East Tennessean

Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: The Scene

Media Credit: Mary Williams Eric Hollen is a disabled veteran who is now on the U.S. Paralympics Pistol Team and is ranked No. 1 in the nation. [Click to enlarge]

ETSU student Eric Hollen is a disabled veteran who has regained hope and discovered a new purpose in life through sports. He wants to give disabled students and veterans the opportunity to have the same success by starting a Disability Sports Club at ETSU.
Hollen's passion for the program is driven by his own experience of having a spinal chord injury. His injury happened in March 2001 at his horse farm when his 4,000-pound tractor flipped over and landed on him.
"When I got hurt, I had to go through that anger, denial, acceptance portion. So in the process of going through the initial injury and the rehabilitation process which lasted about 18 months for me, I worked really hard," said Hollen. "I had never had a physical limitation before in my life."
Hollen is a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces. Before his injury, Hollen was very physically active. However, he did not allow his injury to hold him back and got into pistol shooting.
"I knew I couldn't compete with like a Michael Phelps or any of the able-bodied track athletes or downhill alpine ski racers," said Hollen. "But I did know that I could line up on a line in a relay and shoot a score that is as good as any able-bodied athlete in the nation."
Hollen's inspiration for the program came on Thanksgiving Day in 2003 at the Walter Reed Army Hospital.
"I went in there and saw all the traumatic amputations and I saw the devastated looks on the faces of not just the injured but on their families' as well," said Hollen. "That's when I realized I needed to be a counselor because I have something to offer to that population."
From that point, Hollen viewed his injury as a new opportunity. He said that from that opportunity he has exceeded any of the accomplishments he had achieved before his injury.
Hollen teamed up with Liz Schoen, executive aide for Center of Excellence/assistant athletic trainer for track and field, and Meg Stone, director of the Center of Excellence at ETSU, to get the program started. After they formulated the proposal for the Disability Sports Club program, Hollen met with President Paul Stanton. After hearing the proposal of the program, Stanton set up a meeting with Congressman Phil Roe. They presented the proposal to Roe at his office in Northeast State Community College on April 9.

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