Chime In How One Volunteer Gig Reminded Me What Sport Is Really For Stories You May Like How Practicing Yoga Has Helped Me Regain My Flow For a Veteran Hollywood Scout, it’s All About ‘Location, Location’ ‘Waffle Stompers’ and Mini Fridges: What You Brought to the Hill At a triathlon camp for athletes with disabilities, I saw people exceed their perceived limitations—and bonded with fellow alums “Chime In” comprises brief first-person essays by Cornellians. Do you have a topic in mind? Email us at cornellians@cornell.edu! By Adam Wolford ’14 “It’s just so freeing,” she said, almost to herself. We were riding the bike course at a camp in Tampa run by the nonprofit Dare2Tri. She was on a hand-powered cycle for the first time, with me pedaling alongside her. This woman had become disabled recently—recently enough that she was still figuring out what her life looked like now. And here she was on a sunbaked Florida road, moving fast and freely, with a grin that seemed to surprise even her. I didn’t have a response; I just kept riding and let the moment be what it was. I was not attending the camp as an athlete, but as a volunteer. I was introduced to the Chicago-based Dare2Tri as a client of PlanPerfect, the platform I co-founded to help nonprofits plan and operate more effectively. Because of this, I knew its mission well: “To enhance the lives of individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments by building confidence, community, health, and wellness through swimming, biking, and running.” But I’d only ever seen it in planning documents and progress reports. Volunteering at the camp was my way of finally seeing the work in person. Little did I know I’d also experience a deep Big Red connection. The author with his mom at Commencement in 2014. The first person I connected with that day was Christine Shaw Palmquist ’87, MBA ’88, a program manager at Dare2Tri and a USA Triathlon Level III Elite Coach who served as a Team USA Paratriathlon Coach at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Chris, who has spent decades expanding what’s possible for adaptive athletes, was part of the fabric of the day. At some point between events, one of us mentioned Cornell. What followed was not a polite nod of recognition, but—in true Big Red fashion—a full, warm embrace. What followed was not a polite nod of recognition, but—in true Big Red fashion—a full, warm embrace. As we laughed, she exclaimed, “I knew I liked you for a reason!” Stories You May Like How Practicing Yoga Has Helped Me Regain My Flow For a Veteran Hollywood Scout, it’s All About ‘Location, Location’ I met visually impaired athlete Manahil Jafri ’25, BS ’24, shortly afterward. This was her first Dare2Tri camp and her first real step into the world of adaptive triathlon—but you’d never have known that from watching her work through the swim, bike, and run transitions with focus and composure. At some point, someone mentioned to me that Manahil also went to Cornell. After I approached her and asked her about her time on the Hill, we shared a similar embrace as I’d had with Chris. Manahil Jafri ’25, BS ’24 (right), runs with a guide at the triathlon camp. Three Cornellians at one camp in Florida, none of us previously knowing each other: a veteran coach who had given her career to building this world; a young athlete stepping into it for the first time; and a nonprofit tech founder who showed up thinking he was there to help. There’s an easy version of this story that’s just about the fun coincidence of three alumni crossing paths 1,000 miles from Ithaca. And to a certain extent, it was that. But what stayed with me wasn’t just the Cornell connection, but also watching what was happening around me all day. Athletes who had been told, in one way or another, that certain things weren’t available to them anymore—speed, competition, the particular satisfaction of crossing a finish line—discovered that the list was shorter than they’d been led to believe. I think about that moment on the bike a lot more than I expected to. Not because it was a big, dramatic revelation about accessible sport as a way of becoming free, but more because it wasn’t. Big Red grads (from left) Palmquist, Jafri, and Wolford. It was just two people riding bikes in the Florida heat, one of them saying something true out loud, both of us just keeping pace. That’s what the day felt like from start to finish: ordinary people doing something that kept turning out to be more than that. Engineering alum Adam Wolford ’14 is a technology founder focused on the intersection of strategy execution and AI support for nonprofits. He lives in Miami, FL. (All images provided.) Published April 2, 2026 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Quizzes & Puzzles Cornellian Crossword: ‘Going for the Gold’ Quizzes & Puzzles Cornellian Crossword: ‘Winter Break(s)’ Cornelliana Around Thanksgiving, the Big Apple Turns Big Red