By Matt Stafford
Josh McKinney is the star forward on the U.S. National Paralympic Soccer Team.
McKinney, who lives in Cary, NC, has been a member of the team for 18 years. In that time, he has earned more than 100 caps, scored 81 goals in international games, and has been team captain since 2005.
He has most recently led the U.S. Paralympic team in the Cerebral Palsy
International Sports and Recreation Association Intercontinental Cup in Spain. The team finished in eighth place in the tournament out of 16 teams. The USA had wins over Australia and Portugal.
Head Coach Jay Hoffman considers him an impressive and committed player. He believes McKinney has done more for the team than the stats show.
“His leadership, commitment and dedication to the program and representing our country is a lot deeper,” Coach Hoffman said. “In my 10 years as head coach he has never missed an event or training camp.”
McKinney has a passion for soccer. Now he wants to spread that passion to kids with disabilities. He w[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]as aware that the Paralympic soccer team did not have a counterpart for young people. Because of this, he wanted to start a soccer organization of his own. Soccer has been part of his life since he was young, and he wants kids with disabilities to experience all that soccer has given him.
McKinney has been playing soccer since he was four. He grew up on Hilton Head Island, SC. He has cerebral palsy. It impacts the right side of his body and it affects his day to day life in various ways. He walks with a limp and it often makes it difficult for him to push off his right leg.
His right hand is often balled into a fist, but with some effort, he can use it to open things. However, he tends to do most things with his left hand since it is just easier.
His mother, a high school soccer player herself, introduced him to soccer as a way to help him get better.
“My parents thought it was a good idea for me to play soccer,” he said. “We noticed that all the running was good for my cerebral palsy. It was like therapy. Since I started, I have gotten much stronger, though you can still see a difference on my right side.”
Soon, he was playing soccer with his two brothers, who were also soccer players, in their backyard as often as possible.
He played on a local club soccer team at an early age. In high school, at Hilton Head Prep, he joined the school soccer team and that opened the opportunity to play at Concord College.
He discovered the Paralympic soccer team through an article in “Eurosport.” After reading the article, he sent in a video to the soccer team and they accepted him.
He played in his first Paralympic Games in Atlanta in the Summer of 1995. After that, he became a regular fixture on the Paralympic soccer team, eventually being named team captain.
When he decided to start a soccer program for people with disabilities, he turned to the Capital Area Soccer League for help. CASL was founded in 1974.
They have many soccer programs for players of different levels, but up until McKinney spoke with them, they had never done much for players with disabilities.
McKinney, being a coach himself, approached CASL’s Director of Coaching, Rusty Scarborough. When the idea was proposed Scarborough was ecstatic.
“When he approached us, we were excited to help him,” Scarborough said, “We never had a program for people with disabilities before so we think it is a good thing. We’re very honored to work with this tremendous young man.”
CASL has been helping McKinney get field space, jerseys, as well anything else he needs. According to McKinney, the program is open to players of all ages.
He is also reaching out to another NC organization, Bridge II Sports, an organization that runs adaptive sports programs throughout the state. They are also helping McKinney get the soccer program off the ground.
The plan is to get things going by the fall. They are reaching out to hospitals, schools and physical therapy programs to recruit kids who are interested.
“We want to give kids with disabilities a chance to play and show them that there are opportunities to play sports out there,” McKinney said.
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