Let the Games Begin!
As corny as it may sound, it seems a fitting opening sentence
given that the Sochi Winter Olympics Games are just a week away and that life
is the ultimate “Game” that we're all playing for keeps. Of course not everyone gets the opportunity
to become an Olympian. I came close
though, as the Calgary Winter Olympics were squarely placed on my personal radar
especially considering that the aerials event (my forte) were to become for the
first time ever a demonstration sport in 1988.
Flash back to 1985, with three World Cups victories and more than 40
titles under my belt I was truly a World Contender and an “Olympic Hopeful”.
Welcome
to “Mike’s QuadRant” and my first official blog written at the tender age of 52
years, 10 months and 30 days old. When
you start to break down time into years, then months and finally into days you
begin to grasp the magnitude of time and the finite role each of us plays in
this vast, busy and complicated world before we run out of time and the torch
is passed on. I have always had a love
for writing and for archiving certain aspects of my life, people, events and
places that I felt were important enough to cherish, record and share with
others. From age 15 I kept a thorough
scrapbook of all my sporting achievements including victories, losses and even
some of the day-today minutia that seemed to take its rightful place in the continuum
of my life’s story. It seems somewhat
fitting to want to share my life’s highs and lows at this middle age when a
considerable amount of time is now “under the bridge” and a brand new
considerable amount of time still awaits in my future.
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| 1976 "Big Back Tuck" Flip - Mt. Cascades Quebec, Canada |
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| 1979 "Realistic Cup" Canadian National Championships Sunshine, Banff, Alberta |
To
say I’ve received my fair share of the proverbial “15 minutes of fame” would be
a huge understatement. Since winning my
1st Junior Canadian Freestyle Skiing National Championship in 1976 (1st
of 4 Shell Cups) and joining the ranks of the World Cup circuit to breaking my
neck at age 24 and driving unassisted around the world in 2001, it seems like I
was always being interviewed, quoted or featured in numerous local, national
and international media. In fact my
life’s story has been the subject of 6 international documentary films and
programs, numerous articles and news clippings and even made its way into a
variety of books chronicling some of my accomplishments. But, that is precisely why I feel compelled
to write at this point in my life to tell my story from my first person’s
perspective.
Throughout the next 12 months I will share personal stories, anecdotes, news clippings, magazine articles, photos, audio programs and video postings that run the gamut of emotions from setting monumental goals, experiencing amazing natural highs and achieving the loftiest of dreams to enduring unfathomable loss, subjected to abuse, discrimination, alienation, criticism and mischaracterizations while living a highly dependent and constant daily routine with chronic debilitating pain. A tough existence … definitely; a roller coaster ride to be sure; a life well lived, absolutely. When I look in the mirror I see a man who has lived life to the fullest; a flawed character; a perpetual fighter and an eternal optimist … check, check, check and check again.
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| 1971 "Nepean Knights" Ontario Junior Lacrosse Champions |
In
order to tell my whole story I will be going right back to my early upbringing
as the middle child in a young aspiring immigrant family settling into Canada
at age 4. I will take you on a stroll
through the formative year’s right through to my first taste of sporting
victory becoming the Ontario Junior Lacrosse Champions at age 10. I will impart some of the character
development which eventually led me into choosing to excel in an individual
sport and why I opted to pursue the emerging sport of freestyle skiing as a
combined athlete competing in all three disciplines of Ballet, Moguls and Aerials. As one of the winningness Canadian amateur skiers of all time I had the good fortune to be smack on the
cusp of an evolving sport which saw us young pioneers compete as amateurs
qualifying to join the elite ranks of the professionals and then return again
to amateurs in order to gain International Olympic Committee status.
I'll take you back to the build-up of deciding to compete for Great Britain, the obstacles and opportunities of competing for a non-alpine nation and eventually becoming Britain’s most successful skier of all time. I’ll share with you the methodical and strategic planning, the indomitable work ethic, fierce determination and constant desire needed to win my first of three world cups, two European Championships, multiple Europa Cups and 5 British Championship titles. We’ll continue the ride through the ups and downs of impending stardom through roles in a variety of feature films, numerous TV commercials and appearances, photo shoots, ski shows and endorsements in the early years of sport and sponsorship.
You’ll
be witness to how my life changed forever when in 1985 at the age of 24 and
ranked third in the world I had an accident on the trampoline breaking my neck
at the 4/5 cervical vertebrates and instantly becoming a high level
quadriplegic losing all my cherished physicality, freedom and
independence. You will literally go on an
emotional roller coaster with me over the fight to survive and the need to set
new goals and change my entire view of a reality and future that I never
planned for. You’ll understand why I
firmly believe that the true hidden ability to thrive is not on the outside nor
tangible but it is on the inside, it is intangible … it is mind, heart and soul
that we must all rely on in order to find true peace of mind, to set
larger-than-life goals and find ultimate and lasting satisfaction and
happiness.
I invite you to join me in this exciting voyage to find out what makes me tick … after all I’m just as excited about the outcome for my own life as you are for yours. My last chapters are yet to be written because they are unfolding in the moment. We all have only one life to live regardless of circumstances. If you’ve ever felt doubt, had monumental setbacks and overwhelming obstacles to overcome yet still held onto the belief that it’s going to get better and that we’re all destined for greatness … then we are already kindred spirits.
Welcome to Mike’s QuadRant!
