CINCINNATI — Chad Ohmer has loved sports since he was a child, especially hockey. Growing up on the west side of Cincinnati (the North Bend area), Ohmer's favorite NHL team was the Colorado Avalanche.
“Growing up, it was always the Avalanche versus the Red Wings. Growing up in Ohio, I had no intention of being a Red Wings fan,” Ohmer said.
Ohmer's favorite player was NHL legend Patrick Roy.
“When I saw Patrick Roy skate out to centre ice to battle the goalie, that's where it started. I was like, 'Oh man, I'm in love with these guys. They're amazing,'” Ohmer said.
Tom Pigeon/AP
Chad fell in love with the game as a fan, fighting for something bigger than an individual, but it came from somewhere much deeper: the idea of being part of a team.
Ohmer enlisted in the nation's most important military force, the U.S. Army, where he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a Marine.
His favorite part? “Oh definitely the camaraderie.”
During Ohmer's second tour of duty in Afghanistan, he spent most of his time helping people and acting as what he called “a sort of American police force.”
offered
One day in 2012, Ohmer and a team of fellow Marines were tasked with searching for a person. As they approached a specific location, the enemy was lying in wait for the search team. Ohmer's group split into two.
“I led a team into the tunnel and started to clean it, and we heard an explosion up above,” Ohmer said.
Ohmer and his team ran to the scene of the explosion.
“There's not much going through my mind other than what we're trained to do in a situation like this. A couple of guys on my team just stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device),” Ohmer said.
Omar treated a fellow Marine, but when the wounded soldier got up, he accidentally detonated a second IED.
“He was lying on top of it and he took most of the blast. He saved my life and the other Marine's life,” Ohmer said.
It was a feeling of gratitude that only came to light later, as at that moment Ohmer was dealing with the blast wave directly on his body.
“I found myself upside down in the air, thrown about 20 feet. I saw a booted foot right next to me so I picked it up and put it on my lap and I thought it was my friend's foot who was lying on the IED and whom I had seen during the initial explosion. I then looked down to see my own foot and realized it was my foot that was on my lap,” Ohmer said.
Omar's fellow Marines took him to safety and began his journey to recovery.
“I think I had 52 surgeries on both feet. I think it was all about perseverance,” Ohmer said.
Semper Fi and America's Fund, an organization that cares for seriously injured, ill and wounded military members, veterans and military families in the United States, introduced Chad to paraskiing in Park City, Utah.
He fell in love with parasports, which gave him the opportunity to pursue his dreams. For the first time, Chad Ohmer was able to take to the ice with his childhood heroes.
WCPO
“It wasn't as easy as some people because there weren't any schools I could play for as a kid, and it was out of reach,” Ohmer said.
Fans turned athletes: Chad travels across the United States as a star player for the Cincinnati Icebreakers sled hockey team.
“It's hard-hitting, it's fast-paced. It's got everything I love about hockey, but more,” Ohmer said.
“It's just a team sport,” said Jeremy Querrey, Ohmer's teammate on the Icebreakers. “I played a lot of sports growing up, and after I got injured, I was looking for something to do. The camaraderie, the teamwork.”
Perfect for the ultimate teammate.
“I got it right away. It was completely different to anything I'd ever done before,” Ohmer said.
“Off the ice, we're all dealing with similar issues. We've all taken different paths to get there. We can all empathize in different ways, but we all know what each other is dealing with,” Querrey said.
“I always joke with people that I do this so well, that it seems so easy, but it's not. It's still a daily struggle,” Ohmer said.
“He lifts everybody up. It doesn't matter what kind of day it is, he's always there for you,” Querrey said.
“It's not a disability, it's a capability,” Ohmer says.
Chad Oemer is currently training to compete for the U.S. Para Bobsled Team, with the goal of qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Once a team player, always a team player.
