I am learning about sled hockey, a sit-down version of ice hockey for players whose disabilities prevent them from playing stand-up hockey. Hockey using sleds? Who knew?
Turn, turn, turn! My brain screams as I careen toward the boards. My head makes the percussive sound of a hollow coconut, and I tip over. Why − given the hard, frozen surface kissing my cheek − do I feel so happy?
I’m on the ice for the first time in years thanks to Seattle Adaptive Sports (SAS), a Seattle-area nonprofit that provides access to competitive and recreational athletic activities for athletes with disabilities.
I am learning about sled hockey, a sit-down version of ice hockey for players whose disabilities prevent them from playing stand-up hockey. Hockey using sleds? Who knew?
Tami English, is executive director of SAS. Fifteen years ago, facing a scarcity of inclusive sports and social opportunities for her then-adolescent son who has cerebral palsy, she rolled up her sleeves and helped create SAS. The organization now offers multiple team sports for recreation and competition to more than 100 youth and adults. Four years ago SAS developed the sled-hockey program and the Sno-King Thunderbirds team.
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English invites me to watch a practice when I call for information about the program. “Come early,” she says before hanging up, “we’ll get you on the ice.” The idea of gliding on ice using a sled feels irresistible (less distance to fall). Plus − bonus − in sled hockey (excluding the highest levels of competition) disabled and able-bodied athletes play together.
I lure a friend, and on a Sunday morning we drive to the Sno-King Arena in Renton. Its two rinks are sled accessible, and the arena discounts rink time to SAS.
Passing through the doors separating the lobby from the ice, I long for a warmer jacket − it seems we’ve entered an aggressive refrigerator. I forget the cold, however, when wrestling into SAS’s gear.
SAS lets newcomers try sled hockey at no charge for four consecutive practices and shares gear with guests. Rummaging in bins we get hockey helmets with face cages; shoulder, chest and elbow pads; gloves and shin/knee guards. Now I know why Hulk wants to smash: All geared up, I feel invincible.
The Sno-King Thunderbirds team is open to individuals ages 15 to 50. Athletes with mobility limitations such as spinal-cord injuries and neurological disorders play, as well as anyone with a permanent disability. Athletes with double lower-limb loss tend to have an advantage in the game because they can use shorter sleds with smaller turn radii.
As participants transfer fluidly from wheelchair to sleds and slide onto the ice, we meet a few players, including the Raders. For these folks, it’s a family affair:
− Jamin Rader, 20, is a second-year Atmospheric Sciences major at the University of Washington. He began playing sled hockey two years ago following an autoimmune reaction that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Although he spent a lot of time supine on the ice his first time out, he came off the rink smiling. He had missed playing a team sport and now plays hockey weekly and competes on a national level.
− Jamin’s parents − Kurt and Heather − and his younger sisters attend practices. Kurt plays, too, and often gets placed on the same team as his son because, according to Heather, they anticipate each other’s moves.
Able-bodied players, friends, family and newcomers round out team numbers. That includes girlfriend Morgan Lockhart, 19, a second-year political science major at UW. She and Jamin ran together in high school − literally, participating in cross-country. Lockhart prefers the gradual cardio and the cold to running and says sledding is kinder on the knees.
Other participants include Bruce Dawson, 51, a programmer from Canada who began playing stand-up hockey eight years ago. Both stand-up and sled hockey give him the opportunity to pursue elusive, perfectly executed maneuvers. And he enjoys the change in dynamics when wheelchair athletes get on the ice.
Bulwarked in gear, we lumber toward our sleds. Sleds have narrow, light-gauge aluminum frames mounted on two skate blades attached under a bucket seat. Seat-backs vary in height to accommodate different needs. Sleds sit high enough for the puck to slide underneath. Players’ legs and feet are strapped into the sled.
My friend performs a girth-logarithm calculation and eyes his bucket seat with suspicion. Settling us in, English and volunteer Rich Bier secure our legs to the sleds. As they tape my feet, I think of the expression “seemed like a good idea at the time.”
