Speaker 1:
Are you ready? Let's go.
From AMI Central, now start playing in the neutral zone. Here's a pitch on the way. 36 yards for the wind.
This. Here comes the big chance, the shot. Is this the tiger? The Neutral Zone.
Oh, my God. This is as good as it gets.
Now here's your host, two-time Paralympian, Brock Richardson.

Speaker 2:
Hello and welcome to this week's edition of The Neutral Zone. I am indeed your host, Brock Richardson. And I am alongside two co-hosts, as always. But before I bring them on I'm going to tease you all and tell you that I learned a tidbit for today and I thought that I should share it. But let's bring on the because for now.
Let's bring on Cam. Cameron, how are you?

Speaker 3:
I'm doing good, Brock. Looking for another great episode of the Neutral Zone. It was a good weekend too, family day weekend, so I got to have lunch with my parents and got to hang out with the buddy too, so it was a great weekend.

Speaker 2:
Love those weekends. Love them. And also joining us is Claire Buchanan. Claire, how are you?

Speaker 4:
I'm doing fantastic. I also had a jam-packed family day weekend. Lots of fun. Got to hang out with a bunch of people and got the kiddos together, so that's always a blast. It was a great weekend.

Speaker 2:
Yeah, I love those weekends.
So here's the tidbit of information I learned for the day. So our other co-host, let's call him Amigo for this particular purpose, Josh Watson sends me a screenshot today and says, "This came across my feed today." And it was the fact that he has been with us on the Neutral Zone for three years, which is really hard to believe that one. Josh Watson has been with us for three years.
Cameron, you've been with us from the beginning. So that's six years now, getting close to seven I think.
Oh no, five going on to six. I'm getting ahead of myself on the dates, but Claire, do you remember the day that you started with us or approximately, because I don't?

Speaker 4:
The day? No, not the day, but it was roughly September, of 2019, I guess, right before the pandemic, the September before the whole world shut down. I was only in studio with you guys I think maybe two or three times, and then we got summoned to our homes for the rest of the time.

Speaker 2:
Yes. Well, I remember that our first episode was June 10th, almost six years ago this coming June, so we've been around the block for a while and it's all been good to go.
So that was a tidbit of information I learned today, which I thought was fascinating because I did not think Josh has already been with us for three years. So that's how fast...

Speaker 3:
I never would've guessed it because...

Speaker 4:
Time flies when you're having fun.

Speaker 3:
It sure is. And it just feels a lot longer for me because before AMI took us on, I was doing the show beforehand too. So through AMI, it's been five or six years or... I can't even count that high to be honest with you. Altogether, it seems like it's been about nine or 10 years of doing this show.

Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's been a long time.
Coming up on today's show is CrossFit Athlete, Jedediah Snelson. Plus we are also going to be joined by Graham Foxcroft who's going to be coming on chatting about blind hockey, and he'll even get into the upcoming Canadian Blind Hockey Championships that will be happening in March later on. So really fascinating show to get us going. Let's get into our headlines for this week.

Speaker 1:
Neutral Zone headline headlines.

Speaker 3:
A well-known soccer player from Ghana, Christian Atsu was among the victims of the earthquake in Turkey. Charles De Ledesma gives us the details.

Speaker 6:
Atsu, the Ghana International Ford who played for Premier League clubs, Chelsea and Newcastle, has died in the earthquake in Turkey. Atsu's manager says, search teams had recovered Atsu's body in the ruins of a luxury 12-storey building where he'd been living in the city of Antakya, Hatay province in Turkey.
Atsu had joined the club Hatay Spore just in September.
Antakya, the city where Hatayspor is based is in the southern region of Turkey, one of the hardest-hit areas.
The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude quake has now passed 43,000.
I'm Charles De Ledesma.

Speaker 4:
Wheelchair Rugby Canada is thrilled to announce that Canada will send a women's team to Paris to compete in the 2023 Women's Cup.
This will be Canada's first international competition dedicated specifically to female wheelchair rugby athletes.

Speaker 2:
In the interim, the Canadian Football League has taken over ownership of the Montreal Alouettes as the previous ownership has relinquished control.
Danny Maciocia, as I try to get that out in English, will remain in his position as the GM and continue with his day-to-day obligations. This is a good sign for the CFL. I think that Montreal is one of the meccas, the originals for the CFL, so it's good to see that even though ownership has passed through hands, that something will stay in as normal for the organization.

Speaker 3:
And I think the CFL, they just need to get better ownership because this seems to happen every few years as well, getting new owners or the league having to be able to take care of them until they get a new owner. Hopefully, they get their business together and are able to find a new owner quite quickly.
Major League baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred confirmed that the Oakland A's owner has the intention and desire to move the franchise to Las Vegas. This makes the third sports franchise to move to Vegas In the last six years.

