The Daniel brothers are amazing athletes and they don’t let life’s obstacles slow them down one bit.
Christian is 19-year-old and Stefan is 15.
Stefan is missing half his radius so his right arm is shorter but that hasn’t' stopped him in the slightest. He is a paratriathlete, swimmer and runner
“I always push myself against able bodied kids. I don't look at my disability as oh I’m a Para and I should be going slower than them, I just kind of forget about it and I consider myself as able bodied in training,” said Stephan.
He is a grade 10 student at National Sports School and his dream is to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics Rio for both swimming and triathlon.
“Sports is just kind of been my life. It’s just something to do, it’s to get my mind off school. It’s pretty fun and it helps that I’m pretty good at it and just something to work hard at and have goals and to just really helps with my confidence and everything its enjoyable,” said Stephan.
Christian has cerebral palsy which causes the muscles in his lower body to be tight and interferes with normal walking.
But when he hits the pool the 400 m freestyle specailist showcases his enormous upper body strength.
“I swim five to six times a week plus meets but I could swim up to eight so we’ll see how that goes but between that and all my university stuff I’m pretty busy but I manage,” said Christian.
Christian is a computer science major at the U of C and competed at the Para Pan American games in Guadalajara last year where he narrowly missed his qualifying time for the Paralympics in London.
“This year I plan to go to all the little local meets that we do and then hopefully qualify for worlds this summer,” said Christian.
The boys’ parents Sue and Chris are very supportive of their son’s dreams.
“They always drive me at five in the morning and they’re really supportive of that it's awesome to see that and not a lot of parents can do that,” said Stephan.
“They always take an interest in what I’m doing come watch and are just generally supportive,” said Christian.
For their passion for sport, the Daniel family is our CTV Athletes of the Week.
