Mason was only 5-years-old when he told his mom he didn’t like himself. Mason was angry that he had spina bifida and he didn’t think he would ever be happy. Mason was the only one he knew who used a wheelchair and he couldn’t play the same way as the other kids at his school.

Mason’s mom, a single-mother caregiver, knew he needed opportunities to be independent and around other children with similar disabilities. After researching adaptive sports online, Mason attended his first Sled Hockey clinic with the Central Florida Dreamplex. He watched as players used their sticks to fly around the ice on their sleds making incredible plays. Mason was hooked.

“Just like with anything else, being good at sled hockey takes practice,” Mason says. “Balancing on the sled, moving on the ice, and hitting the puck where I want it to go took time to learn, but my teammates make practice fun!”