Joel Hunt is a disabled skier who can negotiate difficult black diamond runs and pop through moguls. Two years ago, he was just getting out of a wheelchair.

In his former life, he played high school football, then joined the Army and served three rotations in Iraq. In 2005 he was on patrol in Baqubah, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, when the vehicle he was riding in got hit by an IUD, leaving him with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a paralyzed left side.

Hunt, 31, just started skiing two years ago. But with the help of coach Scott Olson, he has become the #1-rated NASTAR ski racer with intellectual disability, caused by the TBI. Coach Olson has 17 years of coaching experience behind him, four of those with the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park, Colo., the nation's premiere facility for disabled skiers.

Watching Hunt and Olson together, it's easy to see the bond they have with each other. Praise and encouragement pass between them in both directions. The coach, who got started helping people with disabilities ski when he couldn't pass up “a little kid with cerebral palsy,” loves the feeling he gets from watching people get out of their wheelchairs and ski.

“I need a GPS to get to WalMart down the street,” Hunt says. “I have to concentrate real hard due to my TBI, plus putting weight on my left side.” But he works to improve every time he hits the slopes, and it has paid off in newfound freedom.

“To get over disability,” Hunt says, “you have to have a goal and achieve it, because no one will achieve it for you.” The 10-year Army veteran credits the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which raises money to help athletes with disabilities lead active lives and engage in competitive sports, with providing the funding to get him into disabled skiing.

“If it wasn't for Challenged Athletes Foundation, I wouldn't be here,” he says.

But apart from a great coach, a proven disabled skier program and some financial assistance, there's something inside of Joel Hunt that's just as crucial to his success. It's how he looks at what happened to him halfway across the world in a war that remains unwon.

“My disability is my greatest teacher,” says Hunt, before going up for another run.

Photo shows Joel Hunt, left, and coach Scott Olson sharing a reflective moment between races at the Wells Fargo Ski Cup in Winter Park, Colo., on Feb. 21, 2010.

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