Wounded Warriors try out to represent Navy

By Brock Vergakis

Published June 7, 2014 4:38pm ET

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Wounded Warriors try out to represent Navy — This Sunday June 1, 2014 US Navy photo shows sailors, Coast Guardsmen and coaches in the 2014 Wounded Warrior Team Navy Trials hone their court-skills during a practice session in the Q-80 Sports Complex on board Naval Station Norfolk. Wounded Warrior athletes began arriving in Norfolk on Friday and have until Tuesday evening to work on their individual events before the games begin on June 4. The Navy Trials are a precursor to the Warrior Games, an annual event athletic competition hosted by the U.S. Olympic Committee that brings together more than 200 wounded warriors from all branches of military service. Forty Sailors will compete on Team Navy in Colorado Springs later this year. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Capt. Jane Campbell) | Capt Jane Campbell

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — David Vernaza suffered traumatic brain injury after his convoy was attacked in Iraq in 2004, leaving the former Navy Seabee with a series of crippling physical injuries and others that caused a fun-loving man to live in a dark world within his mind.

But after receiving years of treatment at a veterans hospital in Miami, Vernaza started to participate in sports as part of his therapy that he says helped change his life along with the dedicated support of his family.

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