Redefining Disability

Sandy Dukat was born with a limb deficiency in her right leg, leading to an amputation above the knee at four years old. She started out competing in swimming, but switched to alpine skiing after finding her love for speed on the slopes. Sandy made the U.S. Disabled Ski Team in 2000 and would earn two bronze medals at the 2002 Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City and another bronze at the 2006 Paral...

JJ O’Connor played ice hockey growing up. When he was 16 years old, he was injured during a game that left him paralyzed. In 2002, at the 23, he was elected the chair of the disabled section for USA Hockey, a position he held for nearly two decades. JJ was instrumental in the development of sled hockey and other disciplines. He continues to coach the Chicago Hornets sled hockey team in the Chicago...

Nina Cutro-Kelly joined the Move United staff in 2023 as a Competition Manager, directly supporting Move United sanctioned competitions and Nationals. She represented Team USA at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The nine-time World Team member continued her competitive success in 2022 when she reached the podium at the Pan American Championships, winning her fifth career medal at the event. Cutro-Kelly...

Adam Popp is a 12-year combat veteran of the Air Force with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007, while working to disarm a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, Adam was injured by a secondary IED resulting in the amputation of his right leg above the knee. In the years following his injury, Adam endeavored to find meaning and purpose. Ultimately, he found that running, sports, and advocacy work...

Trevon Jenifer was born with a congenital amputation. He was a successful track athlete in his early years and a top wrestler in high school, finishing third in his weight class at the Maryland state tournament his senior year. Trey started playing wheelchair basketball in 1992 and was a three-year captain and two-time All-American for Edinboro University’s men’s wheelchair basketball team. He is...

Troy Davis was born with a brittle bone disease and would be introduced to wheelchair sports in 1989. He would earn numerous national records in the sprints, would compete at the World Championships in 1994, and would be a member of Team USA for the 2000 Paralympic Games in Australia. Troy was recruited to be part of the University of Arizona first Wheelchair Athletics Team. He went on to coach th...

U.S. Marine Corps Master Sergeant Todd Smalenberg has suffered a number of injuries throughout his military career. But while on a combat patrol in Afghanistan in 2013, he severely reinjured his left ankle which led to a below-the-knee amputation. He originally got involved in adaptive sports to regain confidence and normalcy after the amputation and to play tag with his grandson.

Sarah Bettencourt graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2005 and earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University while serving with the 23rd Marine Regiment. The Marine Corps Captain was forced to retire in 2012 due to a neurological disorder just one month before earning her wings as a Cobra helicopter pilot. Since then, Sarah founded the San Diego Ducks Sled Hockey...

At the age of 14, Todd Huston’s legs got caught in the propeller of a boat and would eventually lead to one of them being amputated. Todd became a psychotherapist and clinical director of the Amputee Resource Center in California. He used his professional skills and personal experiences to help patients achieve more in their lives. To prove that anyone can overcome challenges he completed a world-...

Zach Miller was born with cerebral palsy. He was introduced to para snowboarding at Winter Park through the Children’s Hospital in Denver. He started racing through NSCD, a Move United member organization then attended Ski Spectacular and met some of the U.S. Team at a race camp there. He also connected with Daniel Gale and Amy Purdy at Adaptive Action Sports, another member organization at Copper...

Eddy Hutchens has bowled out of a wheelchair since 1990. In 2003-04, he started subbing in a league and then was hooked. Eddy won his first national championship with the American Wheelchair Bowling Association in 2004, his my first year out. Now, he is president of the AWBA.

Cecile Brown had her foot amputated around the age of four or five and started skiing around the same time with Central Maine Adaptive Sports, a Move United member organization. She got into race skiing with Maine Adaptive Sports, another member organization, and has also started racing with her high school ski team. Just last week, she also attended race camp at The Hartford Ski Spectacular in Co...

Keith Gabel was introduced to snowboarding in 2000 and he quickly developed a love for the sport. In June 2005, he was involved in an industrial accident that crushed his left foot, ultimately leading to amputation. Three months later, he was back on the board. Now he is a 3X Paralympian and 2X Paralympic medalist.

