A 20-year-old Port Alberni man has immersed himself in extensive physical training that hopes will result in him standing on an Olympic podium in a few short years.
Chase Nicklin is spending nine weeks in Carrollton, Texas at the Adaptive Training Foundation (ATF), a non-profit gym providing mental and physical services to traumatically wounded, ill and injured individuals.
Nicklin lost his left leg in March of 2021 when he was involved in a serious head-on collision with a truck while out riding on his dirt bike. He took the life-altering change in stride.
”I don’t really have that kind of sob story of like I felt my whole life is over because I was just kind of happy that I was still alive,” he says.
Nicklin credits his parents and siblings with helping him through it, along with the medical staff that looked after him.
”The nurses were fricking amazing at the hospital. Of course I had sad days but it wasn’t like I felt like I was done, I just felt I was lost without being competitive at something,” Nicklin says.
But he soon felt that competitive urge thanks to the mentorship of Campbell River’s Tyler Turner, who lost both of his legs below the knee after a 2021 skydiving accident.
Turner won two gold medals and a bronze at the 2022 World Para Snow Sports Championships for snowboarding. A nurse handed Nicklin Turner’s phone number.
”He talked to me about how amazing they (ATF) were to him and still are, and he was like you should go down there and give it a whirl,” Nicklin says.
Nicklin’s trainer is Tim Cook who is also ATF’s program development manager.
“The whole viewpoint in programming for Chase is making sure that I can make him explosive, quick and durable while he’s competing,” Cook says.
The American facility sees a wide range of individuals aged 19 to 55 and Cook’s background is in knee performance; he works with professional, Paralympic and Olympic athletes.
”It kind of puts the stamp on this new life that they have achieved. We start opening their eyes up to different things that they can go compete in, but they never thought they might ever be able to do,” Cook says.
Cook adds Nicklin is excelling in his training.
”He’s pushing himself harder than I think he ever has. I don’t think he realizes how each day that we’re training the intensity is getting higher and harder and he’s persevering.”
Following Nicklin’s nine weeks at the facility staff will spend a further week redeploying him through activities like whitewater rafting, mountain biking and an array of other outdoor activities.
Upon his return to Port Alberni Nicklin will focus more on his snowboarding goals.
“This year is my first year on the NextGen team for the Paris Snowboard team. I made World Cup this year (in Steamboat, Colorado) which was super cool."
He also has his sights on following in Turner’s tracks, something Cook has no doubts Nicklin will be able to accomplish.
”Chase is a hell of a guy. He’s young, he’s great but he’s got a lot of upside and promise. He’s just a good, solid guy that’s going to achieve a lot in this world.”
