Colorado high school wrestler makes a comeback as potential Paralympics sled hockey team member

From The Denver Post:

Nikko Landeros (pictured) came home for the Thanksgiving holidays with a dream of representing the U.S. at the Vancouver Paralympics, and chances are good he's going to get there.

Landeros was one of two Berthoud High School wrestlers who lost their legs in a highly publicized automobile accident in January 2007 when they were struck by another Berthoud student while changing a flat tire. Now Landeros is making a name for himself as a punishing defenseman on the U.S. national sled hockey team.

"It's a blast," said Landeros, 20, whose legs were amputated just above the knee. "Best time of my life right now."

The U.S. reinforced its reputation as a Paralympic gold-medal contender by winning the four-nation World Sled Hockey Challenge and beating host-country Canada in the championship game Nov. 21. Landeros is living in Buffalo, N.Y., so he can train with fellow team members, but came back to Berthoud for Thanksgiving.

He began playing sled hockey in 2008. Thanks to a flair for physical play that he acquired as an able-bodied athlete in hockey, football and wrestling, he made a quick rise to the national team, which will be trimmed from 18 to 15 in two weeks.

"It's a great feeling," Landeros said. "I've got great teammates, a great coach, and playing for the U.S. is really sweet. You can't ask for more."

Landeros played several years of youth hockey before concentrating on football and wrestling in high school. National team officials say his experience as an able-bodied hockey player and his willingness to hit make him a key member of the team.

"He is very physical," said team leader Dan Brennan. "People don't like banging into him because it hurts. He's got a great work ethic, and he's done a really nice job fitting in with all the players. I think he is going to be a real leader of this team in the next few years."

The other boy hurt in the 2007 accident, Tyler Carron, also has taken up sled hockey. He is living in Fort Collins and plays for the junior national team.

"When (Landeros) started doing it and he went to a couple tournaments, then I kind of got into it," Carron said.

Landeros and Carron were recruited by Corey Fairbanks, president of Colorado Sled Hockey, which is sponsored by the Colorado Avalanche. Fairbanks played football for Arapahoe High School and the University of Nebraska before he broke his back and was paralyzed in a 1991 skiing accident. The day he was introduced to sled hockey, Fairbanks wound up with 20 stitches in his chin and knew he'd found a "physical outlet" to replace football.

When Fairbanks showed Landeros and Carron what sled hockey looked like, they weren't interested. They were still getting used to the reality of being disabled and adjusting to their new life. But Fairbanks was persistent, and eventually the young athletes gave it a try.

"When anybody gets hurt who's been able-bodied and active, they go through a major depression, thinking their life is over," Fairbanks said. "I've been in the chair for 19 years, and I've been able to realize that there may be a greater good out of what happened through their accident. In their sport world, they're going to be able to realize heights that were not possible for them before. To be able to put on the USA jersey and compete for your country is the ultimate sense of pride someone can have. Neither of them would have had

Jairo Landeros, right, says he is thankful his son Nikko, left, has found a sport he loves. Nikko will find out in two weeks if he will be representing the United States at the Vancouver Paralympics. (John Leyba, The Denver Post )that opportunity if they hadn't gotten hurt."

Landeros' father, Jairo, is thankful his son has found something he loves.

"It's a great thing for him and for us as a family," Jairo said. "He's 100 percent committed. That's the only thing on his mind, all the time."

Landeros started out with the national team as a forward, but coaches moved him to defense because of his aggressiveness, and Landeros discovered he liked playing defense more.

"You get to see the whole ice a lot more," Landeros said. "You can lay out your hit before it even happens. I like hitting. I like to let people know I'm there."

For now it's a full-time job. Landeros practices five days a week, 90 minutes at a time, and has several two-hour gym sessions weekly to work on core strength and reaction times. The national team provides players with personal trainers.

Players sit in sleds and propel themselves on the ice using a pair of sticks with picks at the ends.

"I think it's one of the hardest sports you can play," Landeros said. "You have to get your core really strong. I could control a puck pretty well with my right hand when I started because I was right-handed. I started getting my left hand involved, and it helps a lot. You can fake people out, because they don't know where you're going, you're using both hands."

National team coach Ray Maluta said Landeros has brought a lot to the team in a short time.

"He's working hard in the gym, he's an athlete and that athleticism is driving him," Maluta said. "He's a phenomenal kid. He's fun, he's witty, he blends in really well with his teammates."

But to Fairbanks, there's more to the story than what happens in Vancouver in March. It's about the inspiration Landeros can give others, disabled or otherwise.

"He has an opportunity to be a role model and to be an example for other people who may not be having as hard a time as he is having, but could learn something from him about perseverance and moving forward in life and showing just because you've been injured, just because you have a disability, life is not over," Fairbanks said. "There is a lot of riches out there for a lot of people."