Grantee Story- Stride Adaptive’s Awesome Athlete Daniel Chans
I’m 16 years old. I am in 10th grade. I started with STRIDE programs in Late 2017 and still do them today. The first program I started with was swimming. I started learning how to swim when I was six in California. In late 2017, I found a program named STRIDE Swimming. Although I was practicing, I did not join the team until September 2021. My favorite Strokes are 500 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, and 100 Breaststroke. I learned to ski with STRIDE in December 2017 and joined the ski race team 1 year later.
What do you feel your greatest athletic achievement is – in both skiing and in swimming?
I am most proud of getting gold medal in Special Olympics. I win gold medal in Both Slalom and Giant Slalom in Special Olympics. The best achievement in swimming was one of the latest achievements which is getting first place in the 4 x 50 relay.
What do you like about being part of a team?
I like making friends and racing against each other. Dan, my teammate in the 500-meter swim, helps me maintain a certain pace. In skiing, Noah, Matt, and my teammates help me go faster! I also like making new friends on the team.
What else is on your radar to learn next (other sports or anything)On my radar, I was thinking about learning to snowboard. Although I have done that in the past, I have given up because I had a lot of falls at that time. We are thinking about trying to learn how to board again starting next ski season. Other things that I would want to learn how to do are terrain parks. Although I have done them in the past, I have only done the easy and wide ones. I would rather do the very narrow platforms. I also want to help teach other kids in the stride program.
What do you see in your future?
I want to build ski lifts at ski resorts and other areas around the entire world. I am planning to expand Jiminy Peak with an expansion plan on google earth pro. I’m looking into the grades to see if the plan will work out and if I should modify the grades or not.
