89% of Team USA Athletes That Competed in the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games Had a Connection to Move United
Sports make us more—more determined, more powerful, more ourselves. And the power of sport pushes what’s possible for people with disabilities.
Founded in 1956, Move United is shifting the narrative through sport. Through its programs as well as its national network of over 245 member organizations in 45 states and the District of Columbia, Move United serves over 125,000 youth, wounded warriors and adults each year.
There are many benefits derived from sport, whether you participate recreationally or competitively. Athletes that compete at the highest level have an opportunity to compete internationally at the Paralympic Games. As we approach the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Italy, let’s take a look back at the athletes that wore the Red, White, and Blue four years ago.
Of the 67 athletes that represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, 60 of them had participated in Move United programs or been involved in one of Move United’s 245 member organizations across the country.
MOVE UNITED WARFIGHTERS PROGRAM
Move United Warfighters program serves approximately 1,600 severely injured warriors and their families annually. Since 2003, over 21,00 severely injured veterans and their families have been provided access to more than 70 adaptive sports at no cost to them. Ten athletes that dawned a uniform for the U.S. again participated in the Move United Warfighters activities, including snowboarders Tyler Burdick and Michael Spivey.
Several players on the U.S. Sled Hockey Team are also former military members and also got involved in Move United Warfighters activities, including Rico Roman, Ralph DeQuebec, Jen Lee, Travis Dodson, Joseph Woodke, Josh Misiewicz, as well as Wheelchair Curler Steve Emt and Nordic Skier Josh Sweeney.
Snowboarder Michael Spivey, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant, would lose an arm as a result of an IED during his second deployment to Afghanistan on December 10th, 2010. Within one year, he really took to snowboarding. “I went to Ski Spec in 2011 and have been there every year since. My first time there, I happened to be there on my Alive Day.” His first day out, he was doing black diamonds. The second year he spent his time with Kep (snowboard coach Chris Koeppe) and hanging around the race camp. “I started asking questions like ‘How do I join a team?’ and ‘How do I get classified?’ He had to wait until the following year because he missed the deadline, but Spivey would get classified in 2013. 2022 made his second trip to the Winter Paralympic Games.
MOVE UNITED ELITE TEAM
Seventeen members of Team USA are alumni of Move United’s former Elite Team, which was designed to support and empower emerging youth athletes with disabilities, between 13-24 years of age, who were training competitively in sports featured in the Paralympic Games.
Those included alpine skiers Andrew Kurka, Tyler Carter, Andrew Haraghey, Connor Hogan, Jesse Keefe, and Kyle Taulman; snowboarders Brenna Huckaby, Noah Elliott, Zach Miller, and Katy Maddry; Nordic athletes Grace Miller, Dani Aravich, Lera Doederlein, Max Nelson, and Ruslan Reiter, and Sled Hockey Player Griffin LaMarre and Evan Nichols.
MOVE UNITED TRAINING AND COMPETITION EVENTS
Twenty of the 2022 Paralympians were a part of events hosted and organized by Move United. Those athletes include alpine skiers Laurie Stephens, Danielle Umstead, Rob Umstead, Patrick Halgren, Allie Johnson, Jasmin Bambur, Thomas Walsh, Matthew Brewer, David Williams, and Spencer Wood; snowboarders Keith Gabel, Mike Schultz, Mike Minor, Evan Strong, Brittani Coury, and Garrett Geros; Nordic skier Oksana Masters, wheelchair curler Pam Wilson and David Samsa, and sled hockey player Jack Wallace. The majority of these athletes have attended The Hartford Ski Spectacular, one of the nation’s largest winter sports festivals for people with disabilities held each December at our host member organization Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center in Breckenridge, Colorado.
MOVE UNITED MEMBER NETWORK
And finally, thirteen members of Team USA had participated with one or more Move United member organizations, including Nordic skiers Dan Cnossen (National Sports Center For The Disabled in Colorado), Aaron Pike (GLASA in Illinois), and Kendall Gretsch (Dare2Tri in Illinois) and alpine skiers Ravi Drugan (Oregon Adaptive Sports) and Robert Enigl (NSCD).
Several members of the Sled Hockey team played with teams associated with the Move United member network, including Josh Pauls from Disabled Athlete Sports Association (Missouri), Brody Roybal and Kevin McKee from Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (Illinois), Noah Grove (Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland), Kyle Zych and David Eustace (Northeast Passage), Malik Jones (Adaptive Adventures), and Declan Farmer (Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports in Colorado).
Move United is a proud affiliate of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Like many, we can’t wait to see who will make Team USA for the next Winter Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina. And we will be rooting for them March 6-15, 2026.
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