We had the good fortune of connecting with Joshua Sager and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, how does your business help the community?
Adaptive Training Foundation’s (ATF) is a DFW-based non-profit gym whose mission is to empower the human athlete, restore hope through movement, and redefine the limits of individuals with disabilities.

ATF works with both disabled veterans and civilians who have sustained a traumatic injury. In addition, we welcome those who were born with an impairment and/or have a degenerative disease to apply to the program as well. There are over 60 million people living with a disability in the US alone, our goal is to help as many of those individuals as possible with our programs.

ATF’s programs provide adaptive individuals with customized training paired with a community of other individuals experiencing similar struggles. Not only do athletes receive physical training, but they receive tools to redefine their sense of self through mindfulness and mental training.

There truly is no other place like it in the world.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I enlisted in the Army as a paratrooper at the age of 18, expecting to spend a 20-year career there. Unbeknownst to me, God had other plans. On July 5, 2015, during an international training operation, I suffered a catastrophic parachute collapse. The collapse resulted in me falling 4 stories and shattering the majority of my lower body. This led to my retirement at the age of 27. After that, my Wife and I decided to move to DFW while we figured out what was next in our lives.

I attended school, where I earned both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Management. While in school, I continued my recovery through a non-profit gym in Carrollton called The Adaptive Training Foundation (ATF). This truly changed the course of direction in my life.

ATF’s programs helped get me physically and mentally fit again, and allowed me to grow post-injury.

This was not easy, and dealing with the mental and physical challenges from my injuries was tough, however this put me in a very unique position to pass on things I learned in my own struggles to others.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First thing I take people to when they visit me in Dallas is the JFK museum. It’s an incredible museum with a lot interesting history. As someone who is enamored with history, this is a must-see.

My favorite neighborhood in Dallas is Bishop Arts. I love being down there for an afternoon, or just walking around taking in the atmosphere. After that, I would definitely suggest dinner downtown at Sky Blossom, with some awesome Vietnamese food and a great view from their outdoor patio.

I would suggest a morning run at Arbor Hills nature center, and going to catch an FC Dallas game!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
After being medically retired from the Army, I felt lost, and I felt broken. After my injuries, I felt that doctors put me into a box with certain limitations, told me I would never run or be able to work out the same again.

The Adaptive Training Foundation’s programs helped me break those limitations down and define new limits for myself, both physically and mentally. I went from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane. Now I walk completely unassisted, and you would have no idea I had ever been injured unless I told you something I am very proud of.

Working full-time there now, there is definitely plenty of long nights and weekends, but an awesome team in the rest of the staff and the mission make it worth it. Helping individuals discover, or rediscover, that fire inside of them is the greatest endorphine in the world. No one on our staff is here for a 9-5 job; we’re here because we believe in what we do. At the end of the day, ATF is truly a family, and we are here to wade through the water of self-doubt and fear together because on the other side of that is freedom and independence, no matter what struggle you’ve been through.

I wouldn’t be where I am todsay without the ATF community and family.

Website: https://www.adaptivetrainingfoundation.org/about-us

Instagram: @sagerbombs @adaptivetrainingfoundation

Image Credits
Laura Schaudt

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