'These guys deserve to be recognized': Paralympic hopefuls aiming for 2028 event: Blundo
Cornelius Oatis and Marck Harrison are still chasing their dream of being the best in the world.
In 2011, I wrote about their skill at boccia, a Paralympic sport for wheelchair athletes with varying degrees of physical impairment. And recently, I returned to the same gym — Franklin Park Adventure Center — to find them both still practicing hours a day in their ultimate quest to win gold on the world stage.
But right now, they’re aiming to add to the multiple national titles they’ve won by heading for Cedar Falls, Iowa, in August to compete in the USA Boccia National Championships.
Both have GoFundMe campaigns to raise the money that will make the trips possible. (Find Harrison’s under Quest for Gold at Nationals 2022 and Oatis’ at Boccia Nationals 2022, both at GoFundMe.com.)
Boccia has done more than bring them trophies.
“The jobs we have now come from the confidence we got from playing boccia,” said Harrison, a 42-year-old job coach at Greenleaf Job Training Services.
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Oatis, 37, works as a youth counselor at the John E. Bickley branch of the YMCA in Gahanna and is often introduced by his supervisor as “our local boccia superstar.”
The game, similar to the Italian game bocce, challenges players to see who can toss balls the closest to a white target ball called the jack. Originally conceived as a sport for people born with cerebral palsy, it was later expanded to include those with other disabilities as well.
It’s been played in the United States since the early 1980s and has been a Paralympic sport since 1984.
Oatis was No. 1 in USA Boccia rankings in 2021 in his classification, and Harrison No. 2 in his.
Boccia competitors are grouped by level of motor impairment.
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They began playing in 2008 after Luke Edelbrock, a city of Columbus recreation leader, asked them if they’d like to try “something different.”
They improved quickly, to the point that Edelbrock advised them to get passports because he foresaw them competing on the international level. Which they have, several times.
Their ultimate goal is the Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028. It’s why they practice so much.
“Not every day,” Oatis said, “but as close as we can get.”
Their hours-long practices in a quiet gym are quite a contrast to the raucous atmosphere at international competitions, Harrison said.
Edelbrock said he’d love to see Oatis and Harrison fulfill their dreams of Paralympic glory and get some of the acclaim Columbus gives to its other sports greats.
“These guys deserve to be recognized.”
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.
joe.blundo@gmail.com
@joeblundo
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Two Columbus men hoping to compete in USA Boccia Nationals
