By Cara Goldstone
Chicago native Ashley Phillips was not always an athlete; growing up, she preferred nature walks to high-intensity sports, and as a young adult, her career in emergency medical services left little time for leisure. In 2016, just as Phillips was starting her training to be a firefighter, a rare genetic condition called Friedreich’s Ataxia began to take away her ability to walk. For years she was bedbound, only leaving her home for medical appointments. Then she found the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association.
"It is a sport of coordination, core balance, cardio, and upper body strength—all things I needed to work on," says Ashley Phillips of sled hockey.
Best known as GLASA, the Lake Forest organization is dedicated to making athletics accessible for all, regardless of physical ability. It welcomes athletes of any skill level and nearly any age, offering equipment to play a range of recreational and competitive adaptive sports. Phillips’s focus is sled hockey.
“Sled hockey is the adaptive version of able-bodied ice hockey. It is adapted to be played by individuals who cannot play standing due to a disability,” Phillips explained. “The main difference is that we play sitting in a sled and use two sticks rather than one.”
Sled hockey is just as intense as its able-bodied counterpart. The game is played 5 on 5 plus the goalies, who are also on sleds.
“We wear the same protective gear that able-bodied ice hockey players do: shoulder pads, shin pads, elbow pads, helmets, gloves,” Phillips said. “It is a full contact sport that utilizes checking.
“One of the key differences between sled hockey and able-bodied ice hockey is that sled hockey utilizes only the upper body strength of an athlete,” she continued. “In able-bodied hockey, the athletes can use their entire body to their advantage. They use one stick with the ability to easily rotate 360 degrees to set themselves up for passing, shooting, and other maneuvers. When in a sled, you must account for your lower body being in your own way.”
For Phillips, the rigor of sled hockey was the perfect opportunity to get herself moving again.
“I had been looking for a challenge to get myself back into physical shape after several years of not being active due to my health issues, and sled hockey offered exactly that. It is a sport of coordination, core balance, cardio, and upper body strength—all things I needed to work on.”
Phillips is a member of the Falcons, GLASA’s adult sled hockey competitive team. The roster has 16 players, all of whom Phillips says share a deep connection, on and off the ice.
“By the end of my first season, we were a family,” Phillips said. “After having to medically retire as a first responder, one of the things I missed most was the brotherhood in EMS (emergency medical services) and the Fire Department. I have been blessed to have found that again within my hockey family.”
GLASA’s remarkable effort to make sports accessible is no small feat. “One thing very few people know is that adaptive sports equipment costs on average 15 times more than able-bodied sports equipment,” Phillips noted. To provide this expensive equipment to players for free requires the support of event attendees across the Great Lakes region. This is why GLASA holds The Sleds Are Coming, an annual sled hockey exhibition game and fundraiser held at Lake Forest College’s ice rink. The 14th annual The Sleds Are Coming event took place earlier this month.
“We take our entire roster and split ourselves into two teams, Black Jerseys and White Jerseys,” explained Phillips. “GLASA puts together a great big raffle, a ‘chuck a puck,’ and other fun activities. Hockey players from the Foresters and the Scouts come out to volunteer as ‘pushers’ for our push players and to cheer our teams on.
“This event is also special because we’re able to have both the rec and competitive teams play together, so it is mixed youth and adult. We also invite alumni from previous hockey seasons to come back and play just for the event. This year we even had some athletes who normally play for other organizations join in.”
A huge highlight of The Sleds Are Coming is the visibility the event brings for the players. “All of the GLASA Falcons say this event is their favorite because of the amount of love the community shows us each year. Our team mainly participates in travel games, so we don’t get much of an audience outside of this event; all the cheering really gets us fired up!”
Most importantly, though, The Sleds Are Coming allows players like Phillips to show off the skills they’ve worked to hone throughout the year.
“One particular moment from this year’s event that was very meaningful to me has to do with one of our youngest players, who has only been on our team for a few short months. I had the honor of recruiting her to the team; she had never played any sports prior to joining GLASA,” Phillips said. “During the event I got to watch her take her first ‘big hit’ while checking the opposition and stopping a break-away; after she slammed into the boards hard, she popped right back up and got back into the game. I felt like a proud parent watching it all unfold. The best part was the giant smile on her face as she skated back to the bench.
“The camaraderie and willingness to help each other out is one of my favorite aspects of being on the GLASA Falcons. We hold true to the meaning of being a team.”
Find out more at glasa.org. To join the GLASA Falcons sled hockey team, contact team manager Mac Stevenson at Mstevenson@glasa.org or call 708-264-2423.