U.S. Paralympian Chuck Aoki Visits Citi Field

what's up I'm Mike Janel and I'm here with a legend among us here at City Field today Chuck Aoki us Paro Olympian one of the greatest wheelchair rugby players of all time and today rocking the orange and blue love to see it Chuck how you doing I am doing great Mike it's a beautiful day for baseball so excited to be here at City Field you know that's a beautiful day for baseball so I take it you're a baseball Guy what's what's your relationship with the sport you're here obviously today enjoying a game with us but what's your connection with with our Diamond here you know it's a sport that just means so much to me it's America's pastime you know there's I have a lot of fond memories of being with my dad at the Ballpark having a hot dog watching a game keeping score old school style I I love baseball it's a special place in my heart love the keeping score thing that's still gets a special place in my heart too let's talk about you you're obviously an athlete yourself and I love the story how you started you started playing basketball but then it was actually a movie that I'm sure a lot of people have heard of but give us the story how you ended up in the wheelchair rugby because it's really changed your life yeah it really has so I grew up like you said playing wheelchair basketball and then when in 2005 I was you know 15-year-old boy and I saw this movie called murderball and it was a sport crashing into each other knocking each other talking trash and I was like yes that's what I want to do I want to play that Sport and of course my parents at first like well maybe not so much and I was like come on come on come on talked him into it got started got hit knocked up beat up for two and a half hours and I fell in love with it instantly those isn't that the best when like paining is something you treasure and then you finally find that that's the thing that finally gives it to you so we know what then we know obviously you go up you've been in three par Olympics now medalist there you've won tons of awards and you've you've just kind of done everything you can in the career so we know what the game has done for you professionally and athletically but what has all this involvement done for you emotionally mentally over the years yeah you know I think growing with disability can be really challenging you know I was the only kid in a wheelchair in my high school only kid in a wheelchair I knew in college really and so Sports gave me a community it gave me people who looked like me who had the same challenges as me and it's really inspired me to try to give back in my life and promote and talk about adaptive Sports as much as I can because I didn't have role models who looked at me growing up and so I want to make sure that the next generation of par Olympic athletes whether they're kids adults disabilities has someone who looks just like them that they can say oh I can achieve I can be an athlete I can travel the world I can do all these amazing things and you know it's sport has given me so much I just want to give back and hope to you know give that to somebody else CU your disability is actually pretty rare right so explain just how unique that is and how does that affect your training and and your life on a dayto day sure yeah so I have a very rare disability called hereditary sensory autonomic oropy type 2 which I expect you to memorize now Mike got it yeah uh so basically I have no sensation in my arms and legs so I can't feel anything as a little kid like I said I play baseball uh but I would hurt myself doing it because I couldn't feel my leg so I broke my leg and walked on it but I like to say you know my disability is really a silver line in my life it's given me more than I could ever have dreamed of in terms of competing traveling the world playing for Team USA and like I said it just helped me really try to inspire next generation of athletes who feel like they might be alone and there's nobody like them but there is someone like you out there you just have to go out and find them you've been such an icon for Team USA over the years and a really fascinating part of your story that I found was your family history on your dad's side Japanese and great grandparents grandparents in tournament camps in World War II and now just two generations later you're repping the USA on your chest you're bringing home par Olympic medals what does that evolution mean to you you know it really means everything to me and I you know I I love representing T I love representing this country I know our country has work to do where we always want to strive to be better like any great athlete but the fact that yeah I can go from the the grandchild of someone who is locked up by my country to being leading us out with the flag at teamus at the paralympic games at the Pinnacle of the world stage really shows that you know you can achieve a lot of things in this country and people can change you know the world can change and it's something that takes time and takes a lot of effort a lot of people's work but it can really be achieved and you're living proof of that Paris coming up you've got a bronze in your bag you've got two Silvers I I know gold is driving you what's different this time around with training with preparation with Paris on the horizon what can we expect from you and from the rest of the squad you know our our goal is gold plain and simple like you said got a lot of medals in my cabinet which I'm very proud of but I'm missing that one and so I think this year we've got a new team we got a new strategy got a lot of younger players actually we're kind of going through that competitive rebuild type thing how can we reload the roster to get ready and so I'm excited I think we've got a lot of new energy a lot of new fire and passion behind our guys and I think we're going to I think we're going to do very very well next year we're all pulling for you obviously so Chu Yoki en enjoy your day off today too a little bit of training I know it's really hard for you but have a good time at the ball game awesome thanks so much go Mets