Welcome to my adaptive sports and recreation blog. I have been a member of the disability
community for the past 18 years and have seen tons of changes regarding
sporting and recreation opportunities for people with disabilities. When I was first inaugurated into this
eclectic and diverse community, via a ski racing accident, that left me
completely paralyzed at the T 5/6 level (mid-chest for those of you who don’t
know SCI lingo) I was told by my one of my first adaptive skiing instructors
that I might eventually be able to ski again independently, but that I will
definitely never be a ski racer again.
25 World cup medals, 2 Overall world cup titles, a World
Championship and 4 Paralympic medals later, I am happy to say that instructor
was WRONG!!!! I became a ski racer
again, thanks in large part to all the wonderful adaptive equipment and
technology that has evolved over the past two decades and great people who
mentored and motivated me to Never Give Up!
I have been quoted as saying “It’s a great time to be
disabled!” Some people think I’m crazy, but when I explain what I mean by that,
simply that now anything is possible for people with disabilities, we don’t
have to limit our dreams and goals because of our disabilities. There are people, resources, technology and
opportunities today for our community that 20 years ago were far fetching
dreams. Heck, the X- Games has a full
fledged part of their competition for skiers with disabilities, the Mono-X, how
cool!!! (it’s even televised right along
with the rest of the competitions)
Since my accident I have traveled around the world for 9
months, ski raced on 4 continents, climbed 2 mountains higher than 14,000 feet,
scuba dove to the bottom of the ocean, skydived, mountain biked, river rafted, bungee
jumped, ridden elephants, water-skied, wake boarded, river sledged (too cool!),
zorbed (the best!), handcycled, played tennis, weight lifted, done yoga,
pilates, karate (I’m a certified yellow belt, scared, you should be!), arm
wrestled (have you seen my arms?) fly
fished, deep-sea fished, river kayaked, sea kayaked, road raced, tried to shoot
skeet (not my forte) trekked in the Himalayas, driven a bobsled, camped,
backpacked (via horse), swam, attempted body surfing, played golf and disk golf
(neither very well), bowled, played pool, played basketball, wheelchair rugby
(again not very well, those guys are crazy!!!), etc….
So don’t call me physically challenged, given the right
equipment and attitude, I, as have thousands of others in our community, have
done more than most so called “TAB’s” (I still like to refer to them as TAB’s,
temporarily able bodied) Perhaps the only thing that I really can no longer do
b/c of my disability is a great swan dive, but I do have a killer belly flop!!!
Sports and recreation are a huge part of my life, but I know
so many people in our community who are just like me if not more agro and
involved in playing. People who are
paralyzed but black belts in karate, kids in wheelchairs who do flips in skate
parks, guys with one leg who huck themselves 30 feet off a cornice, double
amputees who skydive professionally, the list goes on and on. So you see why I say “It’s a great time to be
disabled!” Really, there are no limits,
what is it you want to do, I can guarantee there is someone out there who has
done it or is planning a way to and if not, there are hundreds of people who
would love to help you do it! So keep
dreaming, keep playing and I’ll see you out there! (I’m off for a river rafting trip, tell you
all about it next post!)