We each get two “twigs” – generally 30- to 37-inch sticks with steel-pointed picks in the butt ends to propel ourselves. We will handle the “biscuit” or puck with the curved ends of the sticks. (We will not smack each other with the sticks – at least, not today.)
English and Bier haul us onto the ice. Around us, players sprint, drill and scrimmage. Sticks slapping pucks sound like firecrackers reverberating in the cold air. Whistle-screams tear around overhead.
Bier, my session guardian angel, skates besides me at the rink’s edges stand-up style. He explains rudimentary elements of the game. He hits a puck to me and tells me to both hit it back and propel myself simultaneously. He tells me about turning, using the things he apparently believes I have at my disposal such as coordination and upper-body strength. He sets me right after I keel over (again).
Sled hockey increases upper-body strength and coordination. Arms, back and abdominal muscles get a workout propelling, playing the puck, turning and stopping. Practice and conditioning increase balance both on and off the ice.
Many athletes with disabilities learn about adaptive sports during rehabilitative phases of treatment. Therapists encourage patients to participate for the physical benefits and social aspects. Jamin says, “It’s great to be part of a learning team. … It is supportive and fun to watch everyone grow.”
After a few go ’rounds I see, through the metal grid of my helmet face cage, my friend bailing. Like most newbies he spends most of his first session tipping over and sprawled on the ice. Like a fish on a frozen lake he wriggles free.
A player zooms toward me, banks and the ice hisses. I ask Bier about etiquette on the ice and he laughs saying, “There is no etiquette.” Point taken. Sled hockey − a Paralympic sport − is played the same way as stand-up hockey − fast-paced with full contact.
After watching the players tear around, I extricate myself from the gear and reluctantly part with my inner Hulk’s outerwear.
Heather Rader calls sled hockey “a gift,” saying it’s amazing to watch her husband and son play together.
“I didn’t know I’d get to witness that again in a sport after (Jamin’s) spinal-cord injury.”
The benefits of exercise, games and social interaction are universal. And adaptive team sports promote inclusion and participation, and contribute to fitness on and off the ice. Living with disabilities, especially those that impair mobility, can be isolating. Adaptive sports allow people to connect.
Sno-King Thunderbirds team-members develop long-lasting friendships and have fun doing it.
“We laugh a lot on the ice,” says Jamin, encouraging newcomers to check out the team. When you’re on sleds however, it’s game ON. If you can swing it, then bring it.”
More about Seattle Adaptive Sports
SAS programs include wheelchair-tennis and -basketball, sled hockey, power soccer and track/field. SAS is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, recognized by the US Olympic/Paralympic Committee as a Paralympic Sports Club. Many SAS alum go onto college with sports and academic scholarships – some becoming elite athletes on U.S. national and Paralympic teams. (Information: Seattle Adaptive Sports)
More about sled hockey
Sled hockey has the same rules as stand-up hockey. Each team has six players, three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. Substitutes may be made when play is stopped or on the fly. Periods last 20 minutes. Teams compete on a regulation-size ice rink with standard-size nets and puck. Checking and high-speed slap shots are common features of the sport. Two able-bodied referees call the game. (Information: Disabled Sports USA)
Upcoming
Sno-King Thunderbird Sled Hockey vs. Portland Winterhawks Sled Hockey game
Friday, Dec 30, 2016, 2 p.m.
Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Portland Winterhawks junior hockey game follows at 7:35 p.m.
Evening game includes an on-ice exhibition during first period intermission by the sled hockey teams.
ShoWare Center, 625 W James St., Kent
Purchase discounted tickets from Seattle Adaptive Sports.
2017 USA Hockey Disabled Festival
The Sno-King Thunderbirds will compete in the 13th Annual USA Disabled Hockey Festival in San Jose, Calif., April 6-9. In 2016 a record 60 sled teams from all over the U.S. competed at the national level.
Marie Koltchak works for The Seattle Times in Resale and Permissions. To avoid dropping money into the cuss jar she suggests this work around: “What the h-e-double-hockey-sticks?!
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