Kennesaw teen gets look at Paralympics in Beijing

Maggie Frederick heads to Beijing next week to take in the last week of the Paralympic Games. She has dreamed of competing in the games since discovering wheelchair athletics as a 10-year-old.

Frederick, 18, said the close-up look at the competition will make or break her goal of competing in the Paralympics in London in four years.

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Marybeth Jones / BlazeSports America

Maggie Frederick, 18, of Kennesaw competed at the 2008 National Junior Disability Championships in July at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Frederick, who was born with a severe form of spina bifida, is one of 25 student-athletes with a physical disabilty selected to attend the 2008 International Paralympic Academy in Beijing.

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The U.S. Paralympics chose the Kennesaw resident for the 2008 International Paralympic Academy in China, a program that gives 25 disabled athletes a chance to attend the games and ceremonies. The event ends Sept. 17.

“This experience will help me focus on whether I want to do this — to train at this level,” she said. “I have always believed you can do anything you put your mind to.”

Frederick, who uses a wheelchair, was born with a severe form of spina bifida. Her mother, Karen Frederick, said sports has defined her daughter and made her independent.

This summer, Maggie Frederick traveled to Ireland on a family trip, worked at a summer camp for children with physical disabilities and competed in the 2008 National Junior Disability Championships in New Jersey.

“We are so proud of her,” her mother said. “She doesn’t let anything get in her way.”

Maggie Frederick started competing in swimming, basketball and track a decade ago through the BlazeSports America program.

The Atlanta-based organization offers 60 sports programs in 28 states for athletes with physical disabilities. Frederick has also done the Peachtree Road Race five times and the Cobb US 10-K Classic twice.

Carol Mushett Johnson, executive director of BlazeSports America, said Frederick’s dedication to competitive sport is an inspiration to younger athletes in the program.

Frederick, a Marietta High School graduate, started her freshman year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign two weeks ago. She chose the school because of its wheelchair athletics program.

“I get frustrated when people feel sorry for me,” Frederick said. “I can do everything an able-bodied person does. I just do things differently.”