The Extremity Games is an annual sports event for amputees and those with limb difference. Each competitive sport takes place in a different part of the country. The games, organized by the Athletes with Disabilities Network, began in 2006 by College Park Industries, a manufacturer of prosthetic feet.

Competitions include:
•    Skateboarding
•    Rock Climbing
•    Kayaking
•    Wakeboarding
•    Mountain Biking
•    Moto-X
•    Martial Arts Open Forms
•    Sparring Exhibition

Competitors come from around the world, but you don't have to be a top athlete to have a great time and join in the sport. Instructional clinics are offered in skateboarding, wakeboarding, rock climbing, and kayaking.

Chris Ridgway, Amputee Sports Gold Medalist
Chris Ridgway, an amputee motocross racer, is competing in the 2010 Extremity Games. This is his third year participating in the games. He has a perfect record for motocross (three gold medals) and one bronze medal in kayaking. What’s more amazing is that he learned how to kayak only a couple days before the event!

Chris, who lives in Apple Valley, Calif., injured his left leg in a motocross race in 1995. He chose not to have his leg amputated despite the advice of surgeons, and suffered extreme pain for seven years. He became dependent on pain killers.

“The pain was crazy!” Chris told Disaboom. “But it changed my life and how I looked at my future because, basically, I was so miserable and couldn't think about the future.  I couldn't go on living like that.  I took boatloads of painkillers every day, and I knew that stuff would be the end of me if I didn't do something about it.”

The “something” he did was to finally agree to have his leg amputated in 2002. He quit taking the painkillers.

“Getting my leg amputated enabled me to live life without as much pain and it kind of started life over for me again,” Chris says. “The impact it had on my racing was incredible!  I started getting all this attention for doing the same things I used to do before.”    

Chris wanted to get a prosthesis, but couldn’t afford one. In 2003, the organization Limbs For Life gave him one at no charge. Ever since, he wears a prosthesis when racing.

Chris has been an inspiration to other amputees, especially motivating them to compete in sports events. His message to fellow amputees is clear: “To be happy and successful comes from using the things you still have, not the things you don't have.  So, if you focus on what you don't have, you're not going to go anywhere.  A good start is a positive attitude.”

To register for the Extremity Games and for further information, visit their website or call 248-475-3623.

Learn about other amazing amputees.