Speaker 4:
In honour of his 60th birthday on February 17th, basketball Hall-of-Famer, Michael Jordan has made the largest donation ever to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The donation was of $10 million.

Speaker 2:
Got to love that, when athletes donate to great causes like the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Let's check in on our Twitter poll question. Last week's Twitter poll question is, "Were you satisfied with the Toronto Raptors deadline?"
89% of you said no. 11% of you said yes.
This week's question is one that we're going to follow up with on a conversation next week. Do you think that professional athletes have too much say in their day-to-day operations of their organizations?
Your options are yes, they have too much, no, they don't have enough, or they should stay exactly the way they are.
You can cast your votes at our Twitter handles coming at you right now.

Speaker 7:
And welcome back to the Neutral Zone AMI broadcast booth, and we are set to get this ballgame underway. The first pitch brought to you by Brock Richardson's Twitter account, @neutralzonebr.
First pitch strike. And hey gang, why not strike up a Twitter chat with Clair Buchanan from the neutral zone. Find her @neutralzonecb.
And there's a swing and a chopper out to second base right at Claire. She picks up the ball, throws it over to first base, four, a routine out.
And fans. There is nothing routine about connecting with Cam and Josh from the neutral zone, @neutralzonecamj and @jwatson200.
Now that's a winning combination.
And this organ interlude is to you by AMI Audio on Twitter. Get in touch with the Neutral Zone. Type in @AMIaudio.

Speaker 2:
One of the great things about doing this program is that we get to collaborate as a group and figure out what kind of guests we want on from week to week. And it's a wonderful thing to do as producer and to have such people around me to fill spots.
And today, that went to Claire Buchanan as she's been working with our guest in getting the content we're about to have today. And so Claire, I hand it over to you.

Speaker 4:
Thank you, Brock.
Our first guest today is one of the most decorated adaptive CrossFit athletes. Jedediah Snelson joins us from Meridian, Idaho.
Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 8:
Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3:
So Jedediah, as I understand you've competed in eight adaptive CrossFit games. Can you maybe give us some insight on how you got started in that sport?

Speaker 8:
Yes, and I know you gave me the pre-questions, but I actually wanted you to ask this so I can clarify it for a lot of people because it gets mixed up often. But it is a CrossFit competition. However, for the adaptive classes so far, the CrossFit organization has not really been involved. It's been another organization that runs our CrossFit competitions called WheelWOD. So the actual world championships is the WheelWOD games. And I just want to clarify that because a lot of people confuse CrossFit the organization and CrossFit the sport. And so I actually wanted to address that way.
But to answer your question, how I got involved is I've been in involved in sports for quite a while now. I raced motocross for 17 years, five years of those professionally as a minor league athlete. And then I went on to work as a strength and conditioning coach four years full-time in the major leagues for that sport, Pro tour, but also worked in other action sports like X Games athletes and various other pro-athletes. That way I worked for four years, but I was a strength and conditioning coach for 12 years.
And then during that time, I started racing again for fun once I got out of doing the strength and conditioning full-time as a coach. And that's when I got hurt. I had a paralyzing accident at a winter race where I was thrown off the track and where I was thrown off the track, the ground was frozen, so it was like hitting concrete and that's what caused my paralyzing accident, amongst several other injuries.
The common denominator for me in my whole life is I have to have a competitive outlet. I'm just a very competitive driven person, and so I knew that if I didn't have an outlet for that, that that's when I would become emotionally, mentally in a troubled state.
Right out of recovery, I started looking at what was options. And I was looking at actually getting adaptive downhill mountain bike racing because it's very similar to motocross but yet different, so it was a nice new thing.
But of course, the bikes are very expensive and the basic summation was especially coming out of rehab, was I needed to rebuild myself. I needed to get fit and strong again.
So especially coming from a strength and conditioning coach background, I just started looking and building workouts for myself and looking for different ideas because I had never worked with anybody in a wheelchair, so all that was brand new to me.
And along the way, finding different videos on YouTube and whatnot, I found Adaptive CrossFit. I found Stouty had built WheelWOD, had put up some videos and some workouts that he had built. Kevin Ogar is another name in the CrossFit world that had started really helping build adaptive CrossFit himself.
So that's the platform that I was using for my conditioning and trying to rebuild myself.
And then in 2015, they had the first online WheelWOD games, which was in conjunction with CrossFit. And the fact that they were taking the CrossFit open workouts and they were adapting them for the adaptives at that point. And it was very basic. It was just a spreadsheet that Chris Stoutenburg had put together and there was about 20 some odd athletes from around the world that we all participated. And that's how I got started.
But once I did that first competition, even being an online competition, I was hooked and I knew that that's what my true calling was and that's where I was meant to be, and so that is how my CrossFit journey got started.

