Team Navy/Coast Guard Completes Roster with Surprise Selection

By Zona Lewis, Navy Safe Harbor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (NNS) -- Team Navy/Coast Guard finalized its Warrior Games athlete roster May 12 by announcing the selection of its 35th and final member.

The announcement was made by members of the 2011 Navy/Coast Guard team during a surprise visit to Fountain Middle School.

Filing into her last school class of the day, members of Team Navy/Coast Guard surprised eigth-grader Cali Overcast and her classmates, with a bouquet of flowers, loading her up with Navy-pride gear, and naming her an honorary member of Team Navy/Coast Guard.

Overcast is not a wounded warrior; she is not even in the Navy. Colorado residents might not be familiar with her name, but she has made a huge impression on every wounded warrior athlete arriving in Colorado Springs to compete in next week's Warrior Games. A quilt she made hangs prominently in the lobby of the Colorado Springs Airport welcoming athletes to the Games.

"I came up with the idea in early April," said Cali. "I wanted to do something to show my support and appreciation to the wounded warriors because [through their service] they have given up arms and legs."

To sew the quilt, she enlisted the help of her mother and a neighbor, and in three days, they completed the base of the 10'x10' quilt. To bring the quilt to life, she worked with the sixth and seventh graders from the school's Chain Link Club to add decorations, text, and small posters.

However, the final touches came in the form of more than 1,700 signatures and messages from local students, Boy and Girl Scout troops, veterans, service members, and area fire and police department personnel.

In less than 30 days from the birth of the idea, the completed quilt was hung in the airport May 2 to ensure that all athletes arriving for service-specific pre-Warrior Games training camps felt welcomed.

"When I arrived in Colorado Springs and saw the quilt I knew I had to meet her," said Navy Petty Officer Steve Lipscomb. "I was exhausted from a long flight and seeing the quilt welcoming wounded warriors to Colorado Springs for the Warrior Games renewed my spirit and inspired me."

Lipscomb was diagnosed with stage-4 gastric cancer in August 2010 and has worked hard preparing for the competition, balancing family, work, physical training, and chemotherapy.

Cali is not a stranger to the label "disabled." Born with a congenital birth defect, her left hip and leg do not grow at the same rate as the rest of her body. After 14 surgeries and at the age of 9, her lower left leg was amputated.

Team Navy and Coast Guard recognizes that what makes Cali special is not her disability, but her abilities. She is a member of her school's varsity volleyball team, rides horses, kayaks, rafts, and goes rock climbing. Since age 11, she has been mentoring wounded warriors faced with a disability by sharing her story and encouraging them not to give up on life or themselves.

"After 9/11 I felt horrible that soldiers had to go to war to protect us and keep us safe," she said. "I wanted to do something."

The athletes, who usually are the ones to inspire people, found themselves in awe of a middle school student. They asked for her autograph, had her sign their uniform jackets, and had photos taken with her.

"I have not met many people that have inspired me as much as this young lady," said retired Navy Chief Gerald "Wayne" Williams. "She is a true inspiration; an angel in human form. I wish my kids could meet her."

Williams was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2008 and has suffered from depression. He credits his participation in the inaugural Warrior Games as one of the things that saved his life.

"She gives me hope for our future," said retired Navy Petty Officer Michael Johnston, who lost his left leg from the knee down in a motorcycle accident. "She has adapted so well to her circumstances at a very young age. She has a positive and joyful outlook on life – it is refreshing."

Since they share a disability, Johnston challenged Cali to a sprint across the length of the gymnasium and was relieved that he won such a close race. Johnston competed in the Paratriathlon World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2010 and has his eye on a spot on the 2012 Paralympics team.

Immediately upon seeing Overcast's quilt, Team Navy/Coast Guard co-captain and the adaptive athletics program manager for Navy Safe Harbor, the Navy and Coast Guard's wounded warrior support program, set in motion the plan to visit to Cali's school.

"Once I saw who did the quilt and made the effort – for a young lady to have such a social conscience and to make such an effort on behalf of service men and women she has never met – I knew we had to say thank-you in person," said retired Master Chief James "Will" Wilson.

Wilson believes Cali's support of service members, especially wounded warriors, is heartfelt and sincere.

"I don't think anybody does something like that just to make a statement or for the publicity. I took time to read the messages on the quilt and had tears running down my face – that is America taking care of us. Her quilt is a blanket sewn with the threads of love."

The day she was named as an honorary team member, Cali also celebrated her 14th birthday. She said the visit from Team Navy/Coast Guard was the best birthday present she could have received, and it will be a birthday she will not soon forget.