swimming Heats 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Swimming Finals 1:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Wheelchair Tennis
Center Court: Part 1 7 p.m. PT Live Stream

Center Court: Part 2 11:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Goalball
USA vs Japan (M) 9:15 p.m. PT Live Stream

USA vs Egypt (W) 3:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Equestrian
Dressage Individual Test: Grade I 12:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Dressage Individual Test: Grade III 3:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Today's schedule can also be seen at NBCOlympics.com

---

Top Stories

Angel City Sports Tokyo BlogDoug Emhoff Pens Letter to Team USA as Tokyo Paralympics Kick Off: 'You Deserve This Moment'USA basketball rallies past Germany for thrilling opening winChuck Aoki leads Team USA to rugby win over CanadaTeen Anastasia Pagonis sets WR for U.S.' first Paralympic goldAngel City Sports Podcast - Sports Saved My Life

A Brief History of Adaptive and Paralympic Sport Movement

Originally posted by Clayton Frech on his personal Facebook page.

Let the Games begin!

As the Tokyo Paralympic Games start today, I wanted to share a high-level history of the adaptive and Paralympic sports movement. Also, for daily news and updates on the Tokyo 2020, feel free to subscribe to the Angel City Sports email list, check the Angel City blog, and follow on social media! Lots of information coming your way! (Sources for this post are cited below.)

I have always loved history, even going back to junior high school and high school. And the history of adaptive sports is really cool, and should offer some perspective on and appreciation for what you are going to watch the next two weeks on NBC. This has not been a quick rise to prominence, but rather a labor of love going back over the last century or more. And honestly, there are so many incredible people along the way that have contributed to the movement, I simply won’t attempt to list them here. But being able to see what the Paralympic Games have become, I personally have a deep respect and appreciation for everyone that laid the foundation for us along the way.

After attending the Rio Paralympic Games with the LA2024 team (at the time we had not won the bid and shifted to 2028), I literally fell in love with the Paralympic Games. I promised myself I would not miss another Games the rest of my life (I am still deciding whether that promise includes the Winter Games, but you will see me at the future Summer Games for sure!).

Why do I love them so much? 1) The sports are GREAT to watch. 2) The athlete back stories are powerful. And 3) And, with your support and engagement, the Paralympic Games has the potential to change the world, erase negative stigmas, and to create a society where everyone feels they belong. What else could you ask for in a sporting event?

International Origins

So where and when did this movement really get started? The earliest known adaptive sports organizations actually got started in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. In 1888 the first Sport Club for the Deaf in Berlin, Germany was founded. In 1924 The International Silent Games was the first international competition for Deaf athletes (the Deaf, BTW, have their own Deaflympics). In 1932 the British Society of One-Armed Golfers was established. These are some of the earliest programs and organizations to start. But in the mid to late 1940’s, after WWII, things really started to pick-up.

In the mid-1940’s wheelchair sports were being developed simultaneously in Britain and the United States, in California and Massachusetts. Both efforts were to support the rehab of paralyzed WWII veterans. In 1946, the sport of Goaball, was developed specifically for blind WWII veterans by Austrian Hanz Lorrenzen and German Sett Reindle. Goalball is now played competitively in over 100 countries and is the most prestigious sport for blind athletes. An estimated 253M people goalball are blind or partially sighted. Then in 1948 the first collegiate wheelchair basketball program in the United States was developed at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (article). Illinois is still a powerhouse in adaptive sports, launching many Paralympic careers! There are some records indicating that sitting volleyball was first played in the mid 1940’s, although it was formally introduced in 1956 in the Netherlands.

The seed for the Paralympic movement was planted by German doctor and refugee Sir Ludwig Von Guttman when he took a new job at the Stoke Mandeville spinal cord rehab center in the UK. It’s hard to believe now, but when Guttman started working with SCI patients at Stoke Mandeville, WWII SCI patients were only expected to live about two years! Can you imagine? He had a radical approach – get them moving, playing, and doing sports. Dr. Guttman organized what was then called the Stoke Mandeville Games on 29 July 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games. He hosted an archery competition for sixteen injured WWII veterans. It’s pretty impressive to think that this just started with a simple archery competition and now it is the 3rd largest sporting event in the world!