Speaker 2:
Can you talk to us a little bit about the different divisions that are in Adaptive CrossFit and how each is suited for variations of disabilities?

Speaker 8:
Yeah, absolutely. So it honestly started real basic and it was just seated athletes at that point. So it was just athletes in wheelchairs that first couple years because Chris Stoutenburg, the gentleman that started WheelWOD, he was in a wheelchair, so that's all he really knew.
But as he had built that and as we got involved those first two years of doing the CrossFit competitions, there were several other adaptive athletes from various other permanent disabilities that were like, "We want to get involved in this too. How do we get involved in?"
So from there, it started to escalate. At first it was just upper athletes as far as anybody with upper impairment with a limb or multi-limb. And then there was the lower where they were still standing athletes, but they maybe had a limb deficiency of some sort that didn't allow them to compete as an abled body.
And so it just built from there.
And now we've grown to the point to where there's 11 different divisions anywhere from the upper, there's a one point of contact to a two-point of contact. Maybe they have a hand disability or they're an amputee from the elbow down so they can still use their other arm for some functionality. And so they're considered a two point of contact to somebody that has a complete missing limb where it's just one point of contact.
Same for the lower. There's one point of contact where their limb is gone from the hip down, so they really only have a single limb to where maybe their second limb is from the knee down, so they use a prosthetic or whatever, so they really have two points of contact.
And without getting too far into the weeds, there's major neuro, minor neuro for neurological disabilities. There's short stature. In the seated, there's now two different divisions. There's what is considered with hip function, so maybe somebody that completes all the workouts from a chair, but they do have partial use of their legs or hip influence to somebody like myself who is a complete para where I have no use of my hips or legs. I'm strictly from the waist up.
And I just see it growing even more, be more divisions to come. Right now, a lot of those impairments sometimes depending on numbers in a competition, it'll be vision or hearing loss, and they'll compete against each other. It just depends on how many athletes are involved and how we grow and how these divisions split, and how we can get more detailed and try to be more and more like the divisions in the Paralympics.
Even for example, at some competitions like the World Championships, if there's enough athletes competing from a certain category, they will even make a secondary split.
For example, this year at the WheelWOD games, for seated one or seated without hip function, one of the divisions I competed, we all competed against each other, all the paras, all the people without hip function.
However, when we'd get onto the floor for a workout, there might be two weight divisions as far as if you're a high para, so maybe a T six or above where you don't really have ab control or core control, and they would have a set weight.
And then there was me a low para where I have core control where I had a higher weight to try and even out that competition between the two, not necessarily enough to make a full secondary class, but enough to split the weights so we can competitively against each other.

Speaker 3:
Now aside from the biggest competition, which I believe is the CrossFit games, what does your competition schedule look like?

Speaker 8:
So that continues to evolve as well. The thing I'm most proud about adaptive CrossFit and CrossFit, in general, is it is truly a worldwide sport and it is truly open to the world as far as competing. A lot of the competitions because of the number of athletes involved have been American based, but we're starting to see that grow even.
So I generally compete... I always compare it to MMA fighting. It's not the sport that you can compete each and every weekend if you wanted to. Your body just can't handle that. You have to do training camps for a particular competition so that you peak and then have recovery, and then you can build towards peaking again. So I'll typically compete four or five times a year depending on the year. And right now I'm in the middle of the CrossFit Open, which actually is involved with CrossFit and they do now have adaptive divisions that are involved in that. That's a three-week online competition that is worldwide.
From there, I'm going to go to a WheelWOD Sanctional. It's an independent competition that would be considered a regional competition in Florida. And the winner of that competition automatically qualifies to go to the WheelWOD games.
So WheelWOD helped program that they help run the adaptive side of that competition.
There are several different sanctionals. There's one in Mexico City that will take place in August. I'm not competing in that one, but I will be competing in another one in Barcelona in September. And it's a larger sanctional, so they'll actually take the top three in each division to the WheelWOD games so as to qualify. It just depend.
And then obviously the world championships, the WheelWOD games will take place in December, and so depending on how my seasons go and how successful I'm in some of these competitions, I could have more competitions. There's an online qualifier that's open worldwide for everybody who can't travel to just compete online in trying to qualify for the WheelWOD games if they want to go to that, but they can't necessarily travel to some of these sanctionals. So a lot of different various ways to get involved and compete in adaptive CrossFit that way.

