DATE: Saturday, June 7, 1997                TAG: 9706070457

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Tom Robinson 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   74 lines

A VICTORY FOR THE HUMAN SPIRIT

Jody Shiflett easily lifts himself out of the swimming pool, his thick arms and back pushing against the deck, doing all the work. In an instant you see why; his legs dangle from his hips like ribbons, virtually useless.

They support him enough, though, that he rises and maneuvers into his wheelchair that sits poolside. When it's time to fold the chair into the back of his custom van equipped with hand controls, Shiflett stands to do it.

Then, when he arrives at the comfortable home he shares with his wife and two young children on a quiet cul-de-sac, his braced legs carry him haltingly up a ramp from his garage to the kitchen, where another wheelchair awaits.

Meet one of the more special athletes of the approximately 600 who will compete in Sunday's Breezy Point Triathlon on the Norfolk Naval Base. Each man and woman intends to swim one kilometer in Willoughby Bay within the prescribed 45 minutes, then bike 20 kilometers in at least 1:15, and finally run 5K in an hour.

Shiflett, 31, Breezy Point's first wheelchair athlete, will start at the back of the pack, which is fine with him.

``That means I'll be passing somebody,'' he says.

This is not who Shiflett intended to be, nor the statement he ever dreamed of making, until a parachuting accident in October 1993 changed everything.

Shiflett was an enthusiastic, intramural-type athlete in his no-stoplight hometown of Stanardsville, Va. outside Charlottesville, and then at Longwood College.

Intent on a career in the Army after school, Shiflett, who served eight months in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, was an aerial delivery officer when he participated in a drill at Fort Pickett, near Blackstone, Va.

That October morning, Capt. Shiflett jumped from 1,200 feet but drifted into trees about 50 feet from the ground. He was held up only momentarily, however, before his plunge continued, this time with his chute limp behind him.

``I was basically pile-driven into the ground,'' says Shiflett, whose legs and buttocks absorbed the impact that damaged his spinal cord, leaving him with no feeling and bare movement from thigh to toe.

Within six months, Shiflett began coping by pouring himself into sports. He joined the Sunwheelers, the local wheelchair basketball team that plays around the country. He skis, plays tennis and swims in national tournaments. He has run some local wheelchair-division road races, but is less interested in track and field than other pursuits.

``I don't expect to be a triathlete; I think I'm an athlete,'' says Shiflett, who sheepishly admits to being an ultracompetitive sore loser. ``I kind of view that as a fault that I have.''

Breezy Point, he says, is his way of announcing to an area where handicapped sports aren't plentiful that what he can do, others can, too. ``But we can't do it without volunteerism and monetary support.''

Triathlon director Betty Belknap, originally taken aback by Shiflett's entry request, threw Shiflett her support after exploring how other triathlons accommodate disabled athletes and finding few logistical hurdles.

Mainly, she was concerned about Shiflett's swimming ability, but she took Shiflett's word that he was a strong in the water. Actually, Shiflett is more concerned about fatigue during his biking - using a hand-pedaled wheelchair. He'll switch to a racing wheelchair for the 5K run.

``I certainly had heard enough people say that he's fit,'' Belknap says. ``I didn't see any reason that he wouldn't be able to do it. ... Everybody oohs and ahhs and says the triathlon is such a hard thing to do. Then you consider what he's going to do, it says a lot for the human spirit. It's going to be a real eye-opening experience.''

That is music to Shiflett's ears.

Pursuing sports ``was about seeing what I couldn't do,'' Shiflett says. ``And what I found is that's not much at all.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOT/The Virginian-Pilot

Jody Shiflett of Virginia Beach on Sunday will become the first

wheelchair athlete to participate in the Breezy Point Triathlon. KEYWORDS: PROFILE

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu