Hello!  I am Lisa (Bard) Markland, an avid volunteer, retired child and family therapist, and dedicated Paralympic 10 m precision air rifle athlete residing in Germantown, Maryland. I received my master’s degree in clinical social work with a child and family specialization after completing my bachelor’s degree in sociology with an emphasis in psychology, graduating summa cum laude. I served in the U.S. Air Force Guard and Reserve doing aeromedical evacuation from 1985 to 1992 where I was injured in service, incurring an incomplete cervical spinal cord injury.

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A competitive athlete since high school, I hold a 3rd degree black belt in tae kwon do, where I was a national medalist and the AAU Maryland Outstanding Athlete of the Year, currently studying Vovinam style martial arts. In November 2004 I was inducted into the prestigious Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. 

I spent five years as a point guard for a Division III men’s National Wheelchair Basketball Association team, co-managed and played for a women’s NWBA team in the D.C. area, and in 2005 traveled to Israel to play basketball with their soldiers and gave talks throughout the country.

I performed with a paid mixed-ability dance troupe and have competed in multiple sports up to the international level, having also worked as an athletic coach and personal trainer. As a handcycle racer I often took 1st place but always medaled, including winning my age division/disability class at the Marine Corps Marathon. In 2012, I set three world and three national AAU powerlifting records covering bench press and dead lift, which I did without adaptive accommodations. 

I attended the inaugural Paralympic Military Summit in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Center where my team took 1st place in a multi-sport competition and I placed 1st in air rifle. Following that I shot a qualifying score for the World Cup in a Team U.S.A. Internet match (unofficial) and through 2024 remained undefeated in air rifle matches. I trained and attended matches with Team U.S.A.'s athletes in preparation for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, at which point I was the top female Paralympic rifle shooter in the United States. In 2024 I took 1st place in both air rifle and air pistol at the Maryland Senior Olympics, setting records in all four of her events, followed by a 2025 1st place and overall win at a PVA Air Rifle Match.

My athletic achievements have been featured on several major news affiliates locally and across the country, in various newspapers and magazines, on National Public Radio, and I was honored on the field on ESPN at a major league baseball game. Montgomery County, Maryland’s cable television station produced a documentary detailing my athletic story, and I was recently featured in a short documentary film profiling my journey back to elite air rifle competition after a 20-year hiatus. 

My sights are now set on the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics as a rifle athlete, "aiming" for the medal stand. I hope to continue to inspire others and to show that nothing is impossible, even if they have to do it differently, following my longtime motto, "There are no obstacles, only opportunities!"