Update: On March 15, Taylor and his teammates beat out Russia for the gold medal in ice sledge hockey!
The 2014 Olympic Games may have come to an end, but the Paralympics are just getting started. Thousands of athletes with a range of physical and intellectual disabilities are gathered in Sochi, gearing up for the kick-off of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.
Among these athletes is 27-year-old sled hockey player Taylor Lipsett. The hometown hero is a true inspiration, refusing to let brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta) stop him from achieving his goals. This is Lipsett’s third-straight Paralympic Games. He previously helped the US team bring home a bronze and gold medal, and has high hopes of medaling once more. We caught up with Lipsett right before he left for Sochi. Read on to see what he had to say about overcoming obstacles, falling in love with sled hockey (the International Paralympic Committee calls it "sledge hockey") and saying “thank you” to his mom, who has stood by his side from day one.
This is your third time to go to the games. What does that mean to you?
It means a lot. Especially having brittle bones, with injuries being part of my life growing up. This is my tenth year on the team, so to be able to have a career that long has been a lot of fun. Hopefully, we can bring back one more gold medal from Sochi.
Growing up, at what point did you realize that you were facing obstacles that your peers didn’t face?
I was about 5. That’s my earliest memory. My doctor’s office was also the doctor’s office for the Cowboys and the Dallas Stars, so they had big posters up of all of the players they saw. I remember being 5 years old and being told that I would never be able to play sports. It was at that point that I was starting to realize that I wasn’t going to get to go out with all my friends that were signing up for Little League football and Little League baseball in the summers. I was going to have to sit on the sidelines and watch. That was hard, especially here in Texas where football and baseball are huge. It was devastating. Like, I’m never going to get the chance to be Nolan Ryan or Mike Modano or Troy Aikman. But my mom started molding me into having the mindset that it wasn’t what the doctors told me I couldn’t do. It was “let’s figure out something you can do.”
So how did you get into sled hockey?
I always tried to get as close to sports as possible. I was batboy for my brother’s baseball team and water boy in middle school for the basketball team. I was always trying to get as close to the teams as I could. My focus was on sports, but I wanted to be a doctor so I was really focused on my grades. That consumed most of my time, which paid off. I’m not a doctor, but my grades paid off. I graduated 15th in my class and got a scholarship to SMU. But that didn’t ever fill the void of being a part of a sports team. I wasn’t actually introduced to sled hockey until I was 15. That’s when everything started changing. I made the national team when I was just 17. Things changed a lot after that.
You fell in love with it?
Definitely. As soon as I tried out for the first time, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I was introduced to it by a guy that just got back from the Paralympic Games. He won a gold medal in 2002. Before that, I didn’t know about the Paralympics. I didn’t know about sled hockey. So when I found out this was something that I could do – I could go to the Paralympics; I could win a gold medal – that really started to consume me and I became really passionate about the sport and training on and off the ice. It became my life’s goal to win that gold medal.
What would you say to differently-abled kids out there who might have goals but aren’t sure how to reach them?
Never give up and explore your opportunities. I was 15 before I even knew what sled hockey was. That’s one of the big things right now in the Paralympic movement is exposing these kids to Paralympic sports. These kids don’t have to become Paralympians, but just to get them out of the house and out of their wheelchairs. Whatever their disability might be … to get them active is super important.
Outside of sports – just in life in general – they can accomplish anything in life anyone else can accomplish. We might have to do things a little differently, but when it comes down to it we can accomplish great things and inspire people and have the same successes in life as anyone else.
And what about the family and friends of those facing disabilities?
I relied so much on my mom growing up because I had to. And she was always there for me. She never left me. I never spent a minute alone in the hospital. Despite all the injuries and broken bones and surgeries and hardships, she still never held me back. She always pushed me to go for my dreams. She always encouraged me and told me I could do it, even when maybe she thought I couldn’t.
When I first told her I was going to go play sled hockey and be a Paralympic gold medalist, she probably had her doubts. But she never told me that I couldn’t do that. She knew that was something I wanted to do and I was passionate about. She really pushed me to achieve it. It doesn’t matter what your disabilities or hardships are. If you have a support system behind you, amazing things can be achieved.
What do you think would surprise people about your sport?
The speed and the physicality. People don’t picture disabled sports and physicality going hand in hand, but as soon as you see us hit the ice – especially against another country – it’s very hard hitting. The fastest guys in the world are skating about 35 mph. When they’re coming up against you full speed and checking you against those boards, it’s basically like a car collision with no car. We see injuries all the time.
You’re part of the “Thank you, Mom” campaign, sponsored by Bounty. Can you tell me about that?
The Thank you, Mom campaign has allowed people to see behind the scenes and what it took to raise a Paralympian, and not just that, but to raise a child with a disability because it’s so much different than raising your everyday kid. To be able to share our stories with thousands of people, and give hope to parents that have disabled kids, and maybe change their mindsets – maybe I don’t need to hold them back or maybe I should push them to be a little bit more adventurous and test some boundaries – it’s been awesome. It’s been awesome to be able to share my mom’s side of the story with people, to be able to show what she had to do to get me to where I’m at has been a lot of fun.
Is she excited to head to Sochi?
She’s pumped. She’s been to the first two Paralympics so this will be her third as well. Hopefully, she’s bringing the same luck that she brought in Vancouver.
Watch Taylor’s story here:
Want to watch Taylor go for the gold? View the Paralympic Winter Games television schedule.
Published March 2014
