Welcome to the Sports Are Life Podcast!!  In this episode we have part two of our three part series about the Disabled Hockey Festival in St. Louis. This episode will feature coaches and players.

First up we have three coaches from the Blind and Special Hockey programs in Chicago, Wayne Millard, Michelle Millard, and Malisa Komalarajun. They join us to talk about the games of Blind Hockey and Special Hockey from a coaches perspective.

 Michelle and Wayne also talk about the impact of special hockey from a parent's perspective. 

https://chicagoblackhawksblindhockey.com/

https://chicagospecialhockey.com/

Next we are joined by St. Louis Blues Warrior Hockey player Jamie Jordan. Warrior Hockey is for Disabled Veterans. Jamie joins us to talk about what Warrior Hockey is, what it means to the players, as well as talking specifically about the program in St. Louis. 

https://www.stlblueswarriorhockey.com/

Lastly, we have a guest joining us all the way from Oxford England. Nathan Tree is a Blind Hockey player with a really cool story. He started out playing sighted hockey, and then started going blind as he got older and then he had to stop playing sighted hockey. He talks about how he found Blind Hockey, traveling around the world to play, and trying to grow the game in England.

Twitter: 

@BlindEdSheeran

@BlindHockeyUK

@MyVisionOx

https://www.activeoxfordshire.org/news-and-events/2022/11/promoting-blind-ice-hockey-in-the-uk-active-ambassador-nathans-story

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Sports Are Life Podcast with your hosts Charlotte Mountz and Chuck Mountz, Jr!!

Jean Driscoll is a retired wheelchair racer with Spina Bifida. She won the Boston Marathon 8 times, 7 consecutive, which is a record for a female athlete in any division. She participated in four Summer Paralympic Games, winning 5 gold, 3 silver, and 4 bronze medals in events ranging from 200 meters to the marathon. She had also been involved in programming for athletes with disabilities in Ghana, West Africa, including helping to develop the guest Paralympic athletes from there. Those athletes, Raphael Nkegbe and Ajara Busanga, made history in 2004 when they became their country’s first Paralympic athletes. Today, Jean is a motivational speaker and an international advocate for people with disabilities, and is the assistant dean for advancement in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University Illinois Urbana-Champaign (https://research.illinois.edu/jean-driscoll) 

The 2023 National Disabled Hockey Festival is one of the largest disabled sporting events. Our next few episodes have some terrific interviews with people we spoke to at the USA Hockey National Disability Festival in St. Louis, MO.

We get to chat with special guests Colton Doherty from the CHROME Lab at St. Louis University, Logan Spellman from USA Hockey Disabled Hockey Program and the President and CEO of the St. Louis Blues Chris Zimmerman. We cover the off ice perspectives around this amazing event including the technology and community components that make this event world class.

Colten Doherty is a graduate student at the CHROME lab at Saint Louis University. (Collaborative, Haptics, Robotics and Mechatronics) Colten's work includes the hockey puck adaptive technology that supports blind hockey. Meet the great team of people at CHROME here: https://sites.google.com/slu.edu/gorlewicz-lab/chrome-lab-team?authuser=0

Logan Spellman is an intern within the USA Hockey disability program. Logan is passionate about the disabled hockey programs and loves contributing to USA Hockey's investment and intention to make hockey one of the most inclusive sports. You can learn more about the USA Hockey disabled programs here: https://www.usahockey.com/disabledhockey

Finally, Chris Zimmerman is the President and CEO of the St. Louis Blues. Chris joined the Blues organization in 2014 and under his leadership transformed the business and continues to uplift the hockey community in the St. Louis region. This includes supporting a variety of disabled hockey programs including blind, special and warrior hockey. The vision of Chris and the Blues organization made it possible for St. Louis to host national hockey events like this festival and many more to come.

https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/usa-hockey-disabled-festival-begins-march-30/c-342807102

https://www.usahockey.com/disabledhockeyfestival

On our very first episode, we get to chat with special guest, Josh Turek! Josh has Spina Bifida, just like Charlotte, and is a former wheelchair basketball player from the state of Iowa. He has three Paralympic medals, one World Championship medal, and three Parapan American Games medals. Mostly recently, he is a newly elected Iowa State Representative, the first permanently disabled member of the Iowa General Assembly. He also spoke at this year's Teal On The Hill, which is the Spina Bifida Association's annual National legislative advocacy event.

Charlotte Mountz

Chuck Mountz, Jr

If you would like to follow or contact Josh you can find his contact information below:

https://www.facebook.com/Turek4Iowa/

[email protected]

[email protected]

Instagram: @joshturek4iowa