Speaker 2:
Sounds really cool. And you get to do lots of travelling.
CrossFit is obviously not for the faint of heart, but what is it about the sport that keeps you coming back?

Speaker 8:
I think the biggest thing, there are two sides to that. For me personally, there's obviously, as I spoke about the competitive nature that I have that I always want to fulfill, so it just gives me that outlet that way to compete.
And the beauty of CrossFit as an individual sport is yes, you are competing against others, but the beauty of CrossFit is, there are so many different variables involved when it comes to true fitness that you really are competing against yourself and measuring yourself, and how you evolve as an athlete as far as various skill levels and movements, building strength, building endurance.
There are so many different things that you can consistently improve on yourself. And so really you can go to a competition and feel like, "I necessarily didn't place as well as I wanted to, but man, as an individual I am like I've excelled so much in this side and in this area," and still be happy and take something out of that.
And so that's one of the things I love about CrossFit.
But the other thing that really keeps me passionate about CrossFit is whether you compete or not, just the methodology of functional fitness, what it brings for individuals as a whole, able body and end those with disabilities that compete in the adaptive or that perform adaptive CrossFit, I'm a big proponent of.
Whether you have a desire to compete or not, CrossFit is something that will change your life. And why that is because it is truly functional fitness.
I always tell people from my standpoint, living in a wheelchair, life is awkward movements. Well, CrossFit is awkward movements and so it helps strengthen me in awkward movements that the independence I have as somebody that does CrossFit compared to somebody that's has my same injury, my same level of disability, the independence I have is incredible from doing CrossFit.
I'm a real big ambassador and proponent of whether you ever feel like you're going to compete, if you're somebody that is trying to stay fit, that is trying to better themselves in life, CrossFit is one of the best methodologies for doing that and really building yourself to be more independent and just have a better quality of life.

Speaker 3:
It's interesting that you said about the personal best or the PB because I know in para sports when I used to compete in both track and field, that's what we were taught, is about always getting your personal best and trying to better it, because sometimes you're in a classification where you were the only one there, so you were always just trying to better yourself. So it's really interesting that you say that, and I think a lot of sports are like that.

Speaker 8:
100% because as we all know, every injury or every disability can be very unique, and so sometimes we're trying to measure fitness, but it's hard to measure fitness without ability becoming involved. And so when you have that factor of some people just have more ability than others, it's hard to really measure yourself against another individual. And so the fact that with this sport you can just measure yourself as a whole, that's what keeps people involved and that's what keeps people excited. Because otherwise it could get very disheartening if you come to a particular competition where everybody has more ability, hundred percent, even though you may be fitter than them. So that's one thing I love about that.

Speaker 3:
And you've competed at eight CrossFit games and you've come away with World Championships three times. So, back, back to back. Can you tell us how you're able to continue your success so consistently?

Speaker 8:
I think there's two sides to that. I think one side is the fact of the growth and the evolution of the sport.
When I first started, it was only one seated class, so back to what I was just talking about, one, there's been a lot of new faces. It's been ever changing it. It's disappointing a little bit in that I've been one of the only faces to continually be there year and year. And the competition is starting to solidify, and probably the last four to five years, there's been a staple of regular people that we see continually showing up. But prior to that it was always new faces, these people trying out CrossFit.
And so through that consistency, I've been able to continue to build and evolve my fitness to where I just continuing to grow and improve. And that's helped me just through that consistency of time.
But the other thing is that when I first started, there was only one seated division, so I was competing with people that had more ability than me. And while someone may look at that as a negative, the lowest I've ever finished in the WheelWOD games is second. I was second for the first five years before being able to take that number one spot. But I never got discouraged because I was always improving.
With the exception of two years, it was always a different person beating me. And it was always somebody that had more ability than me, and that just drove me to be better. Even though I was competing against people that had more ability, it taught me to perform, individually, at another level that when there finally was that division where I was competing with more similar people with similar abilities, that I had built myself better through having to compete against these others prior. That was a big factor

Speaker 2:
For sure. What is your favourite event at competitions and do you have one that you dread seeing on the schedule?

