The Challengers – Kevin Rempel, Olympic Bronze Medalist

As a Challenger Bank, we love the opportunity to peek into the mind of founders, creators, and anyone challenging the status quo. That’s why we launched The Challengers, our monthly series on Instagram.

We had the chance to chat with Kevin Rempel, Olympic Bronze Medalist, Diversity and Inclusion champion, and founder of the Sledge Hockey experience.

Can you share a bit of your background story?

I’m most known today as a Paralympic bronze medalist in sledge hockey. If you haven’t seen sledge hockey before, it’s a Paralympic sport you play sitting down, pulling yourself around the ice using your arms. If you saw me in person, the next thing you’re probably going to ask is “what’s wrong with you?” because I can get up and walk. I’m 39 now, and when I was 23 I was riding my dirt bike, performing my second stunt show ever riding freestyle moto cross. If you’re familiar with the X Games, doing big stunts off the back of a bike, that was what I loved doing every single day. At my second show, I ended up crashing. I had to hit the eject button midair, fell 75 feet, and broke my back, pelvis and ribs. I was instantly paralyzed. As a result, I had a spinal cord injury. I obviously learned how to walk, but I still live with a lot of residual effects, so I do have a disability. That sent me down a path to discovering life with a spinal cord injury and Paralympic sports. After two years I discovered sledge hockey, I pursued making Team Canada, joined after the Vancouver Paralympics and played five years, helping Canada earn gold at the 2013 World Championships in South Korea. [I also brought home] the bronze medal from the Paralympic games in Sochi Russia.

What brings the story full circle in terms of being a challenger – I knew I wanted to challenge the sport, but I also I wanted to challenge able-bodied people to have a different perspective on people with disabilities. To do that, I took the entrepreneurial spirit I had in me and created a corporate team building program called The Sledge Hockey Experience. I own all the equipment, it’s a turnkey operation based out of Etobicoke. What I want to do is get you butt down on the ice, for a new perspective on the sport, life, and people with disabilities. And use sledge hockey as the medium to help you literally experience a different perspective.

What’s been a highlight for you with the sledge hockey experience?

There are so many. I think there’s a couple of key things to talk about here. One, I knew I wanted to challenge myself as an entrepreneur. Two, I wanted to challenge myself as a person living with a disability to build a business around my disability. Three, I want to challenge able-bodied people about their perspectives about disability. One of the things I’m most proud of is, I am a person with a disability who has built a life and a business around their disability. For me, that’s something that is extremely important and that I am extremely proud of to show other people with disabilities that I believe we can all find our own way to take these perceived disabilities and turn them in some way into an advantage – to create opportunities, not just for ourselves but opportunities that also benefit and educate other people along the way.

Who is a challenger you admire and why?

Someone who comes to mind for me really in the sledge hockey community – I consider him like a little brother – his name is Dylan, he’s 11 years old. He had meningitis as a young child and had his legs and some fingertips amputated and he plays sledge hockey but he is everywhere. He uses a walker like it’s no big deal – his dad got him an adapted go-kart for Christmas and he finds a way to make that work, he’s got a bicycle that’s adapted as well. When I think about people who inspire me, you could argue the whole challenge the status quo angle in that he inspires me. It’s his attitude and approach towards living with a disability that is infectious. It just makes you want to do more. You literally can’t be around him and be unhappy. He’s my challenger that I love and I look up to.