Steven Cash Brings Home The Gold at 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver; Named Paralympics MVP in a 5 Game Shut Out
20 year-old Cash, from Overland, MO, was introduced to sled hockey in 2003 through local non-profit organization Disabled Athlete Sports Association (DASA) Junior Blues Sled Hockey Program. After earning his place on the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team, Cash competed in the 2006 Paralympic Winter games in Torino, Italy. The team took home a bronze medal that year.
Since then, Cash and his teammates captured the first-ever International Paralympic Committee Ice Sledge Hockey World Championship last May; and Team USA was named the USOC Paralympic Team of the Year, while Cash was named the USOC Paralympic SportsMan of the Year.
Cash is currently a student at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Diagnosed with osterosarcoma (bone cancer) of the right knee in 1992, Cash underwent amputation surgery at the age of three. He has since become an inspiration for athletes everywhere.
Cash's Story (through the eyes of Steve):
I started out playing street hockey in the backyard with my brothers. Then at the age of 14 I joined a roller hockey team named the Tour Cobras. The team and I were at a local roller hockey tournament in 2004. At this tournament, DASA coach Mike Dowling was promoting the sport of sled hockey. He had found out about my prosthetic and approached me, politely asking me to come out and try out the sport. So that weekend I went out to the Wentzville Ice Arena and fell in love with it. It took a while to get used to the sled, but having prior experience as I goaltender, I felt like a natural at the position. The DASA Jr. Blues then invited me out to a sled tournament in Detroit, in which we placed second and I also got an invite to tryout for the National Sled Hockey Team a few months following. I tried out in June of 2005, and was good enough to make it as the back up. So there I was, my first year playing sled hockey, and I was at the pinnacle of the sport. We traveled to Torino for the 2006 Winter Paralympics and received a bronze medal. But more importantly, thanks to Kelly Behlmann and DASA's generosity, my parents were able to fly out and see my team compete. They donated a fair amount of money and allowed my mom and dad's dream to become a reality. And ever since, I've been forever grateful to have found Mike Dowling and the DASA program. They not only introduced me to my niche in life, but they also have shown tremendous benevolence and hospitality through the years.
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Ryan Duemler Sets Sights On 2012 Paralympic Games
Ryan started with DASA when he was only two years old. He started out playing wheelchair basketball when his dad, Keith was the coach. He loved the sport of basketball, so he played able-bodied basketball at the YMCA. He played able-bodied basketball for three years, but the kids he was playing with started to get faster. So he then opted to play sled (sledge) hockey. He began playing Sled Hockey when DASA first began a Sled Hockey team. He loved it so much and always watched it on TV, dreaming he could play. He had always wanted to play hockey, but it was difficult for him to skate with skates because he has Cerebral Palsey (CP) and his feet turn. He traveled a lot with the DASA Sled Hockey team and "loved it." Two years ago, competitive swimming was brought to DASA. He had started swimming when he was really young. He had taken lessons so he could swim, and if there was a pool he was in it. He started to swim with DASA and swam in a few meets and made it to the National Junior Disability Championship (NJDC). NJDC is a swim meet that you had to qualify for; when he heard that he qualified he was elated. He went to the NJDC, which was in New Jersey and he did very well. His dad saw how good he was and had wanted him to try out for his high school team. With a disability, Ryan was "really nervous" to see how others would react to him at the high school level, because he was accustomed oi swimming with chlidren that had the same type of disability. His dad informed him that he would just be able to practice with his high school. He didn't want to swim with the high school, he thought the other kids would make fun of him. He went to his first practice and found out that the other children were actually very nice to him. He ended up really liking the team so much that he participated in the swim meets. He ended the year looking forward to the next. He started the following year doing exceptionally well and dropping a lot of time. That summer, he joined a year-round swim club. He found out that he had qualified for a swim meet called "Can-Am," which he says he "had no idea what it was." He was ecstatic when he found out that it was an elite swim meet. This swim meet had both male and female Paralympic athletes. He was thinking to himself, "I am going to be swimming against paralympians, how lucky am I?" He did well there, but was disappointed not to make the USA swimming team. So when he got back from Canada, he started swimming for his high school for his second year. Over the course of the year, he was dropping a lot of time and preparing for his second Can-Am meet in Texas. At the end of the year, he was named Captain for his high school team for the following year. He was "happy and excited." He is training "really hard: for his secon Can-Am swimm meet in Texas and is trying to make the USA swimming team once again. He hopes that he can make the team and go to London in 2012 for the Summer Paralympic Games. Good Luck, Ryan!
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