I usually respond by telling them that it was awesome.  There were people from every part of the world there, wearing every colour imaginable, and those people had an energy that you could actually feel.  It was not like an aura.  You saw expressions and body language, and knew that virtually everyone there meant business.  They better have meant business; we were all about to try and be the best in the world at something.

I also tell people that it was a taste of utopia, or socialism that works.  No one is using currency in the Village, all meals are free and there was a 24-hour cafeteria.  To get to any sport venue, you simply hopped on a bus at a depot just outside the Village and were brought there in dedicated London lanes.  Flash your accreditation badge and you had the best seats in the house at virtually any sport. There were even vending machines everywhere, operated not by coins, but unlimited swipe cards that we were given.  My Lithuanian wife Dalia and I noticed that the currency-free, pseudo-socialism of the Village works because it has an army of volunteers, National Paralympic Committees and corporate sponsors behind it.

What I don’t always tell people is that I barely noticed any of that until afterwards. When I was actually in the Village, I was too terrified to do much other than think about my game plan, train, eat correctly and sleep.  The atmosphere was tense.

Feeling fear thunder through me, and continue on to win a Paralympic medal has made me reflect on its nature.  The London Paralympics was certainly not the first or last time that I would be afraid, but the energy I was expending was so focused, that I think the experience was valuable.

I wanted so badly to do well.  And, I knew that if things did not go as planned, all the hours of work, all the things I gave up to be there, everything I had invested would lead to nothing.

Have you ever felt that fear?

I had felt it before, at the 2007 World Cup when I was trying to qualify for the Beijing Paralympics.  Fear was coursing through me.  In our game of millimetres, by the end of that competition, we were one point away from finishing in the top 8 and because of ranking points, I did not make the cut for Beijing.  But, I went to China as a spectator anyways and cheered my teammates on; I watched my competitors and learned.

I think what I learned the most, was about fear.  In the 4 years after Beijing, we eventually qualified for London 2012, but I was always afraid.  I was petrified on the court, and at training sometimes, as the overwhelming challenge of the world’s top athletes loomed.

So we became good friends fear and I.  I controlled it with breathing and intentioned thinking: I know I can beat the top athletes in the world because I have the innovative strategy to do it, and I have put in the training hours.

But what if they still beat me?

As I was preparing myself to compete in the London Paralympic Village, I passed a huge winged statue each day outside the dining hall, which I later learned was made by London artist Nicola Godden.  I still remember reading the inscription on its base for the first time, as my stomach was in knots for the pinnacle of tournaments to come:

“My audacity was my joy not my disaster,
I reached a glory higher than Olympus,
My fall was worth the flight.”

Just from reading it, I realized that the figure was Icarus.  When given wings to escape the island of Crete in Greek mythology by his father Daedalus, Icarus was told not to fly too close to the sun.  Overwhelmed by the thrill of soaring, he of course flew too high, the sun melted the wings’ wax, and Icarus drowned in the sea.

The statue and its words gave me final permission to fail.  Even if I did not win a Paralympic medal, I would go out in a blaze of trying something hard – that in itself would be worth it.

I ended up winning bronze with my doubles partner Marco, but I did not play as great as I did because I overcame fear.  I took the sheer terror of crashing into the sea those days in London last September – on the boccia courts in front of sold out crowds, and in the dining hall – and hung out with it.

I didn’t conquer it.

I remember starting to see all of the hipster tinged pictures showing up in my Twitter and Facebook feeds many months ago.  It was likely around the time that Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion, that I realized what those sepia filtered photos were.  Naturally, I decided to get an account and create my own.

I made the decision sitting in the Air Canada London Lounge at Heathrow Airport.  It was after a week of speaking to elementary schools in East London, around where the Olympics and Paralympics would soon take place.  My thoughts were swirling, as I was glowing in the excitement of all those students, and gearing up to compete myself.

So, I photographed the coffee and water I was drinking, framed the table and background at an angle and applied the glorious filter, before posting to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.  Drafting the caption was part of the thrill:

“My last European coffee for a while”

Photo: airreview.com

It was also Canada Day.  So, I reflected on Britain’s role as a former Empire, and Canada’s journey away from associating itself as a colony – luckily, and with lots of help from Britain’s enemy, France and their satellite people, Quebec.  The snapshot oozes nostalgia for me.  I am not afraid to embrace the full power of the Nickelback Instagram parody (Google it if you have not seen it yet).

Today, I researched what the Air Canada lounge is called at Heathrow, and learned that it will be closing soon.  I took the photo from where the arrow is pointing in the photo.  The nostalgia meter for this very first Instagram photo I took was cranked up even more.

