Thirteen years ago, Mike Doyle was looking to build an ice hockey team. The thing was, he needed players without legs.
Doyle, 53, lost his right leg above the knee in a motorcycle accident when he was 20. After watching a sled hockey match in the 1994 Paralympics in Lillehammer, Norway, he was inspired to try it, but there weren't any disabled athletes playing the sport — essentially ice hockey in a sit-down position — in the Philadelphia area, where he lived.
After wrangling local rink time, and cajoling donations from the national governing body for ice hockey, USA Hockey, Doyle assembled a team of athletic men and women with disabilities ranging from spina bifida to amputations to spinal cord injuries.
"It was a combination of
beg, borrow and steal to get it all going," says Doyle, whose roster now boasts 20 players who practice three hours a week and travel to hockey venues along the East Coast to compete against other teams in the Northeast Sled Hockey League. Over the past decade, Doyle has helped launch and coach dozens of youth and adult teams around the country.Sled hockey is one of many winter sports becoming more popular among athletes with physical challenges, such as spinal cord injuries, limb amputations, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. In recent years, snow sport equipment makers have adapted equipment, and ski resorts have expanded opportunities for those with disabilities. Health experts say the trend has multiple benefits, both mental and physical.
A 'revolutionary' trend
"The trend is nothing short of revolutionary," says Kirk Bauer, executive director of Disabled Sports USA, a national non-profit that offers sports rehabilitation programs to anyone with a permanent disability. Since 1967, it has grown from serving a handful of Vietnam veterans missing limbs to offering 20 sports for those with all disabilities. It boasts 100 chapters in 38 states.
"No matter where you live, you're likely only a couple hours away from an adaptive program," Bauer says.
For someone in a wheelchair or with prosthetics, winter or snow is not a friend, says Jenny Walsh, sports and recreation program coordinator at the Courage Center in Minneapolis, which runs five adaptive snow sports programs. But skiing changes that. "It brings freedom and dignity," she says.
Adaptive winter programs offer sports even for the most severely injured athletes, such as John Chang, 41, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a surfing accident at 19. Chang has been skiing the past few years with a bi-ski, a bucket seat that sits atop two skis connected to outriggers with ski tips. It is tethered to another skier who helps with slowing when needed. He can lean to control direction.
"It's been a long time since I've gone 20 mph down a hill. It lets you recapture the intensity of what you used to do," says Chang, an assistant professor of psychology at East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University.
Ten years ago, certification criteria were established for ski instructors wishing to specialize in adaptive skiing, and Bauer says that, since then, more than 2,500 instructors have become qualified.
Jeff Inouye, adaptive-ski-program assistant director at the Breckenridge (Colo.) Outdoor Education Center, which offers adventure sports for disabled athletes, says the center attracts people ages 5 to 80. Last year, it gave 2,953 adaptive ski and snowboard lessons.
"I've been here so long because of the joy I see in our students," says Inouye, who has taught for 15 years.
Physical, emotional perks
Susan Harkema, an associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of Louisville, says giving disabled people the chance to be athletic is crucial. Many secondary health problems arise for them, and their risk for diabetes, weight gain and cardiovascular disease is higher, she says. "Recent evidence is telling us if they are provided with activation of neuromuscular systems, it helps."
The emotional perks are infinite, say skier Cameron Clapp, 22, of San Luis Obispo, Calif. He lost both legs and his right arm when a freight train slammed into him at 15. "It was late. I had been drinking. I nodded off on the tracks," Clapp says.
After months of rehabilitation and being told he would live in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he found the prosthetic makers at Hanger Orthopedic Group in Bethesda, Md., who adapted prosthetics and equipment to his sports needs. He now competes in skiing, running and swimming events and aims to ski in the international Paralympic Games.
Clapp made his first skiing trip to Lake Tahoe, Calif., five years ago. "It was an astonishing moment," he says. He has returned each year ever since.
"When I go out there in the beautiful snow, on the mountain, and we're going up the ski lift getting ready to have a good time, it brings me this feeling ... I am so thrilled and inspired and proud."
I thought this article was a very inspiring story. I couldnt even imagine the feeling someone has when they find out they will never be able to walk again, the emotions they feel must be indescribable. I admire people like Mike Doyle who lost his legs at a young age and never gave up. He fought for disabled people everywhere to be able to play sports just like he did before he was disabled. Now, because of him sled hockey is available all over the United States.
Every winter I go to ski resorts at least 15 times a year to go snowboarding. Every year I see more and more disabled people on bi-skis they talk about in the article. I have the upmost respect for people who take part in this. Skiing is such a dangerous sport for people who have two legs, but these people are truely showing us that they have overcome there disability and can do anything people with legs can do. Seeing these people while I am snowboarding down the mountain is very inspiring because it just shows people that you can do anything if you really want it in life. The sad thing is that these disabled people that we see are more active than a lot of people who have two functioning legs.
