HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. — For the wounded-warrior athletes of the Warrior Games, their biggest fan stands on the sideline, ready at a moment’s notice to provide them with medical care when needed and always cheering them on.
With more than 50 athletes with pre-existing conditions giving their all during the Warrior Games training camp, it is imperative to have a medical staff on standby. For the wounded-warrior athletes training at Hurlburt, they have Maj. (Dr.) Sean Martin, the chief of sports medicine with Air Force Special Operations Command Office of the Surgeon General.
“I am the team physician for the warrior team,” said Martin. “Basically, we treat these athletes like VIPs, like a million bucks. We make them feel really special during their time with us and maximize the amount of resources we can provide to make sure as much of their time as possible is spent in the competition and not on the sideline.”
Martin graduated from family medicine residency in 2010 and went on to a one year sports-medicine fellowship in District of Columbia. While there, he covered different levels of competition and training, to include professional sports.
“In 2011, I came back to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and joined the residency faculty,” said Martin. “That was officially the start of my sports-medicine practice.”
Martin is one of less than 20 sports-medicine doctors in the Air Force.
The Wounded Warrior Games, an annual event established in 2010, offers a competition for wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans. Teams participate in seven sports to include archery, cycling, shooting, sitting-volleyball, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair basketball.