PLAYER PROFILE
MIKE PRPICH
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
BY ALAN NEFF
M
aybe you played a sport or two in high school. Maybe
you played a sport in college. Maybe you never picked
up a sport at all. Perhaps you dabbled with tennis or golf or
handball. Or, you just wanted to be with the other kids who
were playing softball.
Maybe you never picked up that camera or the pen or
the paintbrush. Or, maybe you were a heavy little kid who
couldn’t make the team or a short kid who couldn’t dunk the
ball. Maybe you were too shy or too weak or a hundred other
things. You sat on the sidelines, or you couldn’t afford the
shoes or the camera or the uniform.
You probably have two legs and two arms and an average
body. Most of us did; most of us still do. But Mike Prpich
does not. Mike is missing his right arm and hand. Funny
thing about Mike—he doesn’t know he’s handicapped.
Mike plays pickleball, and he plays it very well. You would
never say he has a handicap when you see him play. He loves
the sport, loves the challenge, and he wants to win. And, like
all of us, he gets mad and cusses occasionally—he’s human.
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He’s mentally very strong. Guys like this—they make me
want to do better, fight harder, learn more, go the extra step.
Mike and his family work and live in Sault St. Marie,
Ontario, Canada. Mike lost his right arm at the tender age of
33 one cold January day, in a terrible accident while working
with logging equipment. He was a right-handed person who
then had to retrain himself to do all things with his left
arm and hand. All the things that we do naturally, he had
to relearn and adapt. We might all say, “Damn fine job,”and
leave it at that.
However, Mike also wanted to get back to playing sports.
I can’t help but wonder if I would have taken up pickleball
with only one arm/hand. How would I serve? How would
I hit a backhand shot? How would I keep my balance? It
seems very daunting to me.
Retraining oneself to do all of life’s physical needs—
check. Now taking up pickleball? Um, I might fall, I might
embarrass myself, and I may not be any good. Those
thoughts would certainly enter my head.
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