Speaker 8:
So it tends to vary because the thing about CrossFit and especially at the World Championships, one of the common themes is the unknown and the unknowable.
There's not a consistent workout. There are benchmark workouts or competition pieces that we'll use sometimes to go back to reference or measure ourselves, but for the most part, it's ever changing. There's not a set template where it's cataloged where you do this, this, and then this and that. It's always changing.
With CrossFit, there's 10 components or 10 factors of fitness that they use to measure. For example, some of those would be endurance, balance, agility, power, strength, coordination.
So these are all different components of fitness that they put together, and which ones they pair together or which ones they choose to build can make the workouts very different from year to year.
To answer that question, the one thing I can say is if there is something that requires a higher level of suffering to get through, I tend to excel in those, because my prior sports experience working with racing motorcycles and motocross, that is one of the most physically demanding sports rated in the world. And it is all about suffering. And so I have this mental perspective of knowing I can suffer a lot more than others can, and so I tend to excel at those. Even though it doesn't sound pleasant, those are right up my alley.
The ones I don't look forward to is some of the individual movements that I tend to struggle with. I still struggle with wall balls, which to explain, a wall ball is a medicine ball of a various weight anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds, and you have to throw it to a certain target at a certain height, which can vary, for my division, anywhere from eight to 10 feet.
And I'm a T-Rex with my arms. I have a very short arm length. So those are a struggle for me, something I still struggle with today, and so I'm usually not a fan when I see wall balls.

Speaker 3:
I hear what you're saying on that because every once in a while, the gym that I go to, they have a six week, so you can try to get in better shape or lose some weight and you have six weeks to do it. And what you're describing is like what they made me do, but I just had to throw it up so high as I could on a wall just to see where I was when I started the six weeks and then after the six weeks. And I understand what you mean about the T-Rex, because I got those too. So it was really hard to do that, man.

Speaker 8:
Yeah, those are a struggle.

Speaker 3:
What's next for you as far as your competitions? Because food and what you put in your body is so huge as well, can you maybe talk about nutrition a little bit?

Speaker 8:
Absolutely. So I think the one fundamental thing when people ask me about nutritious is just good whole foods. But as individuals with disabilities, we all vary so much from person to person as far as how our digestive tracks works.
And then just our normal chemical body makeups are different, and so different foods work for different people.
And honestly, I believe this for able-bodied people as well.
There is no set diet or no set nutrition. I believe the best plan is eating whole foods, avoiding sugars, processed foods. It's a big component in trying to just stick to whole foods of good quality.
But past that, I think you have to play with things that work better for your body and find... I've tested different foods during different weeks and just really paid attention to how it affects me, my energy levels, how I feel, whether or not I have bloating or not.
A lot of that comes into play, and so it's just really being mindful of trying to eat consistently and figure out what foods really respond well to me and my digestive system, and then just keeping it basic and sticking to that.
I'll typically eat the same thing during the week, and then I have, I don't really want to call it a cheat day, but a refuelling day, I call it, where I don't measure my food. I allow myself to eat what I crave because if we listen to our bodies, they'll typically tell us what we need. And so on my refuelling day, some might look at it as a cheat day. I look at it more as my body is wanting more protein. I'm craving a big hamburger or something. Or some weeks it's like, "I want something more sweet. I'm low on the different nutrients that would come more from carbohydrates, and so I'm craving that more, so I'll eat more of that on that Saturday. It just depends on where my body's at and the training low I load I had the week before."

Speaker 2:
Wow, just really incredible. This is my last question and I just want to put out there, you are a better human than I could ever be because ignoring that cheeseburger that you really want for long periods of time, man, I don't know why I could do that. Kudos to what you've done and what you continue to do.
And just quickly, how could people get involved in CrossFit if they so choose?

Speaker 8:
Thank you for that by the way. I appreciate those compliments. I struggle the same as everybody else, but it all comes down to our goals and what we're trying to reach.
But as far as people get involved in CrossFit, it's real simple. For whatever area you live in, get on your phone and Google CrossFit. I always tell them, find two or three boxes, that's what they call CrossFit gyms, a box. Find two or three boxes in your local area that's close to you and try them out. Go and talk to them. "Hey, are you open to having an adaptive CrossFitter in your gym?" Most of them are open to it. Some of the facilities, depending on the age of the building may be more accessible for others and depending on what you're looking for.
But also a large part about CrossFit, and the other thing I truly love about it is not only the physical health benefits that you get from it, but the mental health benefits and that CrossFit is truly a community. And so you get that social aspect that you don't get really with anything else.
Different personalities meet different people, so you got to find what group of people as far as this... They may all three be great boxes, but they have different demographics to different personalities and you find which one meets yours and which one you fit in best.
And then if you have any questions or if there's any struggles with that box, they're not really sure what to do with your particular disability or whatnot, WheelWOD is a great source to use in conjunction with that. So it's just www.wheelWOD.com. They are the go-to reference for all things adaptive and just trying to find that base knowledge.
And then if people have questions, they can always reach out to me on Instagram. I answer questions daily. I want to see the sport grow, I want to see the methodology grow. I want to see everybody get these health benefits. So I'm always open.
And then from there, if people do have more of a deep competitive desire and they want to look at more of the... Just from just doing general CrossFit to try and get more involved in competition, there's even training programs. That's my next shift is I'm getting back into on the coaching side this year. And that's going to be more of my focus.
WheelWOD has programs for competitive coaching and then I work with an organization called Underdogs Athletics where we're private coaching athletes or there's a competitive program through that as well.

