March 2018

Exercise is essential to the overall well-being of people from all walks of life and in all life stages. Stretching, cardio, resistance training, and sports each assist in the development and continual improvement of muscle tone, coordination, and day-to-day energy levels. Wheelchair users are no exception to this rule and many experience great benefits to introducing workouts to their daily lives.

Planning a holiday or a weekend getaway can be tedious and stressful, since these are special days where you want everything to work out and to make the most of your time. Precisely for that reason, doing some planning when getting ready for your trip can save you from unpleasant surprises.

Just two years after competing for Canada in the Rio Paralympic Games, Sunrise Ambassador Liam Hickey of St. John's captures silver in the Paralympic Games, but this time he did it on the ice. The 19 year-old dual-sport athlete has changed his focus from wheelchair basketball to sledge hockey at the Paralympics in Pyeongchang.

As a Paralympian, I have had the opportunity to travel the world, ski the most beautiful mountains, and connect with some of the most compassionate and brilliant minds on the planet. The journey from Paralympic champion to ADA advocate, however, was not natural for me. It was easy to be a well-liked Paralympian in a ski town, but advocating for local ADA issues was an entirely different matter.

What kind of competition is this where the game plan is openly discussed for both sides to hear? Shouldn't scoring plans and defensive moves be whispered behind a clipboard like in so many other sports? How is it that players in wheelchairs and those without disabilities compete on the same team? Is this an alternate universe? No, this is the sport of curling, and it is rapidly gaining popularity as competitive and recreational leagues flourish across the country and around the world.