Thursday, November 16, 2017

[167] MTSU students tee off for Murfreesboro veteran in Nov. 11 golf scramble


MURFREESBORO — Students in an MTSU program planning class are working hard to bring a disabled veteran’s quality of life up to par, and golf aficionados are invited to help.

The Bounce Back Golf Scramble is scheduled for Veterans Day, Saturday, Nov. 11, at Champions Run Golf Course, 14262 Mt. Pleasant Road in Rockvale. A scramble is a competition in which each player in a team of two or more hits a tee shot with the next shot coming from the best lie of the group’s shots.

To register for the scramble, go to www.active.com and search for “Bounce Back Scramble.” Teams are limited to four people each up to a cap of 20 teams.

Proceeds will go to benefit Homes for Our Troops, a privately funded nonprofit organization that “builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 veterans,” according to www.hfotusa.org.

Students chose retired U.S. Army Sgt. Bryan Camacho of Murfreesboro as the veteran to benefit from a new, more accessible home.

On Dec. 21, 2007, Camacho was serving as an infantryman in Iraq when his vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device, throwing him from the vehicle. His back was broken, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Camacho sustained further injuries on Nov. 15, 2014, when his specially adapted truck spun out of control on an icy road and rolled into a ditch. His neck was broken, paralyzing him from the neck down.

“(Homes for Our Troops is) an amazing organization in that they build all over the country, but they’ll let you pick … what veteran you want your money to go to,” said Joey Gray, director of the Leisure, Sports and Tourism Studies program and associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance.

Gray said her students are required to plan the golf scramble from start to finish, including arranging for fundraising, marketing, publicity, food, beverages, signage and sponsorships. In addition, this event includes a post-scramble dinner, videos of people who helped and door prizes.

“Usually, you have about a year to plan events,” said Gray. “We have three months.”

Marcus Evans, a junior from Memphis, Tennessee, hopes to put what he learns in the class to use in a job with a professional sports franchise after graduation.

“It’s kind of difficult, but I think I’m managing well,” said Evans. “I’m doing as much as I can because now I just started working” at an off-campus job.

Grading is based on performance on weekly assignments and progress reports, as well as professionalism.


For more information, contact Gray at 615-904-8359 or joey.gray@mtsu.edu.

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