Speaker 4:
That was Jedediah Snelson, CrossFit athlete. If you liked what you've heard today and want to get ahold of us by voicemail, here is how you can do that.

Speaker 1:
Hey, if you want to leave a message for the Neutral Zone, call now 1-866-509-4545. And don't forget to give us permission to use your message on the air. Let's get ready to leave a voicemail.

Speaker 2:
We have had a busy show as we often do, and today we have the luxury of having two guests with us. Our next guest today is Graham Foxcroft, who is a blind hockey player who is here today to talk to us about the Vancouver Eclipse Blind Hockey program and some of the events they have had going on and some of the ones they will yet to have in British Columbia.
Graham, thank you so much for joining us. It's a pleasure to have you.

Speaker 9:
Hey, thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to speak about blind hockey. It's a good day when you can do that.

Speaker 3:
Well, why don't we get right into it then, Graham. Can you maybe start by telling us how you became involved with Blind Hockey?

Speaker 9:
Back in about '95, I was working at Walmart during the Christmas rush and one of the employee's' brother played blind hockey and he asked if I was interested and started playing blind hockey. It's the only hockey I've ever played, but that's where I got the start was back in 95.

Speaker 4:
That's such an interesting way to get involved in sports.

Speaker 9:
Just out of luck, I bumped into somebody and he is like, "Hey, you want to play hockey?"
I never had any gear. I had no idea on how to play it. I played street hockey but never played ice hockey, so they helped me out with that, so it was pretty cool.

Speaker 4:
Yeah, that's just the universe, bringing two people together.
Can you give us a little bit of a background on the Vancouver Eclipse?

Speaker 9:
Yeah, like I just mentioned, we started about '95. I was halfway through the season when they got going, but we're a BC Blind Sports program and we get our ice time and stuff funded from them and help with them, and we're just open to having people come out and play. It's co-ed, so it's really fun.

Speaker 3:
And it's our understanding that you held an event on Family Day. Can you talk a little bit about that and how it went?

Speaker 9:
That was a great day. It was yesterday and we had over 20 families come out and skate, and friends, and BC Blind Sports helped with that. And Blind Beginnings actually brought a big crew of people out as well. So working together with different organizations to provide services or support, and fun for families is great.

Speaker 4:
Very cool. You have another event coming up this weekend on Sunday, February 26th, which is called Learn to Skate. Can you tell us more about that event?

Speaker 9:
For sure. That's a Learn to Skate Tri Blind Hockey program that we're going to get going and develop. It's at North Surrey Ice Sports and Complex. Our focus is youth and kids, but adults are welcome to come and try it out as well. It, just gives them another opportunity to get on the ice and maybe we could find some potential national blind hockey players to come and play with us.

Speaker 2:
We are joined by Graham Foxcroft, who is a blind hockey player with the Vancouver Eclipse, and he's here today talking to us about all the events and happenings within the organization and blind hockey as a whole.
You're listening to the Neutral Zone. I'm Brock Richardson, alongside Cam Jenkins and Claire Buchanan.

Speaker 3:
So Graham, in your mind, can you maybe tell us why the couple of past events at the grassroots level is so important to have?

Speaker 9:
Well, it provides an opportunity for kids or families to get out there and try something that they think they may not be able to try. It's an opportunity for them to be part of their peers, be around people that are on the same page, may have the same disability or the same issues with them. It allows them to be together with things, with other people in their area.

Speaker 4:
Absolutely. So where Canadian Blind Hockey is right now, can you touch on some of the success the program has and where the growth is to move the sport forward?

Speaker 9:
We're at a really good spot right now. We've got provinces all across the country getting involved with it, getting youth programs going.
They're working on Eastern and Western tournaments. For the next tournament coming up, they've got a kids and youth division, they've got a developmental division, they've got a women's and children's division, an open division, and then, of course, select division, which is Team Canada versus team USA.
So far from what I understand is it's almost sold out for this tournament coming up in March, so if people are interested, they got to get their name in there real quick.
In Canada right now we're at a really good spot. We're growing and that's great. We want to get more kids and youth involved. Worldwide, we're still growing that even more. The US has jumped on really hard. They've got the NHL teams backing them up and we're working on the Canadian teams to get them in here as well. But we're over in Finland. Russia's got some players that are out there as well that want to be involved and get a program going. England's got a team and some players coming over to try out the tournament.
We've grown internationally and nationally and it's really great to see. It's an opportunity for people to play blind hockey and play hockey because hockey is for everyone.

