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National Wheelchair Football League helps people with disabilities

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Posted at 10:56 AM, Nov 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-04 14:45:29-04

KANSAS CITY — There’s a new sports league underway in Missouri aiming to help people with disabilities be competitive and play a sport again.

The National Wheelchair Football League has given former National Guardsman Andy Butterworth an outlet to play a sport he loves.

After losing his right leg in Iraq in 2004 the league has allowed him to feel like a kid again.

"Get out there and bang chairs get some bumps and bruises," Andy Butterworth said to KMBC.

Butterworth says this sport is very competitive.

"They're good. They know how to move the chair just enough to block you," Butterworth said. "If you haven't been doing it for very long as I have in a wheelchair, it's a little tricky.”

The league is part of Move United, an organization that helps those with disabilities participate in sports.

"We're just out here trying to show everybody that we play football the same as everybody else can," said Kolton Kincaid.

There are 10 teams from NFL cities all over the country in Kansas City promoting a growing sport.