{"id":601851,"date":"2025-08-21T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=601851"},"modified":"2025-08-21T18:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:31:17","slug":"tampa-va-veterans-attended-the-tampa-bay-buccaneers-military-day-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=601851","title":{"rendered":"Tampa VA Veterans attended The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Military Day practice\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

In preparation for the 2026 National Veterans Golden Age Games<\/a>, Veterans from the James A. Haley Veterans\u2019 Hospital<\/a> were invited to attend The Tampa Bay Buccaneers \u201cMilitary Day\u201d practice on Thursday, July 31, 2025.<\/p>\n

The event was dedicated to honoring Veterans and active duty service members, and it functions as part of the team\u2019s ongoing outreach to the military community, which included engaging meet-and-greets with players, offering attendees opportunities for personal interaction.<\/p>\n

Veterans were up close to watch practice drills, interact with players and enjoy a relaxed yet meaningful atmosphere. Post-practice, Buccaneers players took time to meet the attendees, sign memorabilia and engage in genuine conversations, ensuring every guest felt acknowledged and honored.<\/p>\n

Engaging with heroes<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe patients are completely different when you take them outside of the hospital environment,\u201d said Evely Mack, recreation therapist. \u201cThe outing provided a real-world application of skills, such as socialization, attention, mobility, emotional regulation and visual function, adapting to the diverse needs of the participants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Veterans exhibited different levels of physical and cognitive functioning. Some found challenges in navigating the terrain or managing social interactions, while others required breaks from the crowd to cope with potential PTSD triggers. The tailored support from staff ensured each Veteran received the appropriate level of assistance to maximize the outing\u2019s therapeutic benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had many different levels of physical and cognitive functioning with our Veterans.\u00a0Stepping over the netting to get to the field was a big challenge for some but not others.\u00a0Sitting higher on the bleachers was easy for some, but not others.\u00a0Some struggled socially,\u201d said Mack.\u00a0\u201cOthers needed breaks from the crowd as distraction for trigger symptoms.\u00a0We never want to over-staff an outing, but sometimes the therapeutic benefit can best be reached with more one-to-one staffing for the brain injury population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Military Day wasn\u2019t just an occasion to witness an NFL team in action; it was a meaningful tribute and a practical extension of rehabilitation efforts. The collaboration between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and VA underscored the importance of community support in the healing process, offering Veterans recognition, engagement and a sense of belonging outside the hospital setting. Through events like this, we collectively honor and support those who have served, integrating therapeutic rehabilitation with community reintegration in a heartfelt and impactful way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In preparation for the 2026 National Veterans Golden Age Games, Veterans from the James A. Haley Veterans\u2019 Hospital were invited to attend The Tampa Bay Buccaneers \u201cMilitary Day\u201d practice on Thursday, July 31, 2025. The event was dedicated to honoring Veterans and active duty service members, and it functions as part of the team\u2019s ongoing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":601853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[413,5,1294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golden-age-games","category-health","category-visn-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=601851"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":601860,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601851\/revisions\/601860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/601853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=601851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=601851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=601851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}