PH OTOS BY DAN IEL LIPPITT

OP S

Above:
Dr. Jeff Pierce encourages the
Thunderbirds.

Right:
Kevin Wolf shoots from behind Jerry
Sarasin's screen.

A young physician is spearheading a sports
organization for persons with disabilities, and
coaching a nationally ranked team.

PAUL HARRIS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

D E TROI T J EW I S H NE WS

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f you ask Jeff Pierce why he's so in-
volved in helping people who have
become physically challenged
through accidents, his response is
simple and to the point:
"It's personal. It's a passion," said Dr.
Pierce, an area rehabilitation physician.
"It's hard for me to understand why oth-
er people won't help out."
Dr. Pierce's latest project involving the
people he works with is Athletes Unlim-
ited, which is based out of the Maple-
Drake Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield. Dr. Pierce, 34 and a native
of Farmington Hills, envisions Athletes
Unlimited as an organization that helps
those disabled through accidents to stay
or become active in sports.
"The goal is to be the umbrella organi-
zation of all the local [para-sports] orga-
nizations," said Dr. Pierce. "If you have
someone who was a waterskier before an
injury, we want to be the organization that
he calls and says, 'I want to water ski
again."

Right now, the most visible part of Ath-
letes Unlimited is the Ann Arbor Thun-
derbirds wheelchair basketball team,
which practices at the Maple-Drake JCC
on Tuesday nights. The top-ranked Divi-
sion II wheelchair basketball team in the
country, the Thunderbirds participated in
a tournament at the JCC last weekend
and will compete in the 64-team Nation-
al Wheelchair Basketball Association
Tournament beginning this weekend in
Columbus, Ohio.
Going into last weekend's tournament,
the Thunderbirds were 20-6.
Dr. Pierce coaches the Thunderbirds,
who have called the JCC home since last
fall. That's also when Athletes Unlimited
was established there.
There are plans for six other sports to
be a part of Athletes Unlimited at the JCC.
They are swimming, martial arts, track
and field, weightlifting, softball and ten-
nis.
The JCC got involved in Athletes Un-
limited through Dr. Pierce, who did a
walk-through of the Center to determine

what changes could be made to make it
more accessible to physically challenged
people. Dr. Pierce then pitched his idea
and the JCC accepted it.
"There wasn't much of a program here,"
said JCC special needs director Amy Sei-
dman-Acciaioli. "I was doing some inves-
tigative work and I happened upon Jeff
and his program."
Outside of the program being based at
the JCC, there is no specific emphasis on
attracting physically-challenged Jews. Ac-
cording to Dr. Pierce, about 10 percent of
the people serviced by Athletes Unlimit-
ed are Jewish.
"Surprisingly enough, it wasn't that
hard to sell the program and sell the pack-
age," said Dr. Pierce, who lives in Bloom-
field Hills. "The Jewish Community
Center was the first place we went after
and they realized the needs and benefits."
Dr. Pierce got the idea for the program
from the Wirtz Organization, which op-
erates out of Northwestern University in
the Chicago suburb of Evanston. Dr. Pierce
did his residency in Chicago and volun-

teered for the organization for two years.
He now works for Michigan Sports and
Spine in Southfield.
"I just went out and volunteered and was
sold on the program," said Dr. Pierce.
"I felt that there was a big need for it lo-
cally. People who have become impaired
through accidents and feel that their lives
were over get to play sports. It's for the guy
sitting in front of the TV in depression, who
thought that his life was over, to feel like a
full person."
Kevin Wolf, 37, a member of the Thun-
derbirds, said, "It's important to self-esteem.
It's important for physical health and for
emotional health." Wolf is wheelchair-
bound because of an automobile accident
when he was 17.
"Another thing," said Dr. Pierce, "is sports
elevates you out of the 'Oh poor me' syn-
drome. It gets you hooked up with team
and peer supports and you meet other peo-
ple with disabilities and you can ask them
questions [about things you're having prob-
lems with].
"And even though they're in wheelchairs,

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