Chilled thrills & spills

The rink at iceSheffield is alive with noise, adrenaline and action as the Sheffield Steelkings para ice hockey squad thunders across the ice on double-bladed sleds. The players propel themselves with a pair of sticks; one end spiked for gripping the ice while the other has a blade for hitting the puck.

It’s quickly apparent that, much like wheelchair rugby, this is a full-contact, no-holds-barred sport that is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It’s basically murderball (as wheelchair rugby is affectionately named) but on ice. And Andrew Mead absolutely loves it!

“The top players can reach speeds of up to 30mph, and when you’ve got two players going at each other it can be like a small car crash!” he says with relish. “It’s full on, which is why you need protective gear. It’s not too ferocious at club level, but at the national level it can be a bit daunting. I’m much faster on my sled than on my prosthetics, which is partly why it feels so fulfilling after a match. I’m dead on my non-existent feet, but it feels so good!”

Andrew, 55, is a relatively recent convert to para ice hockey, but has improved so rapidly that he is already being considered for Team GB, with an eye on the Winter Paralympics in Beijing in 2022. If he does make the grade, it will be the latest chapter in something of a remarkable life.

Born in Canada, he moved to Newcastle when he was nine years old (“I got beaten up a lot because of my accent”), before joining the Royal Navy when he was 16. He served as a Radio Operator (Submarines) for seven years and “travelled the world, but didn’t see that much of it because I was underwater.” Leaving the Navy at 23, he went backpacking in Australia and ended up staying for 27 years. During that time he joined an improvisational comedy group, trained as an actor, and ended up performing in more than 250 theatre shows, as well as doing lots of TV and film work. “And before you ask, yes, I have been in Home and Away!” he laughs.

“I love the fact that the sport is inclusive. In the changing rooms, we’ve got able-bodied people as well as players who are taking their arms and legs off after the training session – that’s great for disability awareness.”

In 2016, Andrew came back to the UK, but upon his return his life was almost immediately turned upside down by injury. “I was playing football, we were just silly old guys and the older we got, the lower down the league we went – but we loved playing,” he says. “One day, I was involved in a bad tackle. I broke three toes, but the skin split and I contracted septicaemia.

In the hospital, I was told: ‘You’re going to lose some toes’. Then it became: ‘We’re going to take your feet’. I asked if I could think about it and they replied that if I left it past lunch, they’d have to take my knees as well, so I said go for it! I also lost my little finger on my right hand and the tips of three other fingers. It was horrendous – although the good news is that we won the match 3-2, and I scored the winner!”

Andrew’s legs were eventually amputated below the knees, but he coped extremely well thanks to being fit, having a number of unique physical skills, and a positive mental attitude. “I’m a fairly easy-going guy so I got my head around it quickly,” he says. “I’d learned circus skills at theatre school, so I could juggle, fire-breathe and stilt-walk. I told the hospital staff that I’d take to my prosthetics pretty quickly because I didn’t think it would be much different from walking on stilts. They thought I was joking, but I was right. As soon as I got my prosthetics, I was up on them, walking around.

Andrew recuperated at his sister’s house before getting his own home in Derbyshire, where he met his fiancée, Merle; “a beautiful German woman who works as a BMW mechanic and is a semi-pro footballer.” 

It was this sporty union that would eventually guide him towards ice hockey. “Merle wasn’t happy with me just sitting around, so she took me to try some sports,” Andrew recalls. “I tried wheelchair tennis, but I almost fell asleep. I hate wheelchair basketball, and I tried sitting volleyball, which I admit was kind of fun. I remember Merle coming home one day and saying: ‘We’re going somewhere tomorrow’. That was when we travelled to Sheffield and met up with Jake Oakley from the Sheffield Steelkings ice hockey team. The rest is history. What really impressed us was that when Merle dropped me at the rink, they said: ‘Hey, don’t you want to stay and play, too?’ So she did.

You don’t have to have a disability to play at club level, and it’s the most inclusive sport I’ve ever come across – young and older, men and women can all play on the same team. Once you strap yourself into the sled, you’re on a level playing field. And the sport appeals to ex-Service personnel like myself because it’s full contact. The missus and I never argue because if we have a problem at home she can take it out on me on the rink. Her gloves come off!” 

The most inclusive sport

Andrew and Merle now play regularly for the Sheffield Steelkings, one of four UK sides that make up the national league – the others are the Peterborough Phantoms, Manchester Mayhem and Cardiff Huskies. Sheffield have the bragging rights as the current reigning champions, and Andrew is turning into one of their rising stars. 

“Being Canadian, I was able to skate before I could walk, so I’ve always loved ice hockey, but anyone can give it a go. You need good hand-eye coordination, but I’ve seen people who have never been on the ice before take to it quickly. The thing I love most is the team spirit, and I’ve never met a nicer bunch of people, especially the volunteers who help to run the team.”

Andrew has seen up close how the sport can change the lives of those who play it. “I got to grips with having an amputation pretty well,” he says. “I didn’t really grieve about it, I guess I’m just a very pragmatic person. In the hospital I was given a wheelchair and would take myself around the wards talking to people who’d just been injured and trying to cheer them up. But there are definitely other guys on the team who have had their lives turned around for the better by playing hockey.”

Andrew stresses that for those who don’t quite fancy the rough and tumble of this sport, just getting involved in a team, or an activity, is the most important thing. “It can be life changing and can get you away from sitting at home watching TV,” he says. “And I love the fact that the sport is inclusive. In the changing rooms, we’ve got able-bodied people as well as players who are taking their arms and legs off after the training session – that’s great for disability awareness.”

Blesma has played a key part in Andrew’s fledgling hockey career. “The Association funded my purpose-built sled, so I can’t speak highly enough of Blesma,” he says. “My BSO Sam Wileman came to visit and asked if I needed anything. When I told her that the hockey equipment was kind of expensive, she said: ‘Let’s get you sorted.’”

Andrew was so grateful that he named his sled Sam in her honour, and has covered it in Blesma stickers. “She is so proud,” he laughs. “She’s never had anything named after her before. She’s always asking how Sam is doing. I tell her: ‘Fine!’”

Earlier this year, Andrew was invited to train with Team GB, and is now being touted as a future national player. “I never dreamed that I could be representing my country again,” he says. “It’s kind of freaky. People in my village are beside themselves about it, but it hasn’t hit me yet.”

It’s been a good start to the new decade so far, in fact; Andrew has also just got a new job, and is getting married in July. “I’m as happy as Larry,” he says. But never happier than when he’s crashing his sled into someone at 30mph!

Find out more

Anyone interested in a taster session with the Sheffield Steelkings can contact Jake on sheffieldsteelkings@gmail.com