Meet Nick Pryor: A chAMPion in Adaptive Sport
At our Sport for Every Body event this Saturday we want to defy typical perceptions of what an “athletic body” looks like, and to share with the community a fun and inclusive opportunity for all body types to participate in sport.
To help lead up to this event we are highlighting Nick Pryor, an adaptive athlete who helps run AMP1, an all amputee stand-up basketball team housed at Ability360 — our community partner. You can meet Nick and learn more about AMP1 this Saturday at the event. Check out our Q&A with Nick below:
Tell us about yourself:
I’m from a small town in Dunkirk, Indiana with a population of about 2,300. The incident that led to me getting a prosthetic leg was when I was 5 years old. A friend of mine had been gifted a shotgun by his dad and invited me and my older brother over to play. My mom had told us no, but we decided to sneak out while she was busy cleaning the house. He wanted to play with the gun and with me being so young, I didn’t really know what was going on and didn’t partake in it.
My friend was trying to load the 12-gauge and that’s when it went off and hit my leg. I was life-lined to Riley hospital in Indianapolis and spent weeks going through numerous surgeries. They tried to save my leg by taking out my left lat, but it didn’t work out. That’s when my parents decided to amputate my leg, which was the best thing they could’ve done. My leg wouldn’t have been functional compared to having a prosthetic.
I consider myself lucky to have a small-town community where they supported me and pushed me to never quit anything. I played football, baseball, and basketball all the way through high school, and played on the club baseball team during my undergrad at Indiana University. I also became a TA with my baseball coach there for a baseball-related course.
From there, I never really knew much about adaptive sports, but Dr. Mowatt at IU recommended the Paralympics when I expressed that I still wanted to compete in sports after undergrad. A common misconception is that the Special Olympics and the Paralympics are the same thing, but after looking into it more, I realized the difference.
When I moved out to Arizona I was lucky enough to find the Desert Challenge games where I competed in the javelin and other throwing events. It truly was an eye-opener and gave me insight into the adaptive sports community. I was hooked from there on and decided to go back to grad school and study adaptive sport. This is where I got hooked up with Ability 360 through Dale Larsen at ASU, the former Director of Parks and Recreation in Phoenix, who then connected me with my current boss, Gus, at Ability360. We discussed the research I wanted to do with adaptive athletes.
I was a TA in a volunteer management course and when I brought the course over to the facility for a tour, I saw they were playing amputee basketball on Wednesday nights. I had not seen anything like that or played basketball with anyone else who had a prosthetic. This was what sparked my involvement with the sport.
I was supposed to go during a summer camp in California, but it happened to be the same time as the Cactus Classic going on at Ability360, a tournament for amputee basketball. The camp wasn’t going to let me compete in the tournament and Gus had said they really needed me here at the facility. And so he offered me a job as a lifeguard. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do but it got me my foot in the door.
Since then I have taken on helping with the programs for wheelchair basketball, amputee basketball, track and field, and triathlon.
I was planning on training and doing the full triathlon this year, but I ended up getting invited to play with the USA amputee baseball team in their Men’s Senior Baseball League World Series. So I’ve switched up my training for baseball instead. It is really crazy to me that I have an opportunity to play sports competitively at the age of 30 after everything that has happened.
Where I grew up I was the only kid from my elementary to go to a 4-year school and graduate, so it wasn’t always in my favor, but it has worked out pretty well.
What was your first experience with other adaptive athletes? How did it make you feel?
The 2013 Desert Challenge games right after I graduated from undergrad.
Playing against people who are dealing with the same thing as you are, it makes it a level playing field. That along with seeing all the other adaptive athletes was amazing and it sparked my interest in researching what motivates adaptive athletes.
My research found that these athletes were just interested in doing something, the social aspect of being with similar differences like yourself, and physical fitness.
People don’t really know what is out there for them in order to continue to compete. I didn’t really know until what opportunities were out there for me until I was 23. If I was involved when I was younger, it could’ve opened up scholarships for different adaptive sports.
Tell us about your organization, AMP1:
It’s a group of different amputees from all over the country that go to different schools and universities. We talk to the students about our stories and the different devices we use to play.
We also do disability awareness games against able-bodied opponents and do fairly well. Additionally, we facilitate games with teachers and students, so we’re really flexible.
Some of my favorite events are the amputee clinics with the Golden State Warriors camps and the University of San Francisco and our halftime shows at NBA games. All of it is based around our mission, Motivate. Educate. Inspire.
Education is very important because we want people to know the differences between Special Olympic and Paralympic sport. We’ve been lucky to have the team become an Ability360 program, so I can actually work on Amp1 activities in my current role there.
Tell us a little more about that. What is your role with Ability360?
Man, what don’t I do? We all wear a ton of different hats here at the facility.
I did all the logistics of our wheelchair basketball team when it was started, and now we have three different teams. I’m the head coach of one of our teams and last year we were national runners-up. It was the first time Phoenix has been in a national championship game in 17 years, so it was really exciting being a first-year head coach with a young team.
Other activities I am responsible for are our Healthy Teens Healthy Communities program, Amp1, summer camps, fitness classes, organizing the Cactus Classic, and all of our wheelchair basketball tournaments. A busy plate for sure.
Do you think accessibility and inclusivity to sport is important? Why?
It is so important because it is just life. The disability community is usually one not expected to do much — but everyone has the same life, needs, and wants.
When we have inclusivity, we see the differences but accept it and look beyond the physical aspect of it.
Why should people come to the event this Saturday?
For people who don’t know about adaptive sports, it will really be eye-opening. Some of these athletes are working just as hard as Olympians and professional athletes, but in a different way.
Everyone knows someone who has some form of disability and they can take that and educate the people who don’t know about these opportunities which exist. As my research said, the biggest motivator is just interest, and if they don’t know these programs exist then how could they get interested?
Anything else you would like to add?
For me, being a kid who never saw these opportunities growing up, I’m very lucky in how my situation panned out. But not everyone has that community and support around them. A huge reason why I do what I do, is because I want people to know these opportunities exist. I don’t want someone like me who could’ve been lost, who was supposed to be another statistic, miss out on these opportunities. There is an outlet for “every body” out there.
This blog has been edited for length and clarity.
