Our "Player Highlight" this month is on Frank Doval, born and raised in Missoula, Montana. After his stint in the Navy, Frank held a variety of positions in the Electronic Industry. In 1997, Frank and his family moved from Colorado Springs to Austin. Frank was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a form of Arthritis and was forced to be on disability from work in 2004. 

As a kid, Frank skated on a frozen river, a frozen pond, and at the rink the fire station made by piling up snow around the edges and flooding it with water. Growing up, his family never had the money to play any organized sports. 

After the Navy, Frank spent a lot of time enjoying sports. Frank has been a certified scuba diver since 1984. He started down hill skiing in 1985 at Crystal Mountain in Washington State. He remained active until 2007 when his disease hit hard. Frank had to find something to keep as active as possible. A friend suggested sled hockey. He had no idea what it was but thought it sounded fun.

Sled Hockey was created in the early 1960's in Sweden by disabled individuals who had played hockey before they had injuries and still wanted to play the sport. The sled hockey mission is to "empower physically or developmentally challenged individuals by providing the opportunity to enjoy the sport of ice hockey." Program benefits include improved endurance, coordination, strength, social skills, teamwork, along with the pure enjoyment and freedom provided by skating on ice. The major difference is the equipment. Players have a sled with blades instead of skates. There are two sticks instead of one, and the sticks have a metal pick mounted on the end so players can propel themselves down the ice.

Sled Hockey in Austin started in 2007 as the Austin Ice Bats. Frank joined the team at this time. When the Ice Bats left Austin the name was changed to the Austin Blades. From 2007-2011, Frank was in and out of the team due to health issues. In 2011, Frank was in much better shape and was able to participate in sled hockey at a higher level. In 2012, Frank was part of the team from Texas that won the Bronze Medal in Dallas at the 2012 USA Disabled Festival. This team consisted of players from Austin and Houston. In 2013 none of the Austin players were able to attend the 2013 Disabled Festival due to financing. As a result, the Texas team did not do so well. From then on, Frank vowed to keep Sled Hockey in Austin and to attend the 2014 USA Disabled Festival in Boston. Austin and Houston partnered up again to attend the 2014 Disabled Festival. They ended up playing for the Gold medal in their division and came close to winning!

Frank was awarded a Grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundations Operation Rebound Grant for new equipment, travel costs, and tournament cost. The Operation Rebound Grant is for ex-military (non- serviced related injuries) and public service members (Firemen, Law Enforcement,EMS, etc.). He was sent to Denver in December of 2013 to get a custom made bucket for my sled. Boy did that make a difference!

Currently, the Austin Blades is fundraising to pay for the second half of this year's ice time and to get as many people to the 2015 USA Disabled Festival in New York. The program has been part of a Texas Team called Texas Sled Hockey. This team has medaled two out of the last three National Disabled Tournaments held by USA Hockey. The team has a young man named "Foster" Grant Blair who joined the team in 2014. He has practiced with two of the Sochi Gold Medal Winners and the team is excited about where he can go-maybe a future Paralympic Gold Medal Winner from Austin?  Frank thinks so!