In 1956, Adaptive Sports USA was founded as the National Wheelchair Athletic Association (NWAA). Initially serving WWII veterans, the organization expanded over time to serve veterans, children, and adults with physical disabilities. This organization, which I used to be the board chair, merged in 2020 with another national organization, Disabled Sports USA, to create Move United. Also, in the 1950’s there was the development of amputee skiing which ultimately led to the creation of Disabled Sports USA in1968.

By 1960 the Stoke Mandeville Games had become the Paralympic Games. That year the Games were held in Rome and featured 400 athletes from 23 countries competing in eight different sports, including archery, athletics, dartchery, snooker, swimming, table tennis, fencing, and basketball. The Paralympic Games have been held every four years since then.

A few milestones since 1960:

- 1976 - the first Winter Games in Paralympics history were held in Sweden, taking place every four years from then on.

- 1984 – Historic Moment in the US when we held a WC racing exhibition at the US. In fact, Angel City Sports mentor and coach, Candace Cable, raced in this race and won a bronze medal!

- 1988 - Since Seoul 1988 and the 1992 Winter Games in France, the Olympic and Paralympic Games have taken part in the same cities and venues.

- 1989 - On 22 September 1989, the International Paralympic Committee was founded in Germany, to be the governing body for the Paralympic Movement. Side note: Most people think the Paralympics are for paraplegics. They certainly are for paraplegics, and many others… but the word “Paralympic” actually comes from the Greek preposition “para” which means beside or alongside. Thus, the intention is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics.

- 1996 – The US hosted the Atlanta Paralympic Games. In an emotional and historic moment, Angel City Sports friend John Siciliano, had his leg fell off in the 100M and hopped to the finish line.

- 2001 - The US Olympic Committee USOC) formalizes the Paralympic Committee as U.S. Paralympics.

- 2013 – Angel City Sports was founded, the idea born on the track and the wonderful event, the Endeavor Games, held in Oklahoma. My idea was, it’s too much time, expense, and trouble to travel across the country for most people. Let’s build something for everyone on the West Coast!

- 2018 - Team USA equalized Medal Payments between the Olympic and Paralympics.

- 2019 – The USOC is renamed USOPC on June 20, 2019, adding the word Paralympics to the official name. For me, this was a surprisingly important moment. It gives me more energy and power to correct people that use the Olympics in describing the Paralympics. Fortunately, I feel I am correcting people less and less!

- 2020 – The US Olympic and Paralympic Museum is open!

And here we are on day 1 of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with 1,200 hours of programming on NBC!!! Let’s do this!!!!

Apologies if I missed any key event or milestone! I did my best to get things in here that I thought were relevant and interesting!

Clayton

Angel City Sports Team Ezra Paralympic Games Team USA Move United Sport National Wheelchair Basketball Association

Sources:

- https://www.paralympic.org/ipc/history

- https://www.insidethegames.biz/.../the-history-of-the...

- https://en.wikipedia.org/.../United_States_Olympic_%26...

- https://ebrary.net/7458/health/adaptive_sports_recreation

- https://www.nwba.org/history

- https://worldblindunion.org

- https://archive.triblive.com/.../springdale-high-school.../

- https://www.moveunitedsport.org/about-us/history/

---

Tokyo News Day 1 - August 25th, 2021

August 25th, 2021

Tokyo News Day 1

---

Day 1 saw the US Team get into action across multiple sports including Wheelchair Rugby, Goalball, Wheelchair Basketball, Swimming, and more. Check out the results from the first day of competition below and find out what to watch next!

---

Today's Top Results

---

Let the Games begin! 5 years since its predecessor in Rio, the Tokyo 2020 Games flame has been lit. The Opening Ceremony displayed the theme, "We Have Wings", featuring many disabled dancers and musicians. Throughout the performance, the stadium was referred to as the "Para Airport" and surrounded the concept of a one-wing plane taking flight - which symbolized the launching of the Games.

If you missed it, here is a short video recap from NBC Sports.

Goalball

• The USA Women (Rio 2016 Bronze Medallists) defeated a very good Brazil team 6-4 in their first game of the tournament.

• Eliana Mason contributed 2 goals and was the second-leading scorer.

Swimming

• Ellie Marks won the first swimming medal of the Games for Team USA by taking the silver medal in the Women's 50m Freestyle S6.

• 14-year old Yamada Miyuki won Japan's first medal of the Games, taking the silver in the Women's 100m Backstroke S2. She is the youngest Japanese Paralympic medallist in history!

