The Marine Corps has kicked off its competitive selection process to find 50 athletes to represent the service at the fourth annual Warrior Games — a Paralympics-style competition for wounded, ill and injured members of America’s armed services.

[caption id=“” align=“alignleft” width=“348”]Image Wheelchair racing is a popular event at the Marine Corps Trials. USMC Photo[/caption]

The Marine Corps Trials – hosted by the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment and supported by USO San Diego – includes individual and team competitions in sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, swimming, cycling, shooting, archery, and track and field. The competition officially opened Thursday.

Four teams – Battalion East, Battalion West, Marine Corps Veteran and International – will go head-to-head for the team gold medal. The international team includes wounded, ill and injured military athletes from eight allied nations, including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Colombia and the Netherlands.

Every year, the competition intensifies as more athletes vie for a spot in the Warrior Games, a unique event that hosts teams comprised from the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Special Operations Command in a different kind of battle. Although competition is fierce and emotions run high, the trials and the subsequent Warrior Games are designed to promote physical activity, camaraderie and fellowship – all critical parts of the healing process.

“The athletes will learn skills that will enable them to be highly successful not only at the trials and games but in their future endeavors,” said Jennifer Sullivan, who manages the regiment’s Warrior Athlete Reconditioning Program.

The 50 Marines who are selected to represent the Marine Corps will compete against the Army, Navy/Coast Guard and Special Operations teams at the 2013 Warrior Games, scheduled for May 11-17 at the U.S. Olympic Complex and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The weekend’s events are open to the public and free to attend.

“Americans do it right,” Germany coach Michael Weiger said at the 2012 Marine Corps Trials. “Troops are finding support by their families, by the communities and volunteers who are doing this mostly on their own expense. That is a real good morale booster. There are other countries [that] sure can learn from it.”

—Story by Joseph A. Lee, USO staff writer

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