The ride to Sochi is a long one, but it is nowhere as long as Marc Dorion’s journey to the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.
Originally from Bourget, Ontario, Dorion was born with spina bifida, which left him paralyzed in both legs. Despite his disability, Dorion started playing sledge hockey at four years old at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
“I found out about sledge hockey through the doctors at the hospital,” says Dorion. “I went and checked out the sport and fell in love with it immediately.”
It was not long before Dorion began sporting the Team Canada jersey. At 16 years old, he earned himself a spot on the Canadian national team and went on to be a world champion in 2008 and 2013.
At the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Dorion won his first gold medal and finished as Canada’s second-leading scorer. In 2010, he appeared at his second Paralympics at the Vancouver Games.
“Sledge hockey is a difficult sport and the journey to being on the national team was a difficult one,” says Dorion. “I worked very hard to be where I am today and I am very proud of myself.”
Sledge hockey is fast, full contact and played by athletes with a physical disability in the lower part of their bodies.
Instead of playing on skates, the athletes sit on a sledge and ride on top of two blades.
Each player uses two specially designed hockey sticks, with a curved hook at one end and spiked teeth on the other. By moving their upper bodies, players such as Dorion can maneuver themselves across the ice and slide the puck into the net.
To prepare for these Paralympic Games, the 26-year-old spent the last four years training almost 12 hours a week on the ice and another 10 hours in the gym.
“It’s been a great four years and also a very rough four years,” says Dorion. “A lot of training, preparation and dedication have been put in.”
Despite Canada’s fourth-place finish at the Vancouver Games, Dorion believes sledge hockey has gained more public awareness ever since.
“Before I found myself having to explain what sledge hockey was, and now I found myself talking more about the experiences of being on Team Canada and my experiences going to such events like the Paralympic Games,” says Dorion.
To build up excitement for the Paralympic Games, schools across Canada participated in the Paralympic Schools Week, from Feb. 24 to March 7.
Twenty-five schools were chosen to have Paralympic guest speakers.
Ottawa’s Roberta Bondar Public School welcomed wheelchair rugby player Patrice Dagenais, who spoke about his journey as a para-athlete.
“These events raise awareness about the Paralympic movement and the opportunities that exist for people of all abilities to get into the sport,” says Alison Korn, from the Canadian Paralympics Committee. “Para-sport is an excellent way to get active and have fun, and it is not exclusive to people with disabilities at the recreational level.”