This month’s spotlight is Domonic from Whitefish, Montana! Dom has been an adaptive athlete for over three decades and received an Active Fund grant for a Tessier Scarver monoski. 

Dom learned to monoski just a year and a half after his injury. “I’ve loved the activity since the first time on the slopes,” he recalls. While he has skied intermittently over the last 30 years, moving to Whitefish turned his casual hobby into a top priority. “Now that I live 20 minutes from a great ski resort,” he said, “I felt it was time I NEEDED to get a ski.”

In addition to alpine skiing, Dom has also participated in basketball, tennis, quad rugby, road racing, track racing, handcycling, sledge hockey, Over the Line, off-road handcycling, scuba diving, skydiving, rock wall climbing, cross-country skiing, and water skiing. “I think that’s all… maybe…” Dom says when reflecting on his athletic participation over the years. 

One of Dom’s most impressive feats is the 3,700-mile trek across China that he did on his handcycle. Over the course of a 4-year period, Dom and his team started each year where they ended the previous year. They rode anywhere from 40 to 70 miles a day, for up to 11 days straight. “I saw the most incredible landscape, coupled with the most grueling terrain,” he reflects. His crew included Americans like himself, but also Chinese individuals with paraplegia. “Everything was an effort to share my experience as a disabled athlete and show others what was possible,” says Dom.  “It was a true discovery of what a person is capable of, but also one of the most amazing learning experiences.”

Outside of sports, Dom has been an auto mechanic and fabricator for over 20 years. He currently works on a horse and cattle ranch, where he met his friend Anne. She highlights Dom’s strength, “like scaling a John Deere 5100E tractor and lifting heavy plywood from his wheelchair,” she says. “His strength and achievements as a para-athlete are remarkable, but even more so is his character and positivity. He always smiles and never complains, inspiring me to reflect on my own attitude toward life.”

Readers can learn more about Dom’s story in this article written in the Whitefish Pilot.