As the Paralympic Winter Games commence in Italy, three Team USA athletes – Dan Cnossen, Jack Wallace and Zach Miller – are carrying more than competitive spirit into the Games.
Through the nonprofit, Classroom Champions, a program that connects students with elite athlete mentors, they have reflected on their experiences and taught lessons about setting and achieving goals, mentorship and resilience. In passing along what they have learned, all three have embodied and expanded the Paralympic spotlight, shedding light on the throughlines that transcend their sports.
Seeing setbacks as lessons
Few athletes embody the spirit of the Paralympics more clearly than Cnossen. A former Navy SEAL who lost both of his legs after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan, he is a seven-time Paralympic medalist in para biathlon and cross-country skiing.
While the transition from serving your country to representing it on the world stage may seem like a natural progression in retrospect, Cnossen's path to the Paralympics was not immediate or inevitable. He grew up in Kansas and never had skied before his injury, aside from a bit of back country work in the military.
At Walter Reed Military Medical Center, where Cnossen was rehabilitating after his double amputation, he was recruited by the USOPC to attend a camp for potential Paralympic athletes. Winter sports were not on his radar at that point and he was "only vaguely aware" of biathlon as a sport in general. He did not know it was a Paralympic sport until he encountered a biathlon demonstration at camp, where athletes could practice on the indoor ski machine and shoot a laser rifle.
“It seemed motivating,” Cnossen said of trying the sport for the first time. “It seemed in line with what I had been doing in the military: to train for something, to set goals, to operate in the pursuit of those goals, to put training to the test overseas, to be part of a team in a mentally and physically challenging discipline. It was all lining up.”
He always had an affinity with the outdoors, and especially the solitude of the woods. Through gliding on the snow, Cnossen reconnected with a sense of exploration and adventure he had adored as a kid.
"Cross-country skiing is a sport with this amazing connection to nature and I'm at the point in my career now where going skiing in a new area for two or three hours in the woods really excites me," he said. "I've never lost that and if anything, that's maybe the most fun thing that I can do in the sport now, just go on those adventures."
While he can hike using his prosthetic legs, the distance he is able to travel on snow is much greater.
This desire for expansion goes beyond discovering the physical world for Cnossen; he brings a similar rigor to his intellectual pursuits. He studied English at the Naval Academy and since has earned two graduate degrees from Harvard: a Master of Public Administration in 2016 from the Kennedy School of Government and a Master of Theological Studies in 2018 from the Divinity School.
When working with students through Classroom Champions, the figure he emulates most is not a decorated military leader or a Harvard professor, but his high school English teacher, Mr. Schultz. The influence clearly has served him well; Mr. Schultz would be pleased to know that, in addition to Cnossen's singular array of achievements, he remains an avid reader.
When Cnossen works with students, he teaches them about the impact of healthy routines, goal setting, nutrition and community. Most of all, he exemplifies how to reframe any stumbling blocks they encounter in pursuit of their dreams.
“The biggest thing I try to share is that setbacks are part of any journey,” he said. “What matters is how you respond to them.” He lives this teaching in extraordinary fashion and wastes no time bargaining with the past.
"Somebody might think maybe I regretted the decision [to serve]. I don't, not at all," Cnossen said. "You can never regret that."
Passing on the Paralympic movement
The opportunity to give back felt like a natural extension of Wallace's Paralympic journey. The star sled hockey defenseman's path to the Paralympics began with an athlete mentor of his own. After losing his right leg in a boating accident at age 10, Wallace was introduced to the sport by fellow U.S. player, Josh Pauls.
“He was the one who kind of got me involved in sled hockey and showed me the Paralympic movement,” Wallace said of his teammate. “I got to meet him and watch him compete in Vancouver, and that’s when I was really introduced to the Paralympics.”
Now in his 10th year on the U.S. team, he sees mentorship as a way to continue that chain of mutual support. "Carrying on that mission of introducing as many people as I can to the Paralympics, being very open, welcoming, just a great leader. I try to emulate [Pauls] as much as possible," Wallace said.
Despite being a two-time Paralympic and four-time world champion, he still resists the term "veteran."
