At Athletes Roll, a non-profit my family recently started, we have highlighted adaptive sports including wheelchair basketball, power soccer, and the Paralympic Games. We have run "Athlete Spotlights" highlighting various adaptive athletes as well as people and organizations that follow along our same vision of bringing adaptive sports to the mainstream. Amazingly, one of our first Athlete Spotlights fits in with every possible aspect of this. Brandon Ryan is an adaptive athlete competing in Adaptive CrossFit, Strongman competitions, and martial arts. Brandon has Cerebral Palsy which is a disorder affecting movement and muscle tone. But Brandon doesn't just play adaptive sports. He is also active in the adaptive community and started a company called Adaptive Defense Methods while in college. Through Adaptive Defense Methods he teaches self-defense, fitness and self-confidence to people with every type of disability.

I recently spoke with Brandon to dive into his organization and what the future holds for him in the adaptive sports world.

First, in writing this and in my past articles, I have spoken a lot about "adaptive athletes" and adaptive sports. Can you describe what those terms mean to you?

I think that we are all adaptive athletes in some fashion because we all have to adapt to different life circumstances. It's a very inclusive term. An adaptive athlete whether it be a person in a wheelchair or an amputee or anything in that regard is someone that is willing to overcome whatever obstacles in front of them in a very resilient manner. Adaptive to me is just more a term that speaks to a level of perseverance that a person has.

I think that's what makes CrossFit work so well with adaptive athletes in many cases, because they already do that with their able-bodied athletes, where if you can't do the WOD (workout of the day) then you can scale it down to a level so that you can work on it to get better.

Yeah, my coach has been doing that since day one.

So how did you first get into martial arts?

My dad gets most of the credit for that one. He got me into it as a kid. Growing up having cerebral palsy, and being in the confines of a wheelchair all day at school and dealing with braces, I would come home and couldn't wait to turn on the tv and watch power rangers. I would hop off the couch and mimic what they did and on certain days I would go into my garage and watch my dad teach one of his friends kenpo karate. He would set up a yellow mat, and I would try to get on the mat and mimic what he did or what he was teaching. It became a really good outlet to not feel so limited by my condition. So I started probably at age 5 or 6 and I haven't stopped since. I've trained a lot of different styles, but my first love is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I love that art because you're on the ground, you don't have to stand up as much depending on what you are doing so that was really good for me.

How does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu set itself apart from other martial arts styles?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is primarily a self-defense art. You have the ability to do stand up fighting as well and other weapon defenses, but primarily it's a ground fighting art which I think is really good for anyone of any ability to learn. From an adaptive perspective, ground fighting might be in our favor. It's all the more important to learn the same stand up techniques, but you can do it from your wheelchair or you can utilize the same techniques if you have your crutches and you can learn how to use your opponent to balance. So I think it's a very adaptable art.

What sets it apart from many other styles is just that it's constantly evolving the way I've never seen any other art evolve.

How long ago did you start Adaptive Defense Methods?

2-3 years ago. It was a dream of mine ever since I was a teenager. Ever since my dad had his first gym, I've always wanted to start an adaptive self-defense class. And that terminology wasn't even in my head at that point I just called it handicapped self-defense.

We didn't have Facebook or YouTube or anything like that, so I printed off a flyer that I wrote up about it and posted it everywhere around town and went to my school and started giving it to parents of other special education and adaptive kids. And we got nothing back. So I was going to put this aside for a while. I got to my sophomore year of college (at Grace University) and I started to look online for adaptive self-defense, but I hated what I saw. It didn't seem simple, it didn't seem functional. It seemed very complicated.

I got with a friend of mine. This was before I brought Courtney alongside me. And I got with my friend and said what can we do that's simple and functional that people can do in everyday life. The first video we posted on YouTube was like an overnight success, man that thing just blew up right away. I knew I was on to something.

I got an email from Sara from Crossroads Adaptive Athletic Alliance. She said 'hey do you want to come to DC to teach at the Working Wounded Games?' (The Working Wounded Games are a CrossFit style functional fitness competition with six categories for adaptive athletes).

And I was like 'uhh yeah!' There was nothing to think about. I contacted my friend Courtney who I've known for several years; we trained under the same Jiu Jitsu instructor for several years. I basically said 'do you want to go to DC with me?' She said yes and it basically blew up from there.

The term 'Adaptive Athlete' can mean so many different things including amputations, muscular disabilities, balance impairments or blindness. Do you find it difficult to take what you teach and individualize for each athlete or client?

We've had students that have no mobility in their hips at all. And so we had to really keep to her strengths and put her always in an advantageous position. I've worked with people that are visually impaired, so we had to work with the fact that they can't see from a distance and we focused on the startle reflex. I've worked with people that have auto immune disorders. And just bring them from positions where they couldn't do anything to where they are just in awe because they are able to do things that they couldn't do before. So it's just incredibly rewarding to be able to do that.

With the Wounded Warrior Games, I would think many of them would be amputees as opposed to other disabilities. Were you still able to individualize it or could you speak to everyone as a group?

As an instructor, you need to be able to think on the spot. When we were in DC, there was an amazing young woman who had a lot shorter limbs than the rest of us. So reaching out and grabbing someone for her was a little tougher for the time being, so I worked with her for a few minutes to basically let the person come to you. If someone's attacking you while you are sitting, they basically have to hunch over to get to your level, so that puts her at an advantage so she can then reach out and grab their clothing and bring them to her.

Other than the Working Wounded Games, what has been the coolest thing you've gotten to do?

We are an organization that is tailored to adaptive athletes, but most recently we were asked to go teach a short, women's self-defense clinic at Creighton University. It was a room full of 30-40 women, all nursing majors, and I've never seen a group of people with more energy, excitement and wanting to learn and it was just really cool to impact a group of people in that way.

In November we are headed back to DC for the next Working Wounded Games so that's pretty big. We have a whole slew of videos coming out. A lot of them are going to be a little more realistic. If Courtney and I are going somewhere and getting out of a car. If two attackers come on either side of the car, how are we going to defend ourselves? With her as an able bodied person and me as an adaptive person, how do we work together to protect ourselves? On top of that, I think that we are going to keep trying to get bigger and bigger stages. So we are nowhere near finished with what we are doing.

I think the more realistic videos will resonate with the able bodied communities very well so I think that would be really cool. And what's the next step for you?

I'm finishing up school with a psychology degree this winter and I will try and get an internship. I will keep training Jiu Jitsu and along with working and paying off student loans I will give all the rest of my mind and body to CrossFit and take it as far as I can.

That's awesome Brandon. Again thank you for answering some questions and I wish you the best of luck with everything you are doing.

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