It captured my anxiety about putting my years of boccia training to the test.  It reminds me of the Canada Day I spent in the British Empire’s former capital and how I felt glad to be Canadian.  It celebrates the rich and bold quality of coffee available seemingly everywhere in Europe, and expresses my anguish at having to return to a land where most coffee is barren and largely not delicious.

I am not sure if I can produce another Instagram picture with as much raw meaning.  I hope you will click the main photo above and follow me on Instagram as I try.

What is your favourite Instagram photo?

Dalia went up to inquire how I could get in.  There was no other way.

I really don’t enjoy being an advocate.  It is not very pleasant to complain and bring attention to troublesome realities. It is especially bitter when irksome issues are not anyone’s direct fault.

I am not sure if Elissa Cristall Gallery, where the exhibition was held, rents or owns their gallery space. From what I saw from the sidewalk, the second level space is quite stylish. In Vancouver’s property market, I am sure it is a valuable spot.

I am not sure what the BC Building Code has to say about accessibility. Access to the Code document is not cheap – behind a pay wall like that, perhaps not everyone who needs to consult it can.

The gallery we wanted to go to should not take all the blame though.  Sadly, the two galleries beside it, Master Gallery Ltd. and the prolific Heffel, that proclaims itself to be “Canada’s National Fine Arts Auction House,” were not accessible either from what I could tell.

So, I did what I had to do. I waited outside, while Dalia went up and met her friend and listened to the artist speak. They came down afterwards and it was a nice chat. I didn’t get to meet the artist, or see her work in person, but saw some of the photos on the Internet and my phone, taken by Dalia.

Most disabled people and their families have to fight for their whole lives.  We call it being an effective self-advocate. My parents had to fight to allow me to go to a French immersion elementary school instead of an essentially segregated one when I was small. Then they had to fight for me to have an assistant.

As an adult, I am ready to assert what I need, and go after it. It won’t always be easy as I go forward. A good advocate always needs to ask for what they want though. If we don’t ask, how can we get?

So what should I ask for here? Should I travel around with a lawyer on retainer to write threatening demand letters to force public places to become physically accessible?  Should I launch claims in the Human Rights Tribunal? I won’t make many friends if I take that approach.

I don’t have all the answers. I know making spaces accessible costs money and can be a logistical challenge. I know that I might have bought some artwork this weekend if I could have gotten into the galleries. These galleries don’t know how many sales they are missing out on.

I don’t know what the best outcome for this type of situation is. If I do not talk about it when I am explicitly denied access to a part of my community, it will not be dealt with, and others will be excluded too. I am not sure what I want to happen in the specific case of these galleries.

I do know that I wish I did not have to write this article. Being excluded from something that I really wanted to participate in hurt.

Photo: Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee

Québec, 19 février 2013 – C’est avec beaucoup de fierté et d’enthousiasme que l’école Madeleine-Bergeron, une école spécialisée, recevra le médaillé paralympique Josh Vander Vies à prendre la parole et à jouer au boccia le vendredi, 22 février à 10 h, dans le cadre de l’édition 2013 de la Semaine scolaire paralympique présentée par le Comité paralympique canadien et Petro-Canada.

L’école Madeleine-Bergeron est ravie d’avoir été sélectionnée pour faire partie des 25 écoles à travers le pays pour qu’une présentation soit offerte gratuitement par un athlète à l’occasion de la Semaine scolaire paralympique 2013.

Vander Vies est originaire de Sarnia, en Ontario et il habite maintenant Vancouver. Il a pris part aux Jeux paralympiques de Londres 2012 où il a remporté une médaille de bronze en boccia avec son coéquipier Marco Dispaltro. Il est bilingue et fera la présentation en français.

L’école Madeleine-Bergeron est une école spécialisée qui accueille une clientele, dont l’âge varie entre 4 à 21 ans, vivant avec une déficience motrice et dont plusieurs pratiquent le boccia.

Les médias sont invités à assister à la présentation, à prendre des photos et à avoir des entrevues avec des élèves, des membres du personnel et l’athlète.

QUOI : Présentation par un athlète dans le cadre de l’édition 2013 de la Semaine scolaire paralympique canadienne

QUI : Josh Vander Vies, médaillé de bronze en boccia, Équipe paralympique canadienne de Londres 2012

OÙ : 1088, route de l’Église, Sainte-Foy, Québec

QUAND : vendredi, le 22 février, 10h – 11h

PERSONNE RESSOURCE POUR LES MÉDIAS SUR PLACE :

Kim McLachlan

Comité paralympique canadien

Cellulaire : 613-883-1477

Courriel : kmclachlan@paralympic.ca

La semaine scolaire paralympique tombe à un moment opportun, car il reste un tout petit peu plus d’un an avant que l’équipe paralympique canadienne s’envole pour prendre part aux Jeux paralympiques d’hiver de 2014 à Sotchi. Les préparatifs en vue des Jeux parapanaméricains de 2015 à Toronto sont en outre eux aussi très avancés.