"It's hard to say I'm one of the veteran guys when we have Pauls in his fifth Games," Wallace explained. "But I try to just be another leader and help out the younger guys whenever I can, bridging that gap. It's a bigger responsibility on me for sure, to be at my best and play well."
He visited his student mentees in person last year and was able to see the impacts of his involvement first-hand. He answered their questions, played indoor hockey with them and brought the excitement of the Paralympics to a new generation.
“It’s a great program and a great group of people with a really strong mission,” he said of the organization. “Just being able to introduce more people to the Paralympics and share what we do is really meaningful.”
Redefining resilience
Miller credits both his dad and his development coach, Daniel Gale, with shaping the mindset that has carried the para snowboarder to two Paralympic Games and two world titles. Both were influential figures in not only fostering the work ethic required to excel at an elite level, but reminding him to savor every aspect of the process. It’s a mindset he mirrors now that he is in a position to influence others.
“I love to lean into the fact that we're all getting to do this incredible job and we're getting to travel the world, we're making memories and that at the end of the day, no matter what, as serious as the sport is, you should be having fun, right? You should be laughing, making memories, cracking jokes,” Miller said.
Distilling what he has learned has encouraged Miller to reflect on his own legacy in the sport and consider how to utilize the platform he has built.
“I think it's much more important to be remembered as someone who contributed to that kind of community, that kind of feeling, you know, when you get up to the top of the course, you're at the starting gate and you’ve got to beat these three guys next to you," he explained.
Miller hopes to put on a gripping athletic performance in Cortina for his mentees and other supporters watching at home, but also views the Paralympic stage as an opportunity to project the deeper spirit of the Games.
“You'll see us on TV here at the Paralympics. We will be giving each other fist bumps. We'll be giving each other high fives. We'll be wishing each other luck, because that's really what it's all about,” he said. “That experience of overcoming something that most people would have probably agreed was overwhelming and enough reason to call it or give up… sports are so much more than the achievements and the shiny things you get when you cross the line first.”
That sentiment can ring true on any prominent sporting stage, but the Paralympics epitomize the power of adapting to your circumstances and transforming every perceived limitation into a new form of success.
"I look at my disability the only way I think people should view the challenges in their life: as gifts that will teach you lessons. Having a physical disability every day sometimes can feel overwhelming and can feel like you're losing, but you're also going to be learning," said Miller, who was born with cerebral palsy. "That's why I love the term 'adaptive athletes' so much, because that's what we do. We all found ways to get on snowboards and go sideways super fast. Each athlete is usually coming up with something very unique to make their body work the way they want it to, and be able to go out there and compete."
Some of the students Miller worked with made drawings inspired by para snowboarding and donned snow gear as if they would be hitting the slopes themselves.
“It's just interactions like that that really helped me realize the impact sports have on people, especially kids at a young age,” he said. “I've benefited so much from getting involved in sports early on, and I get to now kind of see that process repeat itself with the younger generation. It's been so awesome to see.”
Miller also gets a kick out of his mentees' niche curiosities.
“The kids ask the best questions,” Miller recalled with a laugh. “Sometimes reporters ask really serious sports questions, and the kids are like, ‘Do you like cookie dough? What’s your favorite dinosaur?’” In addition to informing them about his snack preferences, Miller emphasizes how sports have fostered communal scaffolding in every aspect of his life.
“Sports is not just a job to me. It's also my community,” he said. “I've always just been really focused on trying to interact with as many other athletes as possible to push our sport forward and get more word out about the Paralympics.”
Miller describes himself on social media with a succinct bio: “Athlete gifted with cerebral palsy and a sense of humor.”
That sense of humor immediately was apparent even in an interview setting, and a pervasive sense of levity accompanied every topic he touched on, including his disability.
“I’ve never really felt like my disability stopped me from living the life I wanted,” Miller said. “If anything, it’s taught me resilience.” Cerebral palsy connected him with the students he mentors, brought him to the Paralympics and even the ESPYs, where he was honored with the 2023 award for Best Athlete with a Disability.
“I probably wouldn’t have discovered snowboarding,” he said, imagining a life without his disability. “I wouldn’t have traveled the world representing my country. Honestly, my life might not be nearly as cool.”