Women's Wheelchair Basketball

• Team USA lost their first round of pool play to a tough Netherlands (Rio 2016 Bronze Medallists) team 68-58.

• Lindsey Zurbrugg led in scoring for Team USA with 20 points and 4 assists. Courtney Ryan played the full 40 minutes and added 14 points to the board.

Wheelchair Rugby

• Team USA gave a dominant performance in their first match in Tokyo! They beat New Zealand with a final score of 63 to 35.

• Chuck Aoki led the scoring with 14 tries.

Track Cycling

• American Shawn Morelli came away with the first medal for Team USA, winning the silver in the Women's C4 3000m Individual Pursuit Final.

Table Tennis

• The first rounds of table tennis began with all 4 Americans falling to their competition.

Wheelchair Fencing

• Americans Terry Hayes and Shelby Jensen kicked off their competitions, unfortunately losing both of their rounds of play.

To follow along with the results in real-time, here are a few resources to help:
Daily Schedule of Events
NBC Sports App
TV and Streaming Guide

---

What To Watch

Catch some of the ACS Paralympians in action Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Matt Scott: Team USA Men's Wheelchair Basketball
Chuck Aoki: Wheelchair Rugby
Calahan Young: Men's Goalball
Courtney Ryan: Team USA's Women's Wheelchair Basketball

Here is the TV Schedule for Wednesday Night/Thursday morning:

Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby, Track Cycling, Goalball

5p-12a PT NBCSN (Live Stream)

Swimming, Wheelchair Basketball, Track Cycling, Wheelchair Rugby

12a-6a PT NBCSN (Live Stream)

Individual Sports TV Schedule:

Women's Wheelchair Basketball

USA vs Spain (W) 1:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Men's Wheelchair Basketball

USA vs Germany (M) 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Wheelchair Rugby

USA vs Canada 7:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Track Cycling

Time Trial (Women's B). 6:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Individual Pursuit Qualifying 6:30 p.m. PT Live Stream

Time Trial (Men's C4-5). 10:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Individual Pursuit Finals. 11:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Swimming

Swimming Heats. 5:00 p.m. PT Live Stream

Swimming Finals 1:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Goalball

USA vs Brazil (M) 9:15 p.m. PT Live Stream

Equestrian

Dressage Individual Tests: Part 1 12:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Dressage Individual Tests: Part 2. 3:00 a.m. PT Live Stream

Today's schedule can also be seen at NBCOlympics.com

---

Top Stories

Team USA steamrolls New Zealand in Rugby, 63-35

Shawn Morelli wins United States’ first medal of Tokyo ParalympicsTerrorism took her legs … a horse saved her life

Why Lia Coryell, the Paralympic Archer, Is Still Here

Angel City Sports Podcast - Sports Saved My Life

---

Read More from the Angel City Sports Blog

Third Day on The Ground - A Dad's Diary by Clayton Frech - August 24th, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

Wow, I feel like each day keeps getting more interesting…. Day 3 I got up and packed and heading over to the Athlete Village in time to join the zoom call with the 2nd Gentleman, Doug Emhoff. Mr. Emhoff was at the US Embassy in Tokyo and is serving as The White House’s official delegation leader joining us for the Games. He spoke a bit and then did some Q&A with a few select athletes. It was a really special moment.

Then I met Ezra for a shakeout workout in the Village. There’s a small track with some grass in the middle, so that’s where we went. It’s a great spot – has a beautiful fountain and an agitos you can take photos in front of. IT’s the edge of the wharf, so the battle ships and harbor are all around you. Really cool. We started filming for one of the media projects we are doing with the IPC and Samsung.

Ezra and a few other athletes and I grabbed lunch in the dining hall. He went back to his room to do some recovery and I stayed in the dining hall on the 2nd floor near the windows. I was innocently doing some work, checking social media, posting, writing, etc. and then I started to notice groups of athletes organizing. I didn’t understand what was going on at first… then I realized, they are staging for Opening Ceremonies! I had a front row view – many of the teams had to pass by the dining hall to get to the transport! I felt so honored to be there…

At about 5:30pm I ran down to the US building to record Ezra walking in the procession. It was so fun out there! The entire team was out and about, taking photos, having fun! I covered their walk to the bus and it took a long time for the buses to leave, but I got some great shots of Ez and the team!

