There were women down here, I counted 14 within a mile's radius. I could see all the bodies hidden and misplaced. I was fully submerged in the ground, moving freely.Įveryone else had to respect the physical world, they had to adhere to the laws of it, not upset or disturb it for risk of repercussions, but I had yet to meet a physical mass I could not pass through.Īs I sank my head under the water, through the mud, with my mind I made the dirt clear, just as I had the water at the lake prior. I slipped my bare feet into the water, then I slipped my feet further into the rocks, the dirt, and shortly after my knees followed, then my hips & my chest. I squinted only to wonder why, all I had to do was reprogram my eye's tolerance for light. Walking out to the creek, the sun beamed down on my pale skin. It was time to lose myself, I was losing my hunger, losing my urges, growing beyond whatever I was before, day by day. I could also feel the radiant glow of death lining our creek bed. If I wanted to I could even hear my grandmother's breathing next door if I really tried. Straschnitzki, who also took up para golf a year ago, is hosting his own charity golf tournament in August to ensure adaptive sports are available to anyone who wants to participate.I woke up alone to the sound of birds chirping outside. “I’ve just got to work on my shot a little bit and learn how to play the system.” I’m in a chair all the time, so I understand how to wheel, how to move,” he said. Straschnitzki said he realizes he has strengths and weaknesses on the court at this point. Hansen, who created the foundation, is best known as the Man In Motion for his wheelchair trip around the world in the 1980s to draw attention to people with disabilities and find a cure for paralysis. He also completed an accessibility certification course with the Rick Hansen Foundation earlier this year about a national rating system that measures the physical access of buildings and other sites. Straschnitzki hopes to make it to the development level of the Canadian wheelchair basketball Paralympic team and then represent the country before the 2028 Games. He was recently named its first ambassador. “I have to really get into practices and games so I can work on the skills a little bit,” Straschnitzki said while he was shooting hoops Thursday at Vecova, an organization that provides services and advocacy for people with disabilities. “I stayed so fixated on hockey my entire life, I never really got to embrace other sports at the highest level and now that I have this opportunity, I think, ‘well why not?’”Īs a result, Straschnitzki plans to join a wheelchair basketball league this winter and hopefully make it to the Paralympics. What is in his control is embracing other sports, including wheelchair basketball. “But that’s completely out of my control,” he said. Straschnitzki said he’s hoping to get an invitation to try out for Canada’s Paralympic hockey team in September. “In the past conversations I’ve had with management within that program, it’s not looking good, but all I can do is train and work hard,” he said in an interview. However, his Paralympic hockey goals have hit a bump in the road. Since the crash, Straschnitzki has played on Alberta’s para hockey team and has been training with the Paralympic development team. Sixteen people died and 13 were seriously injured. The 24-year-old from Airdrie, Alta., was paralyzed from the chest down in 2018 when a semi-trailer ran a stop sign and barrelled into the path of the Humboldt Broncos’ bus in rural Saskatchewan. Ryan Straschnitzki’s Paralympic dreams haven’t fizzled, but his path to the international stage could take him from the ice to the hardwood.
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