2/11/2010 - South Side Leader
     

Coventry resident John Squires, at right, is shown skiing recently with his instructor Dan Lipka.

Photo courtesy of John Squires

The Coventry man said even a life-changing accident in 1987 couldn’t take away his love for competing and testing himself physically.

In fact, Squires, 36, said it was his background as a football player and wrestler that helped him deal with the challenges he faced after a diving accident at age 15 at Portage Lakes State Park left him a quadriplegic.

“I was still an athlete,” Squires said of how he faced his injuries. “I had that mentality that you do what you do.”

Squires said he and a friend were swimming at the park, which used to have a rope swing. His friend swung on the rope and went in the lake and Squires dove in after and landed on him. The result was a broken neck for Squires.

After several weeks at Akron Children’s Hospital, Squires went to Edwin Shaw Hospital for Rehabilitation in Lakemore, where he spent a year.

“I basically had to learn everything all over,” he said. “It took five years to get to where I was independent. I had lost all my muscles. I had to start from scratch to feed myself and push a wheelchair.”

Squires said his quadriplegia affects him from mid-chest down. His hands are affected slightly but he does have near-normal sensory abilities.

In 1991, he began college at Kent State University (KSU). It was there that he started Locomotion, a wheelchair rugby team that became part of the U.S. Quad Rugby Association (USQRA).

“I was introduced to it while in rehab, but I started pursing it then,” he said. “My independence was kicking in and it was easier to do things.”

According to the USQRA, quad rugby is played with a volleyball on a basketball-size court with goal lines marked by cones and a lined-off area. The object of the game is to score a goal by crossing the goal line with possession of the ball while the opposing team is defending that goal. The team with the most points wins.

Squires graduated from KSU with a degree in psychology and worked in the real estate business. He now plays quad rugby with a team from Columbus and hopes to get a team started in Northeast Ohio.

In recent years, Squires has turned his attention to the sports of handcycling and skiing.

He said he’s in his third year of skiing, something he had never done before.

“I have a list of things to do before I die, and skiing was on it,” Squires said. “I got hooked.”

Still, learning how to do it didn’t come easily, he said. Squires uses a piece of equipment called a sit ski and also is accompanied downhill by an instructor.

“It’s very, very difficult,” he said. “It’s not something you just go out and do one day. It takes a long time to find your balance.”

Participating in the sport keeps Squires busy a couple of days a week in winter. He goes to Brandywine Ski Resort in Sagamore Hills.

“Without Brandywine, this wouldn’t happen,” he said. “They stop the lift for us to jump off. They go out of their way.”

When the snow melts, Squires will spend time on his other sport of choice, handcycling.

“I had an old hand cycle for years,” he said. “A couple years back I started getting more into it. I got the bug and it bit me last year really bad.”

Cycling is one activity that he and his wife of one year, Annalisa, can do together.

“We train together,” he said. “You leave the chair in the car and get out there and you go.”

This year, Squires has set his sights on competing in the Columbus Marathon in October on handcycle. He plans to compete in three marathons a year, he added.

Squires believes his story is one that can inspire others, especially young people. Because of that, he appears frequently to speak to groups about the challenges he has faced.

“It’s all about motivation,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your situation is. Whatever the case may be, you can achieve that goal.”

Squires can be contacted at jpsquires@att.net.

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