I raced back to the hotel to watch the Opening Ceremonies! Unfortunately, with the cable restrictions I was only able to watch the Japan TV feed, which didn’t talk much about US athletes at all. However, I still got emotional seeing Ezra up front behind the flag bearers!! My 16 year old kid is at the Paralympics!

This was such an incredible day. I really felt like it was historic. It was a day I’ll never forget. It was a day that I felt so honored to be a part of. The team, the athletes were so pumped! Even though it was a night full of waiting in lines. It was still wonderful…

I attended the Rio Opening Ceremonies and it was incredible. Epic. Powerful. But honestly, this was better. I was down on the street, walking along the team. I was able to really feel the energy of the procession and the US delegation. It really meant a lot to me… I also realize I will likely never have this opportunity again. And certainly Ez will never be 16 again!

The USA was walking at the very end of the event, so the buses left just before 8pm our time…. Ezra said it was amazing to walk into the stadium…. He somehow worked his way to the front of the pack right behind Melissa and Chuck, the flag bearers. So there are some really good photos of the delegation and he’s right there. Pretty cool. Pretty special moment.

Once he boarded the bus, I ran out of there to get a cab and go back to the hotel to watch. It turned out I had to watch on Japanese TV (English feed), and they blazed by so fast I could barely see Ezra. Once the US appeared I got some text messages from friends and family that a video about Ezra had aired during opening ceremonies! So cool and so grateful to the team at NBC for giving Ezra some coverage!

---

Second Day on The Ground - A Dad's Diary by Clayton Frech - August 23rd, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

You would think that since all we have to do is focus on sports... that there would be a lot of spare time. But in reality, you really don’t have much time. When you add up the meals, workouts, transportation, recovery, media and sponsor obligations, equipment tuning, official meetings, etc., you just run out of hours in the day. We keep finding ourselves scrambling to appointments and having to reschedule things.

One of the model rooms of the Tokyo dorms.

HPC – What an AMAZING facility

LaTi and I grabbed an early taxi to the official US Training site, the HPC (High Performance Center). It’s a way outside of town, but it’s amazing!! What a beautiful track! The facility is enormous and has baseball and probably tons of other sports. Different than the general practice track from yesterday where all teams are able to train, this was just for US athletes. It had a totally different, more fun, casual, vibe. It was really amazing… I didn’t want to leave…

We arrived just before the team bus did, so maybe around 8:15am or so. This will be our only morning workout and we shifted for an NBC interview. They filmed Ezra’s long jump session and the interaction between him and Coach Mack. And then did a solo interview with him in a really cool turfed warm-up area on the upper deck of the stadium. He seemed to be jumping pretty well but they didn’t measure his jumps and just worked on form.

We got back and went straight to see Heinrich Popow, the grandfather / innovator / legend behind above knee sprinting and long-jumping. He works for Ottobock and is a really wonderful guy, always thinking about the athletes and how he can support them to be the best athletes possible. We discussed, in the future, setting up his legs differently for each event (Long Jump, High Jump, and 100M) for the Paris 2024 run-up, so look for Ezra to have three track legs at some point next year!

The Future is Bright

We also started a longer term conversation about how can we improve the technology for high jump. There are very few above knee amputees who use a running blade. Most take the leg off and hop on one leg to the bar. Nobody is able to bring speed, they just muscle over it. This limits their upward potential.

Ezra resting on the bench after track practice.

If we can figure out how to get Ezra flying through the curve, he can jump significantly higher than he is already. The Paralympics are a convening that brings the world’s expertise around adaptive and Paralympic sports together, in one place. Information, surprisingly or not, is very fragmented in the movement.

I have to say that I know a lot executives in the prosthetic industry and information is very hard for me to find to help optimize Ezra’s journey. The bottom line is, I believe Ezra is a once in a generation athlete with his focus, dedication, tremendous ability, and clutch performance skills. And by dialing in the technology over the next few years, you will not want to miss Paris 2024, I promise…

Ezra had a gym workout in the afternoon that I joined him for. Then I relaxed in the recreation room and worked for a couple of hours, went shopping in the store in the plaza, and went back to meet Ezra for dinner.

