When Jordan Thomison watched a fellow competitor remove his prosthetic leg before climbing a rock wall, he was stunned.
Thomison always kept his prosthetic foot on.
“It just feels natural to me. I have to use it,” said Jordan, 15, who had his left foot amputated when he was 6 months old.
“I really don?t let the leg stop me. I just push it to the side. Sometimes I forget I have it.”
The freshman, who attends Long Reach High School in Columbia, competed in rock climbing and BMX biking this summer in Orlando at the Extremity Games, sponsored by prosthetic foot manufacturer College Park Industries.
The games hosted 500 athletes from the United States, Canada and Europe to raise awareness of their capabilities and promote cutting-edge developments in prosthetics, according to extremitygames.com.
The company that makes Jordan?s sport competition prosthesis, Elkridge-based Nascott Rehabilitation Services, also sponsored his trip to Florida, spokeswoman Lisa Wolfington said.
This year, Jordan expects to play football, basketball and maybe take up golf.
“I?m competitive about everything,” said Jordan, who has had to adapt to a new prosthesis every 12 to 18 months.
“Since I have the prosthesis, I feel like I have to do better than other people. It makes me push harder in everything I do ? not just sports ? in my grades.”
He doesn?t always score the most baskets, but Jordan said most people don?t realize he has a prosthetic foot unless he tells them.
Not that he tries to hide it.
On the contrary, the quiet, well-spoken young man wants to push the artificial limits of what is expected of people with artificial limbs.
“If you look at Major League Baseball or football or soccer, you don?t see anyone playing with a prosthesis,” he said.
“Right now I want to keep going with BMX, do something bigger than the Extremity Games. I want to start my own team. We might be all prosthetics. I want to start something where we?re not counted out.”