As a first generation American, Alex Godowksk’s family were all into skiing, but he wanted to snowboard. While in high school, Alex was involved in a motorcycle accident, which caused him to lose his right foot. Getting back on the mountain with BOEC in Breckenridge helped get Alex out of the hole he felt he was in. Right then, Alex decided that his life had to evolve around para snowboarding some...

Debra Freed enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 23. She became a jet engine mechanic with assignments in Maine and Japan. She saw a promo for wheelchair bowling at the 2004 National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Though she had never bowled in her life, she was like why not? She has now been selected for Para Team USA's International Bowling Federation's World Cup to be held in Hong Kong in January...

rank Goebel II is a military veteran who served 11 years in a National Guard infantry unit. He’s been a bowler all of his life, becoming fascinated with the sport by age 5. He competed in high school, college, and as a league bowler. When he was 30, a neurological condition got worse and he uses a wheelchair most of the time to assist with everyday mobility. But the day he got his wheelchair, he w...

Sam Schaefer injured his foot during an Air Force training exercise. After 9 years of pain, he opted for amputation to get his quality of life back. He is now a personal trainer, fitness coach, and small business owner who enjoys kickboxing, disc golf, and many other activities. He recently completed a climb of one of Ecuador’s highest peaks with ROMP and is currently featured in the documentary,...

Emily Oberst was diagnosed with bone cancer when she was in eighth grade, which required surgery on her left leg. Sports was her life and basketball was her favorite sport. Eventually, she started playing wheelchair basketball for a local NWBA program in Milwaukee. She was recruited to play at the collegiate level for the University of Alabama but would transfer to the University of Illinois and s...

Tracy Danzey competed in track and swimming in high school. While attending Shepherd University and upon graduating, she kept an active lifestyle with activities like kayaking and hiking. At the age of 25, the intensive care nurse was diagnosed with cancer and would ultimately have her right leg amputated. In recent years, she has started to play with the U.S. women’s amputee soccer team, which wi...

Emi Perry grew up in Japan, but moved back to the United States in 2011 to attend college, where she studied exercise science. She was a runner before sustaining a spinal cord injury in 2017. She started competing in wheelchair racing and then para triathlon in 2022. Emi joined the resident team in Colorado Springs the following year and just represented the United States at the 2024 Paralympic Ga...

After a life-changing car accident as a teenager, Judge Patricia Broderick had two choices: remain in the safe haven of her parents or reinvent herself and find a new path through life as a woman in a wheelchair. She chose the latter. Graduating from law school, her career spans from being a volunteer social worker in Ecuador to a senior judge in the District of Columbia. Judge Broderick also advo...

Jason Tabansky grew up in South Texas. He spent over 15 years in the U.S. Army as a helicopter crewmember and instructor and had deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. He incurred a spinal cord injury due to an epidural abscess, which compressed his spinal cord. Jason participated in a golf clinic with Move United in 2018, but then really got into archery. He has competed in the Texas Regional Games an...

Chris Hammer was born with one hand, the result of a congenital condition. He grew up playing multiple sports such as baseball and ice hockey, but ran cross country in high school. He would continue distance running at Grand Valley State University. In 2013, he would also get into paratriathlon. The 4X Paralympian earned his first gold medal last month at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. He’s a...

Courtney Ryan was playing on the women’s soccer team at Metropolitan State University in Denver when she suffered an injury that left her paralyzed. She would be recruited by and transferred to the University of Arizona to play wheelchair basketball and finish her degree, winning a national title there as well. At the 2020 and 2024 Paralympic Games, she has been an integral member of Team USA’s me...

Casey Orndorff was born with cerebral palsy. He got started in sports by joining his track team in high school and then the cross country team his senior year. This propelled him to earn a cross country scholarship to West Virginia Tech, where he competed all four years and served as the team captain. As an adult, he has continued to compete in a number of events, including the Little Rock Half Ma...