Pour diffuser le message « Participez, », les meilleurs athlètes canadiens ayant un handicap effectueront des présentations inspirantes et motivantes dans plusieurs écoles, de Victoria, en Colombie-Britannique, à Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse, et jusqu’à Iqaluit, au Nunavut.

—

Pour obtenir de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site http://www.paralympic.ca/semainescolaire ou communiquer avec :

Claire Savard

Conseillère en communication

Direction générale, Commission scolaire des Découvreurs

418 652-2121, poste 4173

claire.savard@csdecou.qc.ca

Kim McLachlan

Coordonnatrice sénior, Relations d’athlètes et protocole

Comité paralympique canadien

Tél 613-569-4333, poste 225 / Cel 613-883-1477

kmclachlan@paralympic.ca

Martin Richard

Directeur général, Communications et marketing

Comité paralympique canadien

Tél. : 613 569-4333, poste 224 / Cellulaire : 613 725-4339

mrichard@paralympic.ca

I had a great time last weekend, honoured as a Paralympic medalist at the Great Valentine Gala. Another highlight for me was riding in a truly innovative new accessible limo service.  Love My Limo picked me up from the airport in an MV-1 and I wrote about the experience at allaccesspass.ca.

Check it out here: http://www.allaccesspass.ca/1/post/2013/02/true-accessibility-is-universal-by-josh-vander-vies.html

It is so great to see more wheelchair accessible transportation options becoming available in Toronto, in addition to wheelchair accessible taxis, wheelchair accessible transit and the Wheel Trans service. Maybe one day, the transportation systems across Canada will be as inclusive as those in cities like London, UK – where 100% of transit buses and taxis are accessible.

photo courtesy of Don Lane

I submitted my feedback to the proposed BISFED draft rules earlier this month.  In respecting the process that they laid out, I only commented on rule changes that the BISFED Rule Committee had approved and were seeking input on.

I understand that BISFED is a new organisation and is just getting started as an international federation.  The amount of work for the volunteer board and committee members must be overwhelming.  However, I believe that the international boccia rules require a major revision.  I have set out below the changes that I believe should be made.  The response of the community will likely be, “radical changes like these must happen gradually.”  This is an understandable position, but I believe that the suggested changes below should be made immediately to drastically change our sport for the better.

First, the rules are drafted in many different languages and then translated to English, which is the official language of the sport.  The entire rulebook needs to be rewritten by an English-speaking expert in writing, to capture the actual intent of the rules.  The current rules are a nightmare of incorrect grammar, syntax and meaning.

Second, there is now a large push in the international boccia community to speed up the game while not losing the high level of play.  I submit to the community the following suggestions to address this goal, under two headings: Format of Tournaments and Match Rules.

Format of Tournaments

Pool matches should be 2 ends, and direct elimination matches should be 4 ends.

This is a format that I am basing off of international fencing.  In fencing, pool bouts are fenced to 5 points.  After pool play, athletes are ranked, a certain small percentage is eliminated, and the rest move on to direct elimination bouts up to 15 points.

In boccia, we could adopt a similar model.  Pool play could continue as it is implemented now, only 2 ends would be played in pool play, instead of 4.

Abolish the call room.

This format would mean that a call room is no longer necessary.  Now, athletes and teams must report to a call room 30 minutes before a match, or else they are disqualified.  This adds needless complexity to the organisation of a tournament and wastes time.

In the 2 end / 4 end proposal, all athletes in a pool would report to a single court.  As one match finishes, the next would begin seamlessly.  The players would know the order of their match, and if they were not present (in the washroom, warming up etc.) they would forfeit the match.

In the direct elimination round, athletes would report to their designated courts.  If they are not there at the posted start time, they forfeit.

Match Rules

Two-way communication between BC3 athletes and sport assistants should be allowed.

Two-way communication between athletes and sport assistants is now completely forbidden – only athletes can communicate to sport assistants, and sport assistants may not respond in any way, including vocally or with body language.

This rule is far too draconian, and it slows down the game.  This rule also gives an enormous advantage to BC3 athletes who are more verbal.  Two-way communication should simply be allowed.  Sport assistants should continue to not be allowed to look at the court.