Speaker 3:
It sure is. And that tournament that you just talked about in March, that is the Canadian Canadian Blind Hockey Championships, and as I understand, it's between March 24th to the 26th.
Can you maybe talk about why that event is so successful? Because all of us has been part of the broadcast before and it is very successful. So maybe you can talk a little bit as to why.

Speaker 9:
The coverage we are receiving. AMI does a great job on covering things. We got Parasport TV who broadcast the games for us. The CNIB foundation is a big sponsorship, and promote it and get the word out there. The ability of being able to not provide or not have any barriers for people. If there's a financial barrier, there's something that will help them. There's a program out there that will help them get to this tournament and this event. A lot of people that are visually impaired or blind have not been to a hockey tournament before, so a lot of first time everything's covered for them. They just need to get a hold of blind hockey.com and go from there to find out.

Speaker 4:
Now, where can we and our listeners go to learn more about both of the events and also the Vancouver Eclipse?

Speaker 9:
Where you could get ahold of us, BC Blind Sports is info@bcblindsports.bc.ca. Don't forget the S on the bottom of the sports. Or you could call 604 325-8638.
The Eclipse, you can contact myself at gfoxcroft11@gmail.com, or for Canadian Blind Hockey, blindhockey.com, and contact information on the website there.

Speaker 2:
That's always good. We love when we can get organizations on to have conversations like this. I think it's important.
One thing that piqued my interest, Graham, you said for people that come to Blind Hockey for the first time, there's financial aid available to them, does that continue for athletes? If they come once and then come again, can they still receive financial assistance or is there a cut-off point to that?

Speaker 9:
There's certain programs that Canadian Blind Hockey has, which they can help with. We encourage a lot of people to do some fundraising. The Eclipse do a pub night and do some fundraising to help raise funds to help players get there.
But there is programming and funding available all the time. We don't want barriers for people, so they're going to be able to make it happen.

Speaker 2:
Graham, thanks so much for doing this. We really appreciate it. And best of luck with all the events and the Canadian Blind Hockey Championships, which is again from the 24th to the 26th of March.

Speaker 9:
Awesome. Thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. And if you're interested, blindhockey.com.

Speaker 2:
That was Graham Foxcroft talking to us about blind hockey and the Vancouver Eclipse, joining us today on the show.
Wow. What a jam-packed show today, and I love when we get the opportunity to have jam-packed shows and to talk to wonderful people from different communities.
Let's start with Jedediah. I mentioned it on the show that he is a much better human being than I because I would not even touch CrossFit if it was put in front of me because I like my cheeseburgers. And for those of you that can't see that I like my cheeseburgers, that's fine. That's just the way I want to keep it.
But I want to get your thoughts on the interview. Claire, you had this get for us, which we really appreciate it. But thoughts?

Speaker 4:
I have dabbled myself in a little bit of CrossFit over the last few years and I've attempted the online competition that he's currently talking about. And I've not seen my name even being close to being on the leaderboard, but he talked about, I see improvements in myself every time I do it. I'm not looking to make the WheelWOD games or win any World Championships with CrossFit. But it's gotten me into the shape that I'm in now and it's helped my hockey career.
I think we alluded to that, that it's not for the faint of heart. It is very hard.
But again, CrossFit, I think it shows that it's very adaptable. All the movements that are involved in the workouts and the things that you do, there's always a way to adapt it and still get the same workout in and still be able to compete alongside other people.
I've had the pleasure of connecting with a couple CrossFit boxes here in Toronto, and if you're looking for a CrossFit gym here as a disabled person and just go in there and really just advocate for yourself. Let them know the movements you can and cannot do. And they're there to learn just as much as you are about CrossFit, especially if they've never come in contact with a disabled athlete before. They're usually very eager. They're the humans that have the most energy and they're always jacked up to work out. And if they can get someone else to get in there and throw down with them, they're going to figure out a way to get you in there.
It's an incredible sport and I'm glad that we were able to share it with our listeners.

Speaker 3:
It was just really interesting hearing him because it sounds like he might have been one of the first, not trainers, but athletes in that world and having a disability, being a para-athlete. And it's really interesting to see when something is in its intimacy and it starts to spread out and then you get more para-athletes involved in it and then there's competitions, and just to see it bloom to what it's starting to get into. Hopefully, people that are watching the show are interested in yet another sport that's an adaptive sport being CrossFit and that they'll be able to enjoy something else, because back in the 1800s, when I first started disabled sports, you were basically looking at track and field.

Speaker 2:
Wait, wait, wasn't that when you walked the earth in the 1800s?

Speaker 3:
That's when I walked the earth back then.

