Paralympian Josh Dueck Shares his Intimate Connection between Body and Sit Ski
It's hard to grasp the gravity of a major life change. In an instant everything is flipped on its head. Seemingly, no one can be prepared for the emotional intensity and uncertainty that comes with such a shift. Even more so, the choices and decisions you make can build momentum to accelerate you forward or just as easily make you fall backward. Josh Dueck chose to strap in, and move forward.
From a young age, Dueck found skiing down a mountainside his outlet to express freedom and creativity. At the age of 23, at his snow-covered sanctuary in Vernon, B.C. Josh's life took a drastic turn. While coaching the Silver Star Freestyle Ski Club, Dueck demonstrated a jump for his students that dislocated his back and severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down.
Nine months later, in the time that it takes most people to recover from an ACL injury, Josh found his freedom once again, back on the mountain. This time, using a sit ski. It wasn't long until Dueck was racing down the slopes, cutting corners quicker and with greater precision than the rest—nothing but a fountain of snow spewing out from underneath him. He went on to win medals in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics, Winter X-Games, World Championship, World Cup, and gained international fame when he became the first sit skier in history to complete a backflip in 2012.
"Even before I got back on the mountain it was an exhilarating process of trying to find a sit ski and learning how to sit into it. I was immediately focused on finding ways to make my equipment truly connect with my body, so that I could ski the way I skied before," Josh Dueck told Bodypoint, Inc. during an interview.
In a constant pursuit of better connecting his body to his wheelchair and his sit ski, Dueck found countless, cherished supporters who he credits for helping him achieve much of his success. After teaming up with the world leader in design and manufacture of postural support devices, Bodypoint, Inc., Dueck further evolved both his wheelchair and sit ski. He also began using a variety of Bodypoint, Inc. products including the Monoflex™, Evoflex®, and Stayflex™ Chest Support, which provided Dueck with the utmost stability, control and power over his movement. These devices were in no way the sole reason for his achievements but they helped him reach his full potential on the ski slopes.
Most recently, Dueck won the silver medal in the men's sitting downhill at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics in March, ten years to the day of his accident—carrying a great deal of significance to him personally. Days later, he brought home the gold medal in the men's super combined race.
"With the Bodypoint products I don't feel like I'm sitting on my wheelchair anymore, I feel like it's a part of who I am," admits Dueck. "Bodypoint helps make the connection between the person and the equipment. And if you have that intimate connection you can do anything. You can transcend the disability."
Watch Josh Dueck in the new Bodypoint, Inc. YouTube video and enter for a chance to win some of the products he uses here: http://ow.ly/ANOat
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