TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Dragon Boat Club and Adaptive Adventures have teamed up to offer physical therapy of sorts and a mental and emotional escape to veterans or civilians with disabilities.

They practice just about every Saturday and on Tuesdays as well.

Team Blue is the name of the group from the TBDBC that goes out on the water with veterans.

They are looking for more veterans and people with disabilities to join them on these excursions.

There are many water sports in Tampa Bay.

But one in particular combines individual grit and teamwork and that is dragon boat racing.

The Tampa Bay Dragon Boat Club’s Team Blue hits the water on Saturdays.

It is not a leisurely trip down the Hillsborough River.

From a distance you can hear the grunting from the paddlers, the yelling from the coach, and the hypnotizing beat of a drum keeping the team in sync.

It is quite a sight with plenty of sounds to take in.

Malika Montgomery, an Army Veteran, continued her practice on a clear Saturday in downtown Tampa.

“It’s amazing,” Montgomery said. “You get out and just do a little more each time.”

Montgomery has been enjoying paddling for the last year and a half.

“It makes you feel good,” she said. “You come out of it like you did the best physical therapy test you ever done and that’s what it’s like. I love dragon boat racing.”

Soon after her military retirement more than 20 years ago, Montgomery was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She is wheelchair bound now.

For her, being out on the water is therapy.

“That’s what this makes me feel like,” she said, describing being on the water. “Like I have that power and that strength to do what I was supposed to be doing in the military

“This gives me that I still got it feeling.”

However, the club’s Team Blue adaptive program goes beyond the physical therapy.

David Nelson is one of the founding members of the Tampa Bay Dragon Boat Club and has coached many teams.

He joins Malika on her practice runs.

“It is about community. It’s about team,” said Nelson. “It’s about building that camaraderie that most of the veterans understand what that means.”

Grinding out these runs on the river is part of the journey Montgomery now takes.

She only wishes it could have happened sooner.

“It took me to go through the woe is me stage,” she said. “It took me to go through the ‘I can’t do this…’ and I got out of that and began to think I was stronger than what I think I am, and I did it.”

She now wants more veterans and other people facing challenges like herself to do what she does.

“Just one time try it,” she said. “And I guarantee that you’ll either like it or love it, but once you love it, you won’t stop.”