Daniel Kaminski is a paralyzed veteran who has helped bring an array of handicapped sports to the Las Vegas area. Photo by John Gurzinski.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Seeking heroes in our own time, the Review-Journal annually asks the public to nominate people who in the past year took serious risks to life, career, financial well-being or other personal interests for the greater good of humanity. This is the first of five "Nevada Profiles in Courage" about some of those brave hearts. Look for others each day through Friday.

During his first trip to the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in 1997, Daniel Kaminski found a sense of fulfillment that had eluded him in the 15 years since a motorcycle accident rendered him quadriplegic.

The 50-year-old Navy veteran has been working ever since to give disabled Southern Nevada residents a chance to have that same feeling.

Kaminski, whose volunteer efforts helped bring wheelchair rugby and softball to the area, collaborated with the city of Las Vegas last year to launch a soccer program aimed primarily at handicapped children.

"It's a great outlet, especially for the kids," Kaminski said at a recent meeting of the Nevada Paralyzed Veterans of America. "There are kids with many different kinds of afflictions who think they can only watch sports."

In contrast to other disabled sports, power soccer is designed specifically for those in power wheelchairs with limited arm movement. Sports offerings for this group to date have been few and far between in the area, Kaminski said.

Jonathan Foster, senior adaptive recreation leader for the city's Department of Leisure Services, said Kaminski has been instrumental in getting the sports programs started. "We've worked very closely together," Foster said. "We definitely couldn't have done it without Dan's help and knowledge."

To start the program, Kaminski aggressively worked the phones and spent nearly $2,000 out of pocket for equipment, including specially designed foot guards for wheelchairs that push an oversized ball along the playing surface.

The turnout for the team's first practices has been sporadic, but Kaminski hopes a visit to Las Vegas by the sport's national team earlier this month will spark interest and participation.

Henderson resident Danielle Hatfield attended a free clinic conducted by the national team with her 10-year-old son, Tyler. Tyler suffers from a severe and incurable form of muscular dystrophy, and Hatfield believes a wheelchair soccer team in Southern Nevada will give him an immeasurable boost in self-esteem.

"It would be immense in terms of his mental state," Hatfield said. "He loves sports. ... This is the perfect confidence-building thing."

The soccer team will hold a practice from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at John C. Fremont Middle School, 1100 E. St. Louis Ave. Potential wheelchair players of all ages are invited.

Kaminski has a simple message that he wants wheelchair-bound children to live by: "I can do anything you can do. I just can't walk."

It's a mantra he delivers at school lectures and, in times of self-doubt, to himself.

Kaminski hopes power soccer will grow just as rugby and softball have, from a smattering of players a decade ago to dozens of teams competing in full-fledged leagues. He, too, plans to play the game now that a bad shoulder has ended his wheelchair rugby career.

"Age caught up with me, I guess," he says with a smile.

Kaminski still serves as an adviser to the local wheelchair rugby team, known as the Sin City Skulls, made up mainly of military veterans like himself.

Kaminski's desire to help others in 2006 extended beyond wheelchair sports, all the way to the battlefields of Iraq.

He helped raise money to send coffee and coffee products to troops in the Middle East. The first shipments are expected to arrive later this year, said Ruth Murray, executive director of the 163-member state association of paralyzed veterans.

"I was in the military myself, and it gets pretty lonely," Kaminski said, recalling his own six years in the Navy. "Any touch of home helps."

Coming Tuesday: Former high school football standout saves woman and her dog.