Jason Malczyk: My Adventures with the Adaptive Community

Jason started working with WAS in July 2019, coming in with an extensive background in adaptive recreation, specifically in winter sports. He is a PSIA Adaptive Division and Education Clinic Leader and the Adaptive Discipline Manager for the Intermountain Region. With 18 years of experience working at a variety of adaptive programs, we are eager to learn more from him as the newest program coordinator!

My name is Jason Malczyk and I feel very lucky to have been a part of the adaptive community for the last 19 years of my life. My career in adaptive recreation started by mistake. While attending Green Mountain College in Vermont, I needed to take part in an internship. I looked for a job that would let me ski, climb, bike, and boat as much as possible and getting paid would be a bonus. What I cared most about at this time in my life was becoming better at whatever activity I was into during the time. I applied for internships, various outdoor recreation venues, and ended up hearing back from the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC). All I knew about the BOEC was that they did outdoorsy stuff with people and were located in Colorado, meaning I could still get some ski time in the summer. I arrived at the BOEC an ego-driven, adrenaline obsessed, college rugby/ lacrosse player. All I wanted was to be cool and do cool things that made me look cool. Little did I know that that summer would change my life. I learned how to assist people with special needs to experience the outdoors. I became a young member of the adaptive community. Below was a quote I wrote down at the end of the summer of 2000. It still plays true today.

          “Through the experience that I had at the BOEC, I feel that my path in life has been altered. Working at the BOEC exposed me to so many different types of activities and people. Never before the BOEC did I feel that I would enjoy working with special populations, but now my views are just the opposite. This summer I was shown just how much people with special needs appreciate and need the services that the BOEC provides.”

 After returning to college, I immediately looked for the opportunity to be back in the adaptive community. I volunteered with Vermont Adaptive Sports at Pico Mountain. The West then called me back again, I was lucky and received a raft guide position with another amazing adaptive non-profit, SPLORE, in Moab, Utah. I packed my life into a 1980 VW Jetta (with no radio) and drove across the country very quietly. The Intermountain West has been my home ever since then.  

During the last 18 years, I have bounced between CO, UT, ID, and WY. I have experienced many great adaptive programs and events. From my years at SPLORE, the National Sports Center for the Disabled, the National Ability Center, and Teton Adaptive Sports, I have been able to be a part of many amazing moments and meet countless amazing people.

My experiences have been many and varied. From running multi-day adaptive rafting trips in the canyons of Utah to teaching and guiding adaptive skiers on the slopes of the Tetons, chasing off-road handcycles through aspen groves of Idaho to assisting sit skiers in experiencing the thrill of racing in the Derby de la Meije in the Alps of La Grave, France to being invited to cheer on a former student, now friend, while she crutched up 7,000 feet of Mount Baker to be the first to sit-ski down it.

My wife Chelsea and I are very happy that our life path has now led us here to the Wasatch Front. Again, we feel lucky to have found another amazing community of accepting and caring individuals looking to share the ability to get some wind in your hair and enjoy life. I cannot wait to meet all of you and continue to grow our great Wasatch Adaptive community!