'An Awesome Joy': USA Paralympian Jen Lee on How He Fell in Love with Sled Hockey

Athletes find particular sports in different ways. Some find them early in life. For others, they find them later on and realize a renewed sense of purpose. 

Jen Lee had always considered himself an athlete. After leaving sports behind in high school, he enlisted in the Army, where he was running and training daily.

Sports and fitness were an important part of life for the 35-year-old who was born in Taipei, Taiwan but raised in San Francisco. He played basketball and ran track in high school, and prior to that, he played hockey. He was a goalie growing up, and he says it's because he's "weird," but really it was a very common story for most hockey goalies: He wasn't skilled on skates. 

"Growing up when I started playing in elementary school, like third, fourth grade or fifth grade, I tried to go out, play forward and whatnot. I just wasn't really good at skating. I didn't have good footwork," Lee told Bleacher Report.

"If you're not good at certain positions, they're just gonna put you in the net. But then I volunteered myself. I said, 'I'm going to the net to see what I can do.' And I fell in love with it. I fell in love with stopping the puck." 

So when Lee was injured in a motorcycle accident in 2009, it was like his identity was shaken. An aviation mechanic, Lee was stationed in Savannah, Georgia, and had taken a ride down to Jacksonville, Florida, when the accident occurred. It resulted in his left leg being amputated above his knee. In the immediate aftermath, sports were a question on Lee's mind. 

How would he continue to play sports? How would he be able to serve his country?

Lee didn't need to wait long for those answers. An Army-based program provided Lee with a reintroduction to hockey. Now, he's playing goalie once again, this time with the U.S. Sled Hockey team, and he's headed to his third Paralympics, where he will be seeking his third gold medal. 

"When sled hockey came about, I was like, 'I'm gonna play goalie, no doubt," Lee said. 

For those who aren't familiar, sled hockey players sit on designed sleds that have two hockey skate blades. Each player has two sticks, and the sticks have metal picks on one end for players to propel themselves forward. 

The Paralympics begin Friday in Beijing. It's another meaningful opportunity for Lee to represent his country.

Though he still speaks Mandarin, he's very proudly American, and after years of living in Texas, he's perfected his southern twang. The work he and others from Team USA have put in to get to a point where they are able to represent their country and showcase sled hockey to the world is, naturally, a point of pride for a lifelong athlete. 

"You just feel a sense of like a very, very surreal but awesome joy at the same time," Lee said. 

Lee is no longer in the Army, but he does still live in San Antonio and plays for a club team there. Training has become his full-time job because the sport has become so competitive. 

Here is Lee's story of how he found sled hockey, what it means for him and his family to compete internationally and everything fans need to know about the sport and its growing popularity.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: How did you find sled hockey?

A: "I really got into sled hockey, particularly, after my motorcycle accident while I was still in the military. After I got my leg amputated down there in Florida, about a month later they transferred me to San Antonio, Texas, to begin my rehabilitation here because there's a better hospital that deals with wounded service members. Part of the rehab the military did was offering a lot of different therapeutic sports or adaptive sports. So there were a lot of different sports available like wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, track and field. Sled hockey just happened to be one of the sports they had to offer. The program had actually been started by a local nonprofit to help out wounded injured service members. It's called Operation Comfort."

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Q: Why did you gravitate toward sled hockey?

A: "I played hockey when I was little. So of course, going to rehab that time, when sled hockey came up, I signed up. I was like, 'I wonder if it's the same as roller hockey or like the inline hockey I played growing up?' So I tried it out, went out there when they had their first practice with the military guys, and I fell in love with it. And really that's how I kind of got into it because not only is the hockey the same, but I believe it's still the only, or one of the only, sports that is still very physical, like with body-checking, all that good stuff."

Q: How is the hockey similar?

A: "Everything is quite similar. There are different little things, like different rules apply just like hockey, or able-bodied hockey. There's T-boning—you can't do that, that's very dangerous. But the net size and the rink size (are the same), as far as the penalties, two minutes, five minutes, minor, major, the puck—it's all the same concept. The style of play, I will say, now that I've been able to play since 2009 and have a little bit more experience, I'll say it's definitely different. We don't skate backward. There are people trying to master that concept, but it just doesn't really work in our sport compared to able-bodied hockey, where they do that a lot."

Q: How important were sports for you during your recovery?

A: "That was a huge factor. Growing up, I was a huge sports fan and a huge sports participant, all the way through high school and then into the military as well. When you're off-duty, you can go to the gym on-base or there's this huge pickup basketball league. I was very active. So when I lost my leg, not knowing where I was and not having my leg anymore, I definitely had questions. Can I be in the service? Can I walk? Run? How can I even serve my country? And that was definitely a very huge setback for sure.

"Once I came to San Antonio, I was just like a happy little kid again. I was able to play this sport and that sport. I had rehab throughout the whole day and then I got to get in a swimming pool and swim and all these things."

Q: How did you feel about the introduction to parasports?

A: "A little bit of mixed feelings, that's for sure. I was rehabbing in Florida, partially on a base where they did not know how to deal with injuries like this because they just didn't have the resources. They didn't have the manpower or the people. So I just really thought that that was it. That was going to be what I am for the rest of my life—stuck in a wheelchair, or maybe crutches. So when I transferred to San Antonio and began my rehab there, it really shed a light because I was pretty down. But I was able to see other military service members who I was rehabbing alongside not just playing sports, but they were pushing themselves to the limits where they didn't know they could be pushed. That gave me a spark in real life. I couldn't feel sorry for myself, I couldn't make excuses."

Q: When did you realize the Paralympics could become a reality for you?

A: "Someone said, 'Hey, there's a little small league to play along against other veterans competitively.' They'll bring you to a different hospital, like maybe a hospital in San Diego or Walter Reed in Washington, DC. I thought, 'Wow, this is really cool.' Next thing you know, they were talking about the Paralympics, saying, 'Hey, you may think you're good enough, but the Paralympics is a totally different level.'"

Q: You made your first Paralympic team in 2014. How has the sport grown since then?

A: "Every year, you've got to do your job. You've got to do your role. You've got to play well and perform because every year, the competition gets bigger. As every year passes, the sport just gets bigger, so there are more people that come out and try out and more people who want to take a spot, especially in a Paralympic year. So when I made it, it was just kind of like, 'OK, are you kidding?' And then you think about how everyone has different backgrounds and different stories of how they get there." 

Q: What does it mean for you to compete in your third Paralympic Games?

A: "Definitely a super huge honor. I'm grateful because at 35 years young, it's not a sense of being old, but in an athletic career (35) can be. My parents, they saved all their money from Taiwan just for us to go to the United States, to America, to immigrate to the United States to give us a better opportunity. And for me to kind of look back to everything, to look at the time that I know I left my native country at 8 years old to 35 years old, I realized everything my parents had done. They sacrificed to give us this freedom, this choice and these opportunities to be where we need to be. No matter how bad, how crappy you feel like your circumstance or situation is, you're still able to make it out because that's what this country can give you."