That's Extreme! Handicapped Sports

That's Extreme!

By Tyler Graves

Many people seem to believe that when someone is born without an arm, leg, body part, or even lack of something, such as hearing or eyesight, they will not be able to keep up with a “normal” person. Not anymore, I see tons of people doing things I never thought possible with disabilities. When I go up snowboarding at Loveland , the chair suddenly stops at 5-minute intervals. I used to just keep thinking that another beginner getting on where they’re not supposed to. Well I’ve come to find out there was a guy getting on who was in a sit ski. About two chairs later, I actually see this guy jumping off of stuff and shredding double diamonds! Imagine this, a person in a sit ski, grinding rails…… now that’s saying something. Under different circumstances, there are people that have one leg and are doing Giant Slalom and Vert. I see an occasional deaf skier when I go up, and the cool part about it is most people who do snow sports tell me that they need to be able to listen to what is going around them to be able to perform at the top of their game.

I just recently found out that there are many other extreme things that a disabled person can do. If a person has one or no legs they can choose to go rock-climbing with or without prosthetics. Another alternative would be water sports, like waterskiing or wakeboarding. If that were the case, people with leg disabilities would be put onto a sit ski like object except on a wakeboard and do some more extreme stuff. Even kayaking is available to the leg impaired.

Rock crawling is another recreational activity that any disabled person can pursue. It involves building up a truck that can withstand extreme off road conditions. I think that it is one of the coolest sports because it takes physical endurance and a lot of reasoning and strategy. I mean, you have to know what you are doing and how you are going to do it before you precede. There are so many things out there that a disabled person can do, its just up to them to pursue it.