Injury ‘Closed One Door' But Leads to Paralympic Success for Glasbrenner

Jeff Glasbrenner refers to it as the bad day.

On July 30, 1980, the then 8-year-old Glasbrenner was involved in a farming accident that left him as a below the-knee amputee. "The doctors told me I could never play sports because I would hurt myself or I would hurt the other kids," he said.

Throughout his childhood, the self-described "very competitive" Glasbrenner sat on the sidelines as his sister excelled in athletics. "It was kind of hard for me since my sister was the best athlete in the whole school while I was sitting on the sidelines.

But then I got my chance to come in," he said.

In 1997, after playing wheelchair basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he made the U.S. national wheelchair basketball team for the first time.

And the chances keep coming for Glasbrenner, who is making his third consecutive Paralympic Games appearance in Beijing, China.

"I really did not know much about the Paralympic Games when I made my first team in 2000," said Glasbrenner, who has since secured his spot among wheelchair basketball elite with a record 63 points and 23 rebounds in a 2004 national championship game. "Now I'm the oldest guy on the court so my roles have changed a little bit from my first Paralympics," he said. "I try to use my experience to help the younger team members. I am almost like a dad to the team now because I'm in that leadership role."

And Glasbrenner knows all about fatherhood. In addition to training full time for basketball as well as triathlons, his newest athletic endeavor, Glasbrenner is a stay-at-home dad to his two young children, daughter Grace, 2, and 10-month-old son Gavin. Grace was born seven weeks premature. "I wasn't on the team for the 2006 World Championships because of the trouble with her health-wise. I know I made the right choice to stay home with Grace - you have to have your priorities," said Glasbrenner, who also attends speech therapy with his daughter.

It is not easy for Glasbrenner to balance family matters with gold medal dreams. "I really learned how to be organized when I became a dad. Before the kids, I wasn't the most organized with everything, but I have to be now," he said.

Glasbrenner's wife operates her own bank data business while he stays at home with the kids. "The grandmas are close by so I call them for help sometimes, but it's mostly me running the show here," said Glasbrenner, who is a sponsored athlete receiving support from businesses and organizations like The Hartford.

"I sometimes wake up at 3:45 a.m. to squeeze some workouts in before the kids get up," Glasbrenner said. "I do whatever it takes to make everything work. I'll train early in the morning. Sometimes, I'll even train late at night if I need to."

He trains three times each day in hopes of performing at his best in Beijing. "My goal is to win the gold medal," he said. "I will do whatever it takes to help the team be on the top of that podium in Beijing. If I need to score all the points or if I need to sit at the end of the bench, I'll do it because I've never won a Paralympic gold."

But no matter what happens for the U.S. wheelchair basketball team next month, there is no slowing down for Glasbrenner, a member of the national triathlon team. He is following up the Paralympic Games by competing at the 2008 Ironman World Triathlon Championship in October.

"I like basketball and the triathlons for different reasons. I do like the team aspect of basketball," Glasbrenner said. "But in the ironman, the success or failure is all on you. I really like the aspect of being the only one responsible for the outcome."

Glasbrenner finished third at the 2007 Ironman World Triathlon Championship, and now he has a chance to win both a Paralympic gold medal and the Ironman World Triathlon Championship.

"I never imagined all this could be possible," Glasbrenner said. "I'm really glad that bad day happened because it closed one door in my face but opened so many others. I would have never had the chance to meet my wife, have my kids, be in the Paralympics. It was bad at the time but it's turned out to be pretty cool."