From Team Hoyt to I'll Push You: An Embodied Prophetic Message

ABSTRACT

The authors explore stories of people with disabilities in sport settings that do more than inspire: they indicate how all people respond to the need and desire for both play and challenge. In 2014, Justin Skeesuck, with no use of his arms or legs, completed the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, pushed by his best friend Patrick Gray. This duo followed the 40-year-old legacy of Dick and Rick Hoyt, who have together completed over 1,000 endurance races, with Dick pushing and pulling his quadriplegic son Rick. Understanding play as fundamental to human life regardless of disability, these examples take the form of sport and extreme physical challenge. Through their fully embodied participation, Justin and Rick display fundamental anthropological and theological characteristics. Their disability sport stories illustrate not only their own personal determination to overcome obstacles, but also a prophetic witness to the true shape of human courage, self-sacrifice, and love, so easily missed due to the societal bias against those with disabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• “I'll Push You”
• physical disability
• play
• prophetic message
• Team Hoyt
• vulnerability