Para-snowboarder ‘lives every single day in disbelief’ that sport is his career

In 2003, John Leslie was a 10-year-old small-town boy from Arnprior, Ont. who loved hockey.
After cancer treatment left him without part of his left leg and a prosthetic in its place, he wanted to come full circle and become a prosthetist, specializing in the very thing that changed his life. He studied hard throughout high school to accomplish his goal and took up snowboarding on the side.
Fast-forward almost 15 years and the Arnprior kid is now a two-time Paralympic snowboarder, “living every day in disbelief,” as he puts it.

Ottawa’s Ben Delaney is hoping a gold medal helps ease his ascent to the world’s tallest peaks

Ben Delaney’s focus has long been on para ice hockey (the new official name for the sport at the Paralympics, though it’s often referred to as sledge hockey) and a commitment to Team Canada, which he’s played as part of every year since the 2014 Games. The 21-year-old says after this season he’ll be turning his attention to climbing the highest mountain in every continent, a mountaineering challenge also known as the Seven Summits.

Ottawa at the Paralympics

By Charlie Pinkerton A month after the 2018 Olympic Winter Games begin in Pyeongchang, Canada’s Paralympians will take on the best in the world in the 2018 Winter Paralympics. And like the Olympics, some of Ottawa’s top athletes will try to bring gold home for Canada. Tyrone Henry is optimistic that he’ll be heading to…

Ottawa Sport Council’s Fall Sport Summit to tackle grants

By Dan Plouffe The Ottawa Sport Council will bring together the local sports community for its Fall Sport Summit the evening of Nov. 29 at Ben Franklin Place, set to cover a topic that’s become a crucial tool for community sports organizations’ advancement: creating successful grant applications. “Most sport organizations seem to be able to…