Growing the Paralympic movement
PYEONGCHANG, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF — Todd Nicholson built his first hockey sled in his garage. Growing up on a farm he was adept at welding, and fashioned the sled out of steel with metal runners on the bottom, and a seatbelt to hold him on.
He figured it weighed about 45 pounds. That was almost three decades ago.
“Fast forward to today, our sleds are about seven-and-a-half, eight pounds, made out of either titanium or high-grade aluminum, the buckets are custommade, so they’re basically custom fit, so that as you move, it moves with you,” Nicholson said.
The five-time Paralympian in para ice hockey — formerly known as sledge hockey — is the chef de mission for Canada’s team at the Winter Paralympics, which open Friday at Pyeongchang Stadium.
Technological advances in equipment is just a drop in the bucket of Paralympic improvement. From sports science to coaching expertise to sheer participation numbers and the level of competition, the entire Paralympic movement has grown so much globally that Canada, while still a frontrunner, faces some stiff competition at the top.
“It’s a good problem to have,” said Nicholson. “If we look at our athletes who are here — both the Canadian athletes and the majority of athletes from around the world — and the level of professionalism, our athletes are competing at peak performance. It’s very difficult now for somebody who’s recently injured to basically jump into a spot, which 10 or 15 years ago you had the opportunity to do that within a very short period.”
Canada’s goal for these Games is to improve on the 16 medals, including seven gold, won at the Sochi Paralympics four years ago. Canada was fourth in Russia in total medals.
Four years earlier in Vancouver, Canada captured a best-ever 19 medals, including 10 gold, to finish third.
Canada’s team of 55 athletes and guides arrived in Pyeongchang less than two weeks after their Olympic counterparts roared to the most successful winter Games in Canadian history, winning 29 medals for third overall.
“We look upon all of the successes they had both on and off the field of play, and we’re looking to obviously improve on that,” Nicholson said.
“We do have a lot of pressure because they had a record number of medals for them, so that pressure is put on us as well to increase our medal count from previous Games and to make these the best Games that we’ve ever had and witnessed.”
Nicholson, 49, is a three-time Paralympic medallist in hockey, winning gold in 2006, silver in ’98, and bronze in ’94.
He was the team’s captain for 15 years.
He said much of this Paralympic team has come up through grassroots programs, where Canada is doing a significantly better job at reaching kids with disabilities than 15 or 20 years ago.
“It’s amazing to see our grassroots programs and our kids who love to play hockey, for example, but never thought they would get the opportunity to do it,” he said.
“To see a kid who’s never played hockey before because of a disability, to get on the ice, grinning from ear to ear, and getting off the ice and telling his parents ‘I can play hockey.’”
Like Canada’s Olympic team, the Paralympic team is funded through Sport Canada, Own The Podium, and various corporate sponsors.