Sport assistants now receive Paralympic and World Championship medals.  They are integral to the performance team.  The BC3 / Sport Assistant duo should be treated as a team.  It is not realistic to treat a sport assistant as a piece of equipment.  The result will be a faster and higher level of play.

BC3 sport assistants should be allowed to be the last to touch the ball on release.

The rule that a BC3 athlete must be the last to touch the ball, gives an unfair advantage to BC3 players who are less disabled – the game is now too focused on range of physical motion rather than aim and accuracy.  The length of the ramp should continue to be regulated by the size of the throwing box.

I know that some members of the boccia community think that ramps should be less technical and more standardised.  I have to disagree with this notion.  Figuring out the design of a BC3 athlete’s ramp is a major part of the thrill of the sport.  I think that in general we should allow ramps to be more complex rather than less, with restrictions like lasers, mechanical speed-ups and perhaps levels remaining.

Currently, some athletes are not eligible to play, because they are not able to release the ball with their body or a head pointer.  They are however able to direct a sport assistant to move the ramp, and they have designed a release mechanism that they can release, operated by pulley.  They are ineligible.  The solution should be to allow sport assistants to release the ball.  This would level the playing field, and be fairer for more severely disabled BC3s, especially those with CP.

Individual division time needs to be drastically reduced.  The entire time for a match should be allocated per match, rather than per end.

Most boccia enthusiasts that I know agree that boccia matches are too long, and too much time is spent between throws.  Time should be reduced, and time for the entire match should be allotted at once, to remedy this:

BC3 individual: 20 minutes per side/athlete/team (5 minutes each per end) 4 ends
BC1, BC2 and BC4 individuals: 16 minutes per side/athlete/team (4 minutes each per end) 4 ends

BC1/2 Team: 36 minutes per side/athlete/team (6 minutes each per end) 6 ends
BC3 Pairs: 32 minutes per side/athlete/team (8 minutes each per end) 4 ends
BC4 Pairs: 24 minutes per side/athlete/team (6 minutes each per end) 4 ends

Throws should alternate, rather than be determined by who is furthest from the jack.

Although pétanque and bocce seem to use the same rule for throw order as boccia – the side furthest away throws until it is closer to the target or runs out of balls – lawn bowling, bowls and curling use an alternating system.

I believe that we should adopt an alternating system.  This would drastically speed up a boccia tournament by reducing time spent measuring between shots.  This would also allow for much more creative strategies, and potentially make it much harder to score large amounts of points in a single end.

Photo: Phillip MacCallum/Canadian Paralympic Committee | Logo: bisfed.com

After each Paralympic Games, the governing body of international boccia – now BISFed (Boccia International Sports Federation) – opens submissions for changes to the official rules.  The submission process from nations is now over and draft changes have just been announced, and can be downloaded here.

BISFed is inviting comments on the draft changes.

I have submitted to them written comments in the following areas:

Sections 5.2.1 and 5.3.1: Pairs and Team Divisions
Section 6.10.2: Completion of End
Section 9.1 and 11.1: Movement on Court
Section 9.5: Movement on Court
Section 18.1: The Captain’s Responsibility
Section 19.2: Warm up Procedures
Section 24: Protest Guidelines

I am presenting my proposals publicly and on individual pages, so that the boccia community can comment on each one separately.  An athlete was not on the very small committee that decided which proposals to reject or approve.  It is very important that we hear from as many players as possible so that the rules reflect realities of the game.

Click here to download my entire submission in .pdf form.

At the beginning of the year the “New Years Resolution” itch is setting in for most.  Resolutions are of course really goals.  Like most elite athletes, I have set my share of goals in my career: win a match, win a tournament, make the national team, and win a Paralympic medal.

Goals need not only be sport related.  I have also set and achieved the goals of moving out of my parents’ house, getting accepted to university, and graduating.  I give motivational talks in schools with the Esteem Team, a group of inspirational Olympic, Paralympic, professional and elite athletes.  We always share a concrete and simple tool to help make sure that goals are as effective as possible.

We apply the SMART acronym to make sure that we set smart goals.

S: Specific

M: Measurable

A: Action

R: Realistic

T: Timeline

The SMART acronym helps change a hypothetical goal from “I want to get stronger” to “I want to bench press 250 lbs. on or before January 1^st, 2014.”  The goal “I want to bench press 300 lbs. by tomorrow” would also get weeded out, since it does not satisfy the Realistic SMART requirement.  An immediate Action (A of SMART) could be to hit the gym three times per week.

Goal setting does not have to be complicated, but the targeted results of effective goal setting can be staggering.  Anyone who has ever set a tough goal and achieved it knows how good it feels.

