The Paralympics wrapped up in Milano-Cortina Italy on March 15th with Canada taking home 15 medals, one of those silver medals was earned by Smithers BC athlete, Adam Kingsmill. Seeing people from our region shine on the world stage, spectators may wonder what is involved in reaching this highest level of competition. Recruiting people into that journey across Northern BC is Rob Stiles. While acting as both President and Programming Director at NASA (Northern Adapted Sport Association), Stiles was between delivering programs while on tour in the Peace Country region when CFURadio asked him for perspective.

Stiles pointed out that while we can celebrate two high performing winter parathletes, Adam Kingsmill & UNBC Alumni Maggie Manning, they don’t have many regional peers. Two central factors he felt were critical for any athlete's success were family support, and committed volunteerism. NASA sees both of these factors in action on a regular basis with their participants, as is typical of many successful athletes competing at top levels. Another significant hurdle to overcome is the cost. Winter sports tend to drive up the cost of participation as they require more equipment and facilities than a lot of summer sports. While many sports have accessibility barriers to overcome, winter itself amplifies pre-existing obstacles. Snow, temperature, and ice affect transportation and other factors that would-be athletes have to navigate in addition to barriers inherent in a given sport. These aspects tend to reduce participation in winter sports, compared to their summer counterparts. Perhaps the most obvious factor holding a para athlete back is the availability of a team existing for the athlete to join. If there are no teammates to play with, there will not be any athletes emerging.

This is one area where Stiles effectively works on solutions to athletic accessibility barriers. Stiles engages people across the region in para sport activities regardless of whether they are able-bodied or not. Encouraging their participation, he stated:

We often just need people, and that's where it becomes actually the most tricky. We almost have, especially in the team sports view, that people don’t want to get involved because they think they’re taking away opportunity, when actually they’re actively providing opportunity.

On that note Stiles invited residents of Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh to participate in para ice hockey on Sundays at CN Centre’s Kin1, wheelchair basketball Mondays at UNBC’s Sport Centre 4:30-6pm & 8-10pm, Wheelchair Rugby on Wednesdays 7-8:30pm. All this in addition to individual sports like adapted kayak, wheelchair tennis, badminton and more. Contact programs@northernadaptedsports.ca for more information.

- Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter