Olympics |

Mt. Airy native, Paralympian Daniel Romanchuk gives back to Kennedy Krieger Institute

Playing sports in a wheelchair might seem counterintuitive. But if Alexa Landers needs inspiration, all she has to do is look at the wall in her bedroom where she posted photos of her with Paralympic gold medalist Daniel Romanchuk and a racing bib autographed by him.

“He’s been in our situation,” said Landers, a 9-year-old fourth grader from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who was born with spina bifida, a spinal cord defect. “He’s done the same things as us, and he has been in the Paralympics.”

Landers and 19 other members of the Bennett Blazers, Kennedy Krieger Institute’s adaptive sports program, got a chance last month to reacquaint themselves with Romanchuk when the Mt. Airy native made his second visit to the MoveNow Summer Camp at Kennedy Krieger Gymnasium in the 3800 block of Greenspring Avenue in Baltimore. Also born with spina bifida, Romanchuk joined the Bennett Blazers when he was 2 and said he felt a responsibility to return.

“One of the things that has stuck with me from my early days here at Bennett is that even after you aged out of the program and had gone off to wherever you’ve gone in life, they came back and showed the next generation not only what was possible in sports, but also in life,” he said. “They had gone off to college, gotten a job, gotten married, had kids, gone off to the Paralympics. But they came back and showed us what our opportunities were. … I know the impact that Bennett has had on me, and I want to help continue that as much as possible.”

Romanchuk’s list of athletic achievements is already impressive. The 25-year-old has won the Chicago Marathon twice and the Boston, New York and London marathons once, and gold medals in the men’s 800 meters T54 event and men’s marathon T54 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Romanchuk followed that up by capturing gold in the men’s 400 meters T54 at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo and bronze in the men’s marathon T54. And soon, he will compete in Paris at his third consecutive Paralympic Games.

So it’s little wonder that he was welcomed warmly by the Bennett Blazers last month. Dakota Nesbitt, another 9-year-old fourth grader from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had already prepared a question for Romanchuk about his training regimen and practiced her basketball skills despite attending a six-hour basketball camp earlier in the day.

“She adores him,” said Amanda Nesbitt, mother of Dakota who was born with spina bifida. “Just looks up to him, watches all of his YouTube videos, has a poster of him hanging in her room. She just thinks that he is amazing, and he obviously is.”

The MoveNow Summer Camp in Baltimore is the creation of Allianz Trade Americas, a Baltimore-based insurer and asset manager that is the insurance partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and moved its headquarters from Owings Mills to the city in December. The camp is designed to excite young people about the Olympics and Paralympics through movement and exercise, according to spokeswoman Casey Pelfrey.

“The idea is to get kids active out there doing sports,” she said. “And we really feel a strong sense of obligation to be part of the community and give back to the Baltimore community.”

Through a partnership with Kennedy Krieger Institute, Allianz paired 20 able-bodied elementary- and middle-school students from Safe Alternative Foundation for Education with 20 members of the Bennett Blazers for a wheelchair basketball clinic. While the Blazers waltzed their way through cone drills and rounded corners with ease, the other campers found moving forward without mistakenly braking difficult to master.

“Some people have unique talents,” acknowledged Bryan Russell, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore. “You don’t always have to be standing just to play sports.”

That recognition from the able-bodied segment is one of the camp’s primary objectives, said Dr. Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute.

“Until you not just see it but experience it, you probably don’t understand the level of athleticism that is required if you are an athlete in a wheelchair or other adaptive sports setting,” he said. “So to actually engage and live it can completely change your perspective on what athleticism and competition means. It just engenders a much more inclusive perspective on competition and that kind of athleticism.”

Romanchuk said it was just as important to him to remind the wheelchair athletes not to contain their aspirations — or allow anyone to do that to them.

“One of the things I really hope that everyone goes home from the camp with is that the options are limitless,” he said. “There are times where the world can look at someone and kind of say, ‘There’s limited options there.’ But really, it’s not. As a young kid with spina bifida, the world probably looked at me and said, ‘Well, he can’t play basketball or do marathons.’ But here at Bennett, their motto is, ‘Teach kids they can before someone tells them they can’t,’ and that atmosphere and growing up in that atmosphere has really been instrumental in giving me the opportunities I’ve had up until today.”

Romanchuk’s presence at the camp was electrifying — if not for the campers, then definitely for some of the parents.

“When a person like Daniel and his star power shows up, that just adds a little pizzazz on top of the whole day,” said Chad Landers, Alexa’s father. “I’m sure everyone was excited Daniel came out today.”

Added Schlaggar: “There’s just smiles everywhere.”

Romanchuk will represent the United States in the marathon, but might not compete in five total events in Paris as he did in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. Medaling is always a priority, but his approach entails being ready for anything.

“The one thing racing has taught me over the years is that you can make as detailed of a plan as you want, but as soon as that gun goes off, that is probably going to fall apart, and you’re going to have to adapt,” he said. “But whatever happens throughout the race, keep that same goal in mind and just adapt to that scenario, and keep working towards that goal.”