As a boy, Mitch Valize (27) already had a strong right arm. Muscular shoulder blades on the right side of his body. Strongly formed neck and glutes. The right compensated for the left. And the left became “lazy,” he says, causing his body to become unbalanced.
At birth, his left leg was not well developed. It was shorter than the right, his calf was missing. He could walk with a prosthesis. And sports too. Football, especially. As a teenager he was first a field player at the Bekkerveld football club in Limburg. Then goalkeeper, because the distances became too great. By the time he was almost twenty, it also started to hurt too much to stand for ninety minutes on the prosthesis from the knee to his left leg. His stump needed surgery. After the rehabilitation, in 2015, he wanted to “just play football”, preferably also running. But the doctors said: if you continue like this, your healthy right knee will wear out and you’ll be in a wheelchair at 60.
In rehab, they suggested that he try a hand bike – a racing bike for disabled athletes that you sit on your knees and exert your upper body strength. He didn’t like it. He wasn’t a disabled athlete, was he? He could join the rest, couldn’t he?
The first time on the handbike, his upper body and arms soured within half an hour. Soon he lasted an hour, two hours. He did a test. His maximum pedaling power turned out to be high. So are lactate thresholds – the moment lactic acid builds up in the bloodstream. His rehabilitation doctor sent an app to the national coach of the paracycling team. He entered a competition, made an impression and before he knew it he was a professional athlete, with a salary from NOC-NSF.
Valize turned out to be exceptionally talented. Seven years after his first time in the handbike, he is the reigning Paralympic Champion, World Champion and European Champion. This weekend he is favorite at the Dutch National Championships for paracycling in the H5 class, one of the five classes in his sport. In H1 the most limited athletes drive, in H5 the athletes with the least disabilities.
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No more hiding
The training in the weight room of the Papendal sports center, where the Olympic and Paralympic athletes work, has just ended. Relaxed Valize walks to the restaurant of the training complex in the woods near Arnhem. The left side of his upper body, that’s still the focus during training. It has become much stronger, but still underdeveloped. And if he wants to sit as straight as possible in his bike, his body must be as stable as possible. Then he best transfers his power from man to machine.
Without concealing, Valize – a sports scientist who graduated – talks about his stump. For a long time it was assumed that you should not emphasize the handicap of disabled athletes. They are top athletes, nothing more and nothing less. And so it is, says Valize, but then you miss the opportunity to improve your performance. “By studying my disability, I saw what I needed to work on. By strengthening my left side, I have developed a whole new way of cycling, which has made me much faster,” says Valize.
Hiske Kneepkens (41) is nodding at the table. She is chief physician of the Paralympic team. She got to know Valize when he came to train at Papendal, as a member of the Paralympic team. Now they see each other regularly, for checkups or when he has an injury. From the first conversation, Kneepkens has spoken openly with Valize about his disability. That was quite easy for him, because he studied exercise science and is also curious about the possibilities of his body.
But for Kneepkens, the openness is also a conscious choice. She is convinced that the performance of the Paralympics will improve by paying attention to the disability. Previously, there was less room for this, because there was another important task: to ensure that Paralympic sport was taken more seriously and professionalised. The medical guidance for disabled athletes had to improve for this: more attention, more supervisors. In recent years, care for Paralympic and Olympic athletes has therefore almost been leveled at Papendal.
Now there is space to talk about the differences. “There is a stump, a spinal cord injury, a prosthesis, so let’s see how we can best deal with that so that an athlete stays healthy and performs better,” says Kneepkens.
Talking about a disability is important because it can prevent problems. In the past it sometimes happened that athletes did not report a problem with, for example, their stump in time. This could lead to inflammation, an injury and therefore a training delay. And that’s what the medical staff wants to prevent above all else. Athletes should be able to get as many healthy training hours as possible – performance will then follow.
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More openness also allows for better training. For example, there are athletes with brain damage. They may have spasms, but they may also have trouble processing information – such as an exercise schedule. Kneepkens: “We didn’t do much with it because we didn’t want to talk about the condition. Now we have established a close collaboration with neuropsychologists. Are pictures better than words? Then we choose that.”
Pressure points and compression stockings
Extra attention to the handicap radically changes the relationship between doctor and disabled athlete. The first time an athlete comes to Kneepkens, she starts asking questions. Do you have problems with your stump, pressure spots, how was it in the past, do you inspect it daily, how do you take care of it, do you have a compression stocking around the stump on the plane?
This approach demands a lot from athletes. They must not only be physically able to practice top sport, but they must fully accept their handicap. Embrace, not hide – while that is often their first impulse when they arrive at Papendal as young talent. Nevertheless, Kneepkens does not find it difficult. For her it is simple: top sport is top sport and this is part of it.
Valize has needed time to be ready for an open conversation about his condition. In the past he preferred to be in the shade, he wanted to participate in the large group, not to be different. His prosthesis limited him, he felt, and society viewed him as a disabled person as well. Placed his limitation on him. “In the summer I didn’t want to go out in shorts. Then I saw everyone watching and you don’t want that.”
Hand biking has made him much fitter and stronger. It also helps him a lot in everyday life. After two years of handcycling, he was able to run a half marathon, while the doctors initially thought he was not strong enough. He couldn’t even imagine that such a thing was possible. His body has changed so much since he has been training intensively. Sometimes he cycles for five or six hours a day. He works in the weight room, and at training camp he cycles over hills and mountains. He has become more athletic. He stands straighter, walks less crooked. “It may never be like someone with healthy legs, but for someone with a birth defect, I walk quite nicely,” he says.
He no longer notices when people stare at him. His family and friends still do, they think it’s weird when he is looked at. But now he just wears shorts when it’s hot. Valize: “I feel naked without a prosthesis. He can be seen. It belongs to me.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of September 24, 2022