Speaker 2:
Hold on a second.

Speaker 3:
But there was track and nerves field and there wasn't much else, so it's nice to see that the athletic world is expanding and it's moving over to CrossFit because exercise is good for the body. Wouldn't know it because I don't do CrossFit myself. But Brock, I also want to mention to you that just because you love your cheeseburger doesn't make you any less of a person than Jedediah, so don't be thinking that you're Mustang because you're not.

Speaker 2:
Fair enough.

Speaker 4:
Guys, of course, we almost made it the whole show without Brock poking fun at Cam's age. We almost made it.

Speaker 3:
He's the guy that's bald, so I look much younger than he is, so it's all good.

Speaker 2:
Well, I was going to make a comeback. I am going to make it, but he said such a nice thing about me and cheeseburgers that I hesitate making this one, but I'm going to, anyway.
Cameron did walk the earth with dinosaurs back in the 1800s.

Speaker 3:
[inaudible 00:48:15] Those dinosaurs. I had to try to move them, and I was able to do it. With my T-Rex arms that I have-

Speaker 4:
With the small T-Rex arms.

Speaker 3:
-I was able to move dinosaurs and such, so better not mess with me because I'm quite strong there, Brock.

Speaker 2:
Clearly. I'm not messing with you. This is why I'm in one location and you're in another. That's just how we roll here on The Neutral Zone.
I just want to say that the one instant piece that I liked in the interview with Jedediah was that he said having a disability is full of awkward movements and CrossFit is also full of awkward movements. That fit well with me and resonated well as well because it is just true.
We get up every day and our body just does whatever it wants to do and that's awkward movements. I love the connection there as well with that.
But great interview with Jedediah and we really learned a lot as it's the first time we've had CrossFit on the program.
Having said that, then we got to Graham Foxcroft talking about the Canadian Blind Hockey and what it stands for, and the Vancouver Eclipse.
I know we've all had a part in blind hockey in one way or another and different broadcast. Thoughts on that with about three and a half minutes left on the clock. Cameron?

Speaker 3:
I loved the Canadian Blind Hockey. I really enjoyed when we broadcasted it before and watching it.
 I just remember my first time and going there and there's this huge park with a bunch of nuts and bolts and that rattles around so you can hear about it. And I just thought it was phenomenal that blind and partially-sighted people were able to play Canada's game.
And it's really expanded since we first started going there, and it's beautiful to see that it's expanding and they're getting so many more players involved. If you get a chance, definitely check out the Canadian Blind Hockey.

Speaker 4:
I think last year was my first experience being around blind hockey. And not only that, it was the first year that they had a women's game as well. So it is just nice to see that the great, the game is growing on all levels and I'm really looking forward to checking it out this year and seeing who's there and see some new faces, some old faces.
It's fantastic to hear that the event's almost sold out as well. That sounds super exciting. So if anyone's in the Toronto area in March, come check out some blind hockey.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. It's really true what you're saying. And I think what stood out for me over the time that I've done it, and I think I've done about three or four blind hockey championships and what stood out for me is that they do not... I can't think of another word, but they don't, let's use short change as the word. They don't short change their athletes. They really put on a really good event. And it starts with being at the Mattamy Athletic Center, which is a state-of-the-art venue.
And it's not one of those community rinks that run down. It's Maple Leaf Gardens first and foremost. And I think that's what I like about Canadian Blind Hockey is they really respect their athletes. And I think sometimes we see in Parasport, sometimes we see a level of disrespect and it's not exactly fair to those of us in the community.
And I think the thing that comes to my mind is when you see the community come in, you're like, "Wow, this is hockey because it sounds, it looks, it feels like hockey." And then you go, "Yeah, and they're blind or partially said it," and people go, "You would never know it and you don't know it." And so that's part of what I see and what I love about the game. And promoting a blind hockey out there in Vancouver is really, really important and all over the country.
And again, I strongly suggest you go down from the 24th of March to the 26th and check out. I am going to put a bet on it that all of us will be down there at one time or another, so come and say hello to us when we are down there. And we will publicize it towards the shows as we get closer to the championships.
With all of that, we're not going to be saying hello anymore as we run out of time for this week's episode, but we are putting a wrap on it.
Just to promote next week's show, I want to say that Anthony Gale will be joining us who's a Paralympic athlete in this sport of para-ice hockey, and he'll be chatting with us about that. And I've got some really, really tough questions to ask him. So tune in for that next week.
That is the end of this week's show. I'd like to thank Cam Jenkins, Claire Buchanan, and Jordan Steves who's been doing our technical work for today.
Be safe, be well, and you never know what happens when you enter The Neutral Zone. We'll see you next week.