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Like many of us still do, Mat Gardner spends his day at home in front of his computer.

He told Spectrum Sports 360's Katya Guillaume “I work for Verizon. I’m a senior analyst in operations.”

I met Mat who plays for the Hillsborough Buccaneers, he said he never thought, he'd play football he is 100% wheelchair bound. You'd want to tune in to @SpecSports360 to watch his story tonight at 10:30.@MoveUnitedSport #AdaptiveSports @crippy_mcnolegs #WheelchairFootball pic.twitter.com/AkLWWtZOXA

He’s been working there for over 15 years now.

Not having to go far is good for him because Mat is 100 percent wheelchair-bound.

“I’ve been in a wheelchair all my life," Mat said. "I was born in a breached position and from that point on a C-section wasn’t completed so I spent my entire life basically disabled and wheelchair bound.”

He’s never allowed this chair to limit him from doing the things he’s loved.

“I live by the motto of no excuses," he continued. "I get up and do it and just continue moving forward and don’t let a chair be the reason why you are not doing something in life.”

There’s one specific thing, this chair has not taken away from him, his love for playing football.

A huge Pittsburgh fan himself, just sitting on the sidelines watching, wasn’t enough, so when he heard that Tampa Bay had its very own wheelchair football league, he had to join.

He said, “All last year I practiced with the team, and then this full circle, I’m not representing the team as one of the captains and starting defense and getting right out here prepared to compete so it’s been full circle and fun ride, fun ride.” 

Wheelchair football is slightly different than regular football. 

Besides playing on the solid ground versus grass, they play 7-on-7.

Wheelchairs clashing together is the end of a play, and if someone falls, they simply get back up.

“We’re not fully tackling but it is a chair-on-chair collision with a tag to make that tackle so to say,” he said.

It’s more than playing the sport for Mat. 

It’s about the ability to do something he physically didn’t think he could do and showing others, who love playing sports and who are disabled, that they too can do anything despite their challenges.