I have to say, being able to see Ezra frequently in the village, have meals with him and his teammates, means so much to me. Most likely, I’ll never have such a wonderful opportunity again. Access to athletes and the Village is pretty minimal – coaches and staff. I am appreciating this year for the unicorn of a year that it is. In the future, I might be able to visit him in the village briefly. And watch him compete from the stands… but nothing like this. Feeling SUPER grateful.

After dinner I headed back to the hotel. When I arrived, I went out and got a little fresh air with Coach LaTi in front of our hotel, and then crashed for the night!

First Day on the Ground - A Dad's Diary by Clayton Frech - August 22nd, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

(BTW - please follow Angel City Sports on social and sign-up for our emails. We will provide update on Paralympians who have supported us over the years and also on Team USA in general. And of course follow Team Ezra - he's Most active on instagram).

After getting to my room, I was really exhausted but wanted to get things organized. In my effort to only have one checked bag, I had really packed things in… and the room is pretty small so I wanted to go to bed with some peace of mind that I knew where things were. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring… So I unpacked, got organized, and ultimately went to bed around 2am or 2:30am. I slept surprisingly well and got up at about 6:30am or so. I thought I had slept through the entire day and started to panic. I felt great, but had I that long? I was pretty disoriented at first with the time change and everything. I grabbed my phone and checked – I had only slept 4 hours!

One of the Athlete Towers

Feeling great, I started to do some work and blog writing. I spent a few hours in the morning drinking my black tea and working. Fairly early Ezra texted that he was up. So I get dressed and started to map out my day. LaTi and I needed to go to the athlete village in order to get our credentials. We also needed to figure out how/where to do the daily covid testing that we are required to do. And there is daily reporting required on our health status.

It’s a Small World After All

So I packed up my gear and grab a taxi to head down to the village. Right before getting into our taxi we say hi to a women and it turns out I went to business school with her sister, Dominique Litmaath! Her daughter is a para-equestrain rider whom Dominique has told me about. How amazing is that?

This is, honestly one of the true treasures of the Paralympic Movement right now. It’s relatively small, so everybody is connected. It’s really special… I know we need to grow it (and damn if I am not trying), but I will miss how small, almost quaint it is right now…

The area of the Athlete Village is an old wharf that appears to be converting into residential after the Games. There is water on 3 sides and industrial buildings – sort of unique and interesting to me. We find our way to the credential office and get our stuff sorted out. LaTi doesn’t have village access so she heads back to the hotel. I got a quick tour from one of the USOC staffers. The village is just the coolest place ever. I remember feeling the same way when the late Angela Madsen gave me a tour of the Rio Paralympic Village. It’s so cool to run into athletes across all the sports, all countries of the world. Because it’s still a growing movement, athletes at the elite level are very accessible. Everyone is connected and follows each other on social. It really feels like a community…

USA Quarters

I grab lunch in the dining hall. It's a two story building with more lunch options than you can imagine. Really amazing. I had lunch with another chaperone of a first time Paralympian. I then meet up with Ezra to run down to the Vendor Plaza area to meet with an IPC media coordinator on a couple of projects (more coming) as well as to try and get his blade tightened up at the Ottobock repair center. I will write more about Ottobock, but they provide free repair services to ALL athletes from ALL countries. It is the most amazing service for these athletes, especially those from developing countries that might not have the best access to products, repair service, etc. (Maybe I'll try to arrange a tour and spotlight this in a post).

We head down to the Plaza that has a store, barber shop, photoshop, and more! We run out of time for a prosthetic appointment, but we check it out and no where to go tomorrow.

Afternoon Shakeout

Ez runs back for a fitting for closing ceremonies gear and we meet to take the busy to the training center at 3:30pm. The training center seems far – it’s like a 45 minute drive. The venue is not crowded at all, but it is being used by athletes from all over the world. The US has a dedicated training site in the mornings, but for afternoon workouts they go to the general training track. Ezra does a shake out, sort of a light workout to get acclimated to the weather. LaTi meets us there after her own taxi cab drama. We head out after about 2 hours on the track.

Next stop is the gym for a fairly light workout with a lot of stretching. Near the front there are a bunch of walls that all the athletes sign. It’s not crowded at all. The Italian fencer from Rising Phoenix is working out right next to us. Again, the community is small…

We then grab dinner at a Japanese restaurant next to the gym and call it an early night. We are doing our only morning workout tomorrow at the HPC (High Performance Center).

Should be a fun day tomorrow!