Quesnel’s next sledge hockey sensation should be an inspiration to Paralympic and able-bodied athletes alike.
Trevor Adelman is one of 16 competitors from B.C. who will be competing in the 2018 Sledge Hockey Canadian National Championships in Richmond this May.
He discovered the sport around a decade ago when attending school in Toronto. A family friend introduced him to it and he was hooked.
“I grew up playing hockey since I was five,” Adelman says.
“I played for the rep teams here in town and played for Langley for a bit when I was 15 to 16.”
It is the team aspect that really engages him and he says the sport builds great rehab skills.
“It’s nice when you’re disabled to get back on the ice and contribute to a team and make a positive impact.”
When he moved back to Quesnel in 2010, Adelman entered into a program that James Gemmell, a member of the Canadian National Sledge Hockey team, had started, but he says it often doesn’t have enough players.
Adelman went a different route and put his energy into playing rock and country music for a couple years, even moving down to Nashville to give it his all.
While in the home of the Grand Ole Opry House, he came into contact with a lot of sledge hockey athletes and continued to play.
Although Tennessee might be an odd place for a thriving sledge hockey scene, Adelman says the disability rate is a lot higher in the United States because of war veterans, so the programs are excellent.
“They funded us and I played some national tournaments down there, and in Florida and Buffalo, which was an awesome experience.”
This year, Adelman has put in a lot of time on the ice and Gemmell, who will be coaching Team B.C., said he’d give Adelman the opportunity to play.
While he has had some injuries in the last couple months, he is eager to take the ice and contribute.
“I’d like to push the sledge hockey thing as far as I can. It’d be nice to get invited to some national camps and, down the road, maybe even play on the team.”
If successful turns at playing music and sledge hockey weren’t enough, Adelman is also a race car driver.
He says the sport has played a big role in his life.Adelman’s father was a racer and he started building cars when he was 15 years old.
“We’re racing in WESCAR, which is like late-model stock cars,” he says.
“I set a couple track records last year and hopefully we’re going to make a run at a championships this year.”
Since being paralyzed in a car accident in 2004, Adelman hasn’t let the weight of his afflictions keep him down for too long.
“Life’s been awesome to me,” he says.
“The community in Quesnel has been a tremendous support and my friends and family from around here have made it easy for me to do whatever I want.”