Florida Senate - 2014 (NP) SR 1744
By Senator Hukill
8-04118C-14 20141744__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution recognizing the dedicated and inspiring
3 Florida athletes who competed in the 2014 Winter
4 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
5
6 WHEREAS, on February 21, 2014, The United States Olympic
7 Committee announced the United States Paralympic Team that would
8 compete in the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games, March 7-16, 2014,
9 in Sochi, Russia, and
10 WHEREAS, the 80-member team, which included six guides for
11 visually impaired athletes, comprised 22 women and 58 men, and
12 WHEREAS, Team USA’s 80 athletes competed throughout the 9
13 days of Paralympic competition in all five sports: alpine
14 skiing, which includes snowboarding; the biathlon; cross-country
15 skiing; sled hockey; and wheelchair curling, and
16 WHEREAS, even though the Sunshine State is short on snow
17 and ice, two Floridians, Declan Farmer and Gregory “Greg” Shaw,
18 were among those selected to represent the United States in the
19 2014 Winter Paralympic Games on the Paralympic Sled Hockey Team,
20 and
21 WHEREAS, the Paralympic motto is “Spirit in Motion,” which
22 captures the inspirational character of the Paralympic movement
23 as well as the elite performance of Paralympic athletes, and
24 WHEREAS, Declan Farmer was born in Tampa, in Hillsborough
25 County, with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a birth defect
26 that affected his hips and bones in his lower legs resulting in
27 bilateral amputation, and
28 WHEREAS, Declan Farmer has always had a love of competitive
29 sports, and nothing could slow him down and he began playing
30 sled hockey in 2006 at a clinic in Clearwater, in Pinellas
31 County, and
32 WHEREAS, Declan Farmer attends Berkeley Preparatory School
33 in Tampa, in Hillsborough County, and
34 WHEREAS, Declan Farmer has competed on several squads since
35 his introduction to the sport: the Tampa Bay Lightning Sled
36 Hockey Team, from 2007 to 2013; the Spacecoast Hurricanes Youth
37 Sled Team, in 2011; and the Florida Bandits Sled Hockey Team, in
38 2012, and
39 WHEREAS, Declan Farmer made his international debut when he
40 was 15 years old at the 2012 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in
41 Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he scored one goal and made four
42 assists, and
43 WHEREAS, Declan Farmer made his Paralympic debut in 2014 as
44 the second-youngest member of the United States Paralympic Sled
45 Hockey Team and proved invaluable to Team USA, ranking second on
46 the team in points and goals and tying for first in assists
47 during the 2012-2013 season, and
48 WHEREAS, Greg Shaw was born in Merritt Island, in Brevard
49 County, with sacral agenesis, a congenital condition that causes
50 spinal deformity, but this condition has not prevented him from
51 competing at the highest level of athletics as part of the
52 United States Paralympic Sled Hockey Team, and
53 WHEREAS, Greg Shaw is a four-time International Paralympic
54 Committee Ice Sled Hockey World Championship medalist, winning
55 two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze, and
56 WHEREAS, Greg Shaw first played for the United States
57 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team during the 2006-2007 season and was
58 part of the gold medal-winning squad at the 2010 Vancouver
59 Paralympic Winter Games, scoring two goals and an assist in five
60 games, and
61 WHEREAS, Greg Shaw plans to enroll at the University of
62 Central Florida to study computer science, and
63 WHEREAS, Greg Shaw also remains a part of the National
64 Ability Center family, which he credits for giving him the
65 support needed to accomplish his goals, and
66 WHEREAS, the 2014 United States Paralympic Sled Hockey Team
67 became the first team in Paralympic history to win back-to-back
68 gold medals, and
69 WHEREAS, the residents of Florida stand united in respect
70 and admiration for our Paralympians and for their athletic
71 accomplishments, sportsmanship, and dedication during the 2014
72 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, NOW, THEREFORE,
73
74 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
75
76 That the Senate congratulates the members of the United
77 States Paralympic Team and expresses special gratitude for the
78 dedication of Florida’s participating athletes, Declan Farmer
79 and Greg Shaw, and to everyone who supported their efforts.