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GOLD
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Hershey, PA
Milton Hershey School
Classification: 2.0
Mason Symons grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and was a standout high school wrestler at Milton Hershey School. After high school, Symons enlisted in the United States Army. Nearly two years after high school graduation, he suffered a spine injury in a motorcycle accident resulting in paraplegia at the age of 20.
Symons was introduced to adaptive sports by the Paralyzed Veterans of America and National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Richmond, Virginia, in which he participated in multiple sports and events including wheelchair rugby, weightlifting, slalom, table tennis and air gun competitions. Symons first tried out for the U.S. wheelchair rugby team in 2014 but did not make the team until his seventh try in 2022.
Symons would make his Paralympic debut at Paralympic Games Paris 2024, winning a silver medal in wheelchair rugby.
Symons is active with Oscar Mike, a nonprofit organization that helps injured veterans improve mobility, mental health, and well-being by staying "on-the move," usually through adaptive sports. Symons has been open about his own mental health struggles and addiction to pain medications after his motorcycle accident and how he needed the help of his family and friends , and the organization, Oscar Mike, to make a commitment to change his lifestyle and find adaptive sports.
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Bryan Kirkland had always been an athlete. Growing up in Alabama, he was the kind of competitor who couldn’t stay away from a field or a court. Football, basketball, track — if there was a game, he played it. And if it were a contact sport, he thrived ...
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The 18-year-old helped the U.S. win gold at the 2023 Parapan American Games, which secured the team’s spot in Paris.
