This month’s spotlight is Kevin Wilson from Colorado! Kevin is a past grant recipient of the Active Fund for a monoski and is extremely passionate about adaptive sports and getting people in his community active.

As an athlete before his injury, Kevin then went almost 20 years without sports before getting connected with adaptive sports. His adaptive sports journey began at a yearly summer sports extravaganza put on by Turning Point in Dallas, TX. All squished into one day, Kevin had the opportunity to try water skiing, shoot bow and arrows, play wheelchair basketball, go down a zipline, and several other activities. “I left thinking, I have got to get more involved in adaptive sports,” he recalls. From there, Kevin joined the Dallas Mavericks wheelchair basketball team- a team that had over 7 national championships under their belt at the time. “To say that I was outmatched is a huge understatement,” he says, “but it was awesome to just be out and active again.” A few years later, Kevin heard about RISE Adaptive Sports through word of mouth and slowly got into handcycling, water skiing, and kayaking.

Now, Kevin is the Program Manager for Ignite Adaptive Sports in Colorado, the program where he learned to ski. He is one of three paid employees at the organization which provides over 1300 ski lessons per year and is entering its 50th season! “I know what the program means to both our volunteers and our students,” he explains, “and I do all that I can to support both and to make their experience with Ignite the best it can be.” Kevin and the Ignite team are excited to have a new building in the works. When asked what he is most excited about, Kevin said it is a tossup between the heated sidewalks and the elevator going directly out to the ski lift. “The elevator is going to save so much time and effort… and my shoulders!” he exclaims.

“This job [at Ignite] means so much to me,” says Kevin. “I wanted to work in the ski industry before my injury when I was 16 and never thought I would after my car wreck… I have a passion for what I do, I have a passion for skiing, I have a passion for getting others back on the mountain again, and I have a passion for instructing, so nothing about my job feels like a job.”

To Kevin, adaptive sports mean “everything,” he says. “I got active, I lost weight and got in shape, I felt like I was part of a community, it helped me get out of depression, it helped advance my career,” he says. “The people involved in adaptive sports are amazing and the stoke from being around so many amazing individuals brightens my world.”