A Brave New World

Ok, I know, I know. We've done a terrible job updating our blog over the past year. The sad thing is we've had so many great experiences and announcements and events that we should have been posting about. And we will. We'll go back and post videos and photos and tell you about the things we've been up to as athletes, as friends, and as a family.

But lately my (this is Jeremy, team captain) energies, and my time, have been directed towards developing and coaching the United States Adaptive Bobsled Team. It has been a marvelous opportunity, one full of adventure and courage. I say courage, not on my part, but a bravery that so many of us can't even comprehend.

When I say the United States Adaptive Bobsled Team, perhaps the easiest way to explain is to think of these athletes, of this team, as Paralympic hopefuls. I am surrounded by men who are defined as AKs, BKs,Paras, Quads, and so on. Translate: above-knee amputee, below-knee amputee, paraplegic, quadraplegic, etc.

I am the explorer who has entered the brave new world, their world, a world that isn't defined by what they cannot do. Instead, these men have taught me to define my world, my horizons, by what I can do. Our whole program is designed around the ethos that these athletes can do.

When I first began coaching these pilots and brakemen, I felt as though I was there to help them enter my world, one that I have been in for over a decade now. Its an exciting, challenging world of exhileration and growth. We use science and physics to our advantage as we roar down icy tracks at over eighty-miles an hour. We pull more G's than the astronauts do on take-off. And we do all this as a team. Again, I thought I was there as a coach to help these athletes enter my world, the world of bobsled. But I was wrong.

It's not about me or them. Its about us as we work together to grow this program, not just nationally, but internationally as well. I appreciate their patience and dedication, their willingness to learn and to try. We are breaking new ground, setting new standards, and developing new guidelines. In the words of one of my favorite TV shows, we are working to "boldly go where" no adaptive athletes have gone before.