Charleroi grad's son earns spot on national wheelchair soccer team

Andrew Cunningham is ready to take his power wheelchair soccer talents to a new level of competition.

Cunningham, a Syracuse, N.Y., resident who has distinct ties to the mid-Monongahela Valley, and his Central New York United teammate Peyton Sefick have been selected to play on Team USA at the FIFPA (Federation International of Powerchair Football Association) Power Wheelchair Soccer World Cup tournament in 2015.

The site for the international event will be announced later.

“We are very pleased for and proud of Andrew for achieving this distinct recognition,” said Cunningham's father, Tom Cunningham, a Speers native and Charleroi Area High School graduate. “He and Peyton have worked long and hard in practice and tournament play to gain positions on the United States team. Being selected to represent their country in the World Cup certainly symbolizes their skills and commitment to power wheelchair soccer, a sport they love.”

Power soccer is a game played by disabled athletes using power wheelchairs on a regulation-size basketball court. It is the first competitive sport designed and developed specifically for power wheelchair users. These participants include persons with quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, head trauma, stroke, spinal cord injury and other disabilities.

Andrew, 15, has been playing the sport for nearly a decade. He and his Central New York United team have won USPSA championships and have competed in tournaments throughout the United States. In 2012, they participated in a special event at the Charleroi Area High School gym.

“Playing for Team USA means the world to me,” Andrew, who attends Westhill High School in Syracuse, told USPSA officials. “”Ever since I realized that I was going to try out, I practiced every day at my school and I had team practice two times a week. It also means I get to represent my country at the highest level and play with the world's best players.”

Sefick, 23, a graduate of Lemoyne College who has been playing power soccer for 11 years, offered similar comments.

“The ability to represent my family, friends, city and country is an honor that very few have been blessed with,” said Sefick, a consultant at Burton Blatt Institute. “It means all the hard work and time I have put in to better myself and CNY United, and power soccer in general, will have paid off more than I could have ever imagined since I first put a guard on and rolled onto the court in 2003.”

Cunningham and Sefick, who have been CYNU teammates for eight years, were chosen for Team USA at tryouts in Indianapolis, Ind.

Andrew is the youngest member of the American team that will be competing in the World Cup.

The international association comprises teams from 21 countries from the United States, Europe, South America, Asia and Canada.

The United States won the world championship in 2007 and 2011.

“That's quite an accomplishment, winning successive World Cup honors, when you consider our Team USA athletes are competing against the best from other countries,” Tom Cunningham said.

Tom Cunningham, the son of Tom and Helen (Hreha) Cunningham of Speers, was an outstanding baseball player at Charleroi Area High School for four years and also performed for teams in other leagues in the Mon Valley. After graduating from CAHS in 1978 he continued his education and baseball career at the University of Rochester in New York, where he was graduated in 1982.

He and his wife, the former Judy Napolitano of Syracuse, are the parents of three children – Andrew and his twin brother Tommy and their sister, Ali, 17.

In addition to his parents, Cunningham also stays in touch with his brother, Tim Cunningham, another outstanding athlete at Charleroi Area High School, who lives in Elkhart, Ind., and their sister, Peg Cunningham Russell, who lives in Smithton.

Funding for travel and lodging for all of the athletes and staff of Team USA is the responsibility of the individuals. Those expenses include participation in training camps at such sites as Phoenix and Minneapolis. Tom Cunningham and his family, as well as several friends, are participating in a fundraising campaign for Andrew. Additional information about that effort is available at www.gofundme.com/teamusaworldcup.

Ron Paglia is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.