With the Summer Olympics all wrapped up, athletes from across the nation are already training for the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Tracy Hines, of Bayfield and Mt. Holly, North Carolina, is no different, as she’s been training and competing at the international and national level the past two years in whitewater canoe slalom with hopes of making a roster spot on the U.S. national team.
Hines, who regularly trains in Durango, recently competed at the International Canoe Federation Slalom World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic. She competed in the women’s C1 class for the U.S. National Whitewater Center.
With Hines training hard in the water, her impact on sports goes well beyond her canoe and paddle.
Hines is a disabled veteran, retired from the U.S. Army and rated disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs with a traumatic brain injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and lower extremity injuries. Because whitewater canoe slalom isn’t a Paralympic event in her category for her disability (PTSD/TBI), Hines competes with non-disabled athletes.
Costs associated with competition, equipment, training and traveling have been her biggest opponent. However, she recently saw a break when Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet passed an amendment to the Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010 that expands the VA program to provide disabled veterans with a monthly assistance allowance to help with those costs.
Bennet couldn’t have passed the amendment without Hines’ help, whose constant lobbying for a change played an instrumental part in the amendment.
“Tracy has risen above extraordinary barriers to compete at the highest level,” Bennet said in a news release. “This commonsense change will support her and other disabled veteran athletes pursue their Olympic dreams.”
Prior to the change to the amendment, only disabled athletes who were competing in an event for the Paralympics qualified. Now, Hines and many athletes in similar situations will fall under the amendment’s umbrella while competing for an Olympic discipline.
Athletes who qualify for the new amendment must have established training and legitimate competition plans. They also must turn in a monthly and quarterly report.
“Part of the VA promotes people who are injured to do sports. They’ve been really supportive, especially the Durango VA,” said Hines. “For me, it was a blessing to have that extra funding. It was also a blessing to be able to help out with our legislation. The words disabled and veterans have become synonymous with each other, and there are certain types of disabilities that stigmatize people because of misunderstandings. People with disabilities have become marginalized citizens. I wanted to make that statement publicly and work with legislation.”
Hines grew up in Alabama and was introduced to canoing when she was 16. She loved the sport so much that when she turned 18 she actually ran away from home to become a raft guide.
She found her way to Western State Colorado University where she graduated Cum Laude. Hines briefly lived in Durango where she began taking kayaking and canoing more seriously. Hines then enlisted in the U.S. Army as a military parachutist for three years before suffering an injury during a jump. The injury she sustained forced her to medically retire.
From that point on, Hines didn’t let her assertiveness die. She’s trained and competed in the 2014 U.S. National Team Trials, 2014 World Cup Championships, 2015 U.S. National Team Trials and the 2015 World Championships. She’s also written two books, “A Blessing and a Curse All in the Same Breath,” and “Mr. Guinn and the Cactus,” while working on her third book as well.
Whether Hines makes the Olympic team in her discipline or not, she’s already left a huge imprint on the athletic world and beyond.
“The intent was not just to help people through sports, but have sports be a mechanism to help the individual become more occupationally helpful,” said Hines. “That was an important piece for me as an athlete in training, but also other veteran athletes who are training. This has become a transition piece for veterans who are coming back and getting out of the armed services to compete in sports.”
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
