Nothing is impossible at Adaptive Training Foundation

By Nicholas Sakelaris | March 29, 2022

ATF utilizes much of the same equipment that can be found in a regular gym, such as boxes, ladders, indo boards and assault bikes. Photos by KEN OLTMANN
ATF utilizes much of the same equipment that can be found in a regular gym, such as boxes, ladders, indo boards and assault bikes. Photos by KEN OLTMANN

IT’S EASY TO MAKE EXCUSES for not going to the gym. When you’re an amputee, have suffered a brain injury or dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder, it’s even more challenging.

The words of doctors telling them they can’t or never will still echo in their head.

But that voice has no place at the Adaptive Training Foundation (ATF), a gym that specifically caters to people with disabilities. Every day, people from around the country are finding a completely new way of thinking at the ATF in Carrollton.

“We don’t promise anything. But we do say maybe,” said Tayla Moore, chief of operations for ATF. “And it’s
crazy how that little shift makes a difference in their life.”

The gym puts veterans and civilians with disabilities through a grueling 9-week course that pushes them to the limits of what’s possible.

Whether it’s rising out of a wheelchair to walk across the stage at graduation, holding a newborn for the first time or walking your daughter down the aisle at her wedding, the personal trainers at the Adaptive Training Foundation do everything in their power to help their athlete reach their goal.

Tom Wagstaff works with trainer Randall Williams on various exercises.
Tom Wagstaff works with trainer Randall Williams on various exercises.
Jamie Blanek does a shoulder exercise while trainer Jamie Savage helps her maintain balance.
Jamie Blanek does a shoulder exercise while trainer Jamie Savage helps her maintain balance.
Each athlete is paired with a personal trainer who guides them through the 9-week course. Here, Luke Milton talks with his athlete, Matt Lastowski.
Each athlete is paired with a personal trainer who guides them through the 9-week course. Here, Luke Milton talks with his athlete, Matt Lastowski.

“There are really incredible miracles going on here,” said Derrick Ross, a retired U.S. Army combat engineer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It’s not just veterans. It’s first responders. It’s civilians, too. We’re all important and we all matter. People from overseas are watching what’s happening at Adaptive Training Foundation.”

Derrick, a veteran and below-the-knee amputee, went through the program and is now a volunteer trainer passing on what he learned to other athletes.

None of the athletes pay a dime to attend ATF, whether they are based locally or come in from out of town. The gym runs entirely on donations from individuals and corporations.

The CoServ Charitable Foundation awarded a $30,000 grant to the organization last year that will help sponsor athletes. The grant came from CCF’s Unrestricted Fund, which is funded by CoServ Employee payroll deductions and events like the CCF Golf Tournament.

Derrick is scared to think where he’d be without the gym. “What you guys contribute has an incredible impact throughout this whole area,” Derrick said. “I would probably still be isolating at home. I’ve almost committed suicide so many times. This whole building inspired me so much that I moved here. It literally changed my life. I’m a different human being and it’s because of this place.” On August 23, 2011, his armored vehicle was on patrol in Afghanistan when it hit an improvised explosive device (IED) that injured his whole body, especially his left leg. After fighting off multiple infections, doctors had to amputate the lower part of that leg.

Phillip Quintana is a retired Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps who was serving in Afghanistan in 2005 when his vehicle hit an IED. The explosion tossed him 15 to 20 feet away from the vehicle, compressing his spine and fracturing his leg.

He had 31 surgeries over the next decade before he eventually had to amputate his leg below the knee. But fluid buildup and bone chips continued to cause him pain to the point that he had to be amputated again, this time above the knee.

It was then that he met retired NFL player and Adaptive Training Foundation founder David Vobora, who challenged him to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with him.

Over the next few months, Phillip trained at the gym to prepare himself to climb the mountain. He had an ambitious goal and accomplished it despite battling thoughts of suicide and depression.

“We fall. Even able-bodied people fall,” Phillip said. “It’s how you compose yourself to get back up. Breath through it. You’re stronger than what you think you are.”

Phillip is now a head trainer at the facility but he’s just one of many success stories.

For example, Desmond Blair, who despite not having hands, lifts weights and does a rope swinging exercise with a ferocity most people with hands couldn’t match. He also has a painting that hangs in the gym.

“All you need to do is spend one day in here,” Derrick said. “It will make you think, ‘What am I doing, why can’t I cut out 30 minutes to exercise?’”

ADAPTIVE TRAINING FOUNDATION

4125 Old Denton Rd.
Carrollton (469) 830-5676
adaptivetrainingfoundation.org