Though the holiday season has come and gone, the winter weather is still hanging around and perhaps so is cabin fever! In December, Gliding Stars, an adaptive ice skating program located in Erie, Pennsylvania, was the focus of an article that shed some light on ways to have fun this winter. For people with disabilities who find themselves with a more competitive nature, there is always sled hockey!
Megan, born with Spina Bifida, sails across the ice to get the puck!
Something new coming to Hershey, PA is a sled hockey team. Sled hockey is a sport that is played by many athletes with disabilities all over the globe. According to USA Hockey, the sport started in Sweden when a few hockey players wanted to continue playing the sport with a physical disability. As the sport grew in popularity, 50 teams across the country started sprouting up. That number is soon to rise to 51 thanks to the efforts of Stephanie Reighard.
When Reighard’s sister Megan, who was born with Spina Bifida, turned 5, her parents wanted to find a way to get her more involved with other kids. That’s when a therapist suggested sled hockey. Years later, realizing how much sled hockey positively influenced her sister, Reighard moved to Hershey. As a stay-at-home mom, she realized she could do more for the community and help transform individuals in the same way her sister had been influenced. In December 2011, with the help of Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital, Reighard opened up the Hershey Arena to showcase a sled hockey scrimmage and to allow interested individuals a chance to try it.
Sled hockey is played by similar rules to ice hockey, and all of the protective gear worn is the same. For sled hockey, players sit in a sled designed with two long blades along the bottom and use two sticks to hit the puck and to propel themselves across the ice. The team being established in Hershey is open to any person with a disability.
“We can create a sled for anyone and any type of disability,” Reighard said. “If they are willing to try, they can participate.”
At this stage in the game, Reighard and the other organizers are looking for more people who are interested in playing on one of two teams varying in competitiveness for both adults and youth. Before they can really start asking for donations of equipment and funds from the community, they need to have enough participants eager to play. The teams will most likely practice once a month in Hershey until more people are recruited and the program can really be established.
It’s Reighard’s dream to one day be affiliated with a big name franchise like the Hershey Bears. Currently, she is teaming up with the Hershey Jr. Bears, a hockey association that promotes the sport among the youth in Central Pennsylvania.
The support from the community and from people with disabilities who are interested in playing and participating in the sport has been phenomenal. Reighard’s passion for the program and team are evident and her goal doesn’t just end with hockey. She envisions an entire program of adaptive sports for Central Pennsylvania and hopes to include sports like soccer and basketball in the future.
“The boundaries are limitless,” she said. “I have seen so many transformations of kids and adults who have started out as introverts and quiet. Now they are talkative and ready to play anytime. Watching it happen in front of my eyes has changed my life.”
According to Reighard, hockey is a sport for everyone and you’ll never know until you attempt it, but in order to try, you need the opportunity to do so. The new team in Hershey is coming to be because of just that. They take their motto from USA Hockey which strives to, “Put Your Disability on Ice.”
For more information on becoming a member of the team or how to become an on-ice or off-ice volunteer, contact Stephanie Reighard at 814-410-9230 or at sreighard310@yahoo.com.
Let Living Well With A Disability™ assist you in finding other recreational resources and opportunities too! Contact the Living Well With A Disability’s hotline at 1-877-865-4893.