Track & Field/XC | 10/20/2015 4:59:00 PM

DOHA, Qatar – Georgia Southern's Head Track and Field Coach Kelly Carter has been involved with the Paralympics long before his time as an Eagle. He started coaching in 2002 when a talented high school football player with a prosthetic leg turned into a track star at Tennessee State University, where Carter was coaching at the time. The head coach of the Paralympics reached out to Carter and since then, Carter has coached national and international events, including a trip to Beijing in 2008. After a break from Team USA, Carter put back on his red, white and blue to fly 21 hours to the middle of the desert for the 2015 Paralympics to assist with coaching jumps. He flew out last Wednesday to assimilate to the new time zone and treacherous weather—some that reaches 116 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
Although he's over 7,000 miles away from home, Carter won't be alone. Apart from familiar athletes and coaches, Carter has a closer connection to Georgia Southern—the track and field manager. Carlos McCormick, the current manager of the Eagles, qualified for the 200 meter sprint. McCormick's coach is actually Franz Holmes, who works alongside Coach Carter for the Eagles. Holmes was previously coached by Carter and introduced to Paralympics through him. Holmes started off as a guide runner for McCormick and later became his coach after McCormick's talent shone through.
 
However, running wasn't always in the picture for McCormick. On top of starting off in foster care as a child, he is also visually impaired. School proved to be a challenge for him, so he transferred to a school for the blind where he started competing in sports. His teacher, a former paralympian, encouraged him to apply to be an ambassador for the 2008 Paralympics—the same one that Coach Carter attended—to watch other athletes compete at the highest level. By the time he heard back, about six months later, he forgot he even applied.
 
But upon returning home from China, he knew he wanted to compete for Team USA. After working for a couple different schools, Coach Holmes moved to Georgia Southern, where McCormick later transferred to continue his training. That's where he met Coach Carter, who offered him the position of team manager for the track and field team on top of his intensive training.
 
Now, the two Eagles represent both Georgia Southern and the U.S. in Qatar—one on the track and one cheering and coaching on the sidelines.
 
The 2015 Paralympics extend from Oct. 22 through Oct. 31. Visit www.paralympic.org/doha-2015 for more information and to watch the live steam of events.