As you embark into 2013, I will leave you with two more things to consider.  Business consultant Peter Bregmen advocates for not setting goals at all, but strategic directions.  Musician and entrepreneur (creator of CD Baby) Derek Sivers advises us not to announce our goals – if we do, it feels like we have already done a lot of work; keeping them to ourselves might motivate us more.

Whatever your plans for 2013, remember:

You don’t know what you can do.  Try and surprise yourself.

A few weeks ago in the Toronto Sun I said that I believe in the power of sport.  On a broad level, sport is one of the best ways for individuals to learn transferable skills like teamwork, healthy competition and performing under pressure.  Participating in sport also brings the individual benefits of health, physical literacy and innate confidence.

Broader still, when people – especially youth – are involved in sport, they don’t have as much time to be involved in drugs, gangs or crime.  Sport is education, healthcare and crime prevention.  Sport forms a core part of our culture.

The United Nations has declared today as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities; it is fitting that we remember to extend the benefits, challenge and exciting risk of sport to people with disabilities today and whenever we can.  Only 3% of Canadians with disabilities are active in sport.

Whether it is trying out a personal trainer at the gym, or picking up a ball with some friends, it is not necessarily about becoming a Paralympian.  As the Canadian Paralympic Committee wisely shows in the video below, It’s More Than Sport:

Photo by Trudeau pour Papineau, Creative Commons

Over the past four federal elections in Canada, an average of 39% of eligible voters did not vote (source).  A staggering number of our country’s citizens are choosing not to participate in the political process.  Many commentators argue that apathy is severely compromising Canadian democracy.

The reasons for this are perhaps complicated, but I saw a glaring one as I read the national news this weekend.  Justin Trudeau, leadership candidate for the federal Liberal Party came under fire for comments that he made in 2010 on a Quebec TV talk show, Les francs-tireurs – translated roughly to “The Straight (or frank, as in frankly) Shooters.”  According to the National Post, he said: ““Canada isn’t doing well right now because it’s Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda.”

When attacked by the media and political opponents about the two-year old comment, Mr. Trudeau apologised, saying that he was really talking about Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s control of Canada being negative, not about Alberta’s influence as a region.

The scenario is frequent: a politician takes a stand in Canada, is challenged on it, and retracts the stand.  The political strategy in our country, for the past decade and more has been to please as many voters as possible.  This approach may be destroying Canadian democracy, if it has not already.

Maybe Justin Trudeau’s comments about Alberta were short sighted or wrong, and legitimately qualified in the past few days.  It is not my job to engage the issues though; I am not a politician.  As a voter, I expect politicians in Canada to take stands and present the bold vision of their leadership and proposed political action.  I expect them to engage real issues so that I can decide where to cast my vote.

I have not read many comparisons yet between Justin Trudeau and his father.  Any comparison is probably beyond unfair, although inevitable, and the leadership race is still young.  However, I would compare the approaches of Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien in the respective 1980 and 1995 referenda on Quebec independence to any Canadian politician.

In 1980, Trudeau belittled the separatists.  He mocked them, and used whit combined with tangible political arguments and international law to show how the concept of an independent Quebec was detrimental to Canada, itself and the survival of the French language in North America.  On the side of a united Canada, Trudeau “won” the referendum 60% / 40%.

In 1995, Chrétien took a more conciliatory path.  He offered concessions to the Quebec provincial government, hoping to engage Quebecers to the concept of Canada by giving in to the concept of decentralisation.  There was not bold rhetoric, and the political idea that he was fighting against was allowed to flourish.  The political leader did not give referendum voters a clear choice.  On the side of a united Canada, Chrétien “won” the referendum by a devastatingly bare 50.58% / 49.42%.

Today, if Justin Trudeau believes in the comments he made about the socio-democratic path that Canada is on, I want to hear him justify them.  When the media, or political opponents are making a politician squirm, it should be a sign that they are talking about something that is interesting and meaningful.

Too often in Canada, the reaction to pressure is to recant or spin: issues are not engaged, and clear lines are not drawn between election choices.  This fuzziness helped the federal Liberal Party occupy its coveted status of Natural Governing Party of Canada for years, and the other parties have been chasing the same outcome.  The Conservative Party of Canada likely seized such blurriness for one of the final times in the last federal election.

I believe Canada’s broad political blur has turned many voters away from the process itself.  We think sometimes that Canadian voters don’t care about politics, or issues of national significance.  When politicians are not doing their job though, we should hardly blame voters for the apathy that is crushing Canadian politics.

Politicians of Canada: if you find yourself squirming, I challenge you to keep pushing.  Talk about the matter, and give your vision – not the crafted messaging of your handlers.  That is how you will get my vote, and maybe even that of the elusive 39%.