CPstrong Community Stories: Meridith — Part One
By Meridith Bradford
For as long as I can remember, sports have been a huge part of my life! This has taken many different forms, from being a big fan, to a manager of my college wheelchair basketball team while pursuing my Sport Management degree at the University of Illinois, to being the cofounder of a power soccer team for athletes who use power wheelchairs in New Jersey. Throughout all these phases, one thing has remained the same. I am an adaptive skier, and that is my favorite thing in the world! My name is Meridith Bradford, and before getting too deep into my story, I will give you a bit of a picture of who I am. I have spastic quad CP and use a power wheelchair. Although I am dependent for all my daily needs, my cognition is not affected, and I do not see my CP as a significant part of my identity. To me, yes, it has always been there, and I cannot hide it, but there is nothing saying that I have to let it impact me. This background of my thought process is important, because it has significantly influenced my journey as an athlete.
Being born with cerebral palsy has made my physical participation in sports a little bit different than it would have been, but it certainly has not lessened my passion for them. When I was six, I was introduced to skiing at the Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne, NY. My earliest memory is finishing my first run and immediately being pushed to my grandfather and saying, “I feel like I’m flying!” Double H has had a tremendous influence in my life as an athlete and a person. My first coaches believed in me from the get-go and constantly pushed me to truly learn the sport. I distinctly remember my first one explaining concepts like angles and friction to me from the age of seven. The fact that he was able to understand that my disability did not impact my cognition and that my personality was extremely competitive allowed him to set the groundwork for what has become a career in the sport beyond my wildest dreams.
Meridith skiing with her first coach at Double H Ranch
Fast-forward to high school, and I was invited to join my school ski team as the only adaptive athlete. I loved the way we all pushed each other and how I was treated was not at all affected by my CP. On my senior trip, we took a video that wound up changing my life. What started as a collection of memories for the seniors to take with us turned into the video making its way to Breckenridge, CO during The Hartford Ski Spectacular. This event, affectionately known as SkiSpec, is organized by Move United and is among the largest gatherings of adaptive winter sports athletes in the country, including everything from lessons for wounded veterans to race training and serving as a feeder system for US Paralympics for qualifying athletes. One of the SkiSpec founders saw my high school video that a coach had brought to the event. He invited me to join the following season. When my high school coach called me with this news, it felt like a light switch flipped in my head. I always wanted to pursue skiing more seriously, but there was not a division for doing this, given the particular way I ski. I was given a year to prepare for my first SkiSpec and being a college freshman, this could not have come at a better time.
Thank you for reading our first guest blog from Meridith! Stayed tuned for Part Two, coming next week!
