Changemaker
Daniel Gale
TL;DR
Daniel Gale is the co-founder and executive director of Adaptive Action Sports, he spends his time building the competitions adaptive athletes need in order to have anything to enter. He is also general manager of USA Skateboarding.
Daniel Gale co-founded Adaptive Action Sports with Amy Purdy in 2005, after watching how hard Amy had to work to get back into action sports following her amputations. He is the executive director based at Copper Mountain in Colorado, Daniel is also Amy's husband as well as her business partner.
He is also general manager of USA Skateboarding, and he organizes adaptive events at the ESPN Summer and Winter X Games, among them the Adaptive Moto X Race, the Adaptive Skateboard Park Jam, Adaptive Sno-cross and the Adaptive Snowboarder X. He is a skateboarder himself.
An adaptive athlete cannot compete if there is no event to compete in. Adaptive Action Sports partnered with USA Snowboarding to create the first adaptive snowboarding competition division, that groundwork let to snowboarding becoming a Paralympic sport. The organization now runs a competition pipeline for riders who want it, alongside the recreational snowboarding at its Mountain Center at Copper Mountain and the skateboarding and surfing camps in summer.
Why OGSP Recommends It
Daniel Gale co-founded and serves as executive director for Adaptive Action Sports with Amy Purdy in 2005. He worked with USA Snowboarding to create the first adaptive snowboarding competition division, which gave adaptive riders somewhere to compete, and that contributed to snowboarding becoming a Paralympic sport. He is general manager of USA Skateboarding as well. All of this makes Daniel a perfect candidate as a One Good Story Project Change Maker.
Related Resources
Key Takeaways
- He co-founded Adaptive Action Sports with Amy Purdy in 2005 and runs it as executive director.
- He is general manager of USA Skateboarding and organizes the adaptive events at the ESPN X Games.
- Adaptive Action Sports worked with USA Snowboarding to create the first adaptive snowboarding competition division.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Daniel Gale?
Daniel Gale is the executive director and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports, the nonprofit he started with Amy Purdy in 2005. He is also general manager of USA Skateboarding.
Who founded Adaptive Action Sports?
Amy Purdy and Daniel Gale founded it together in 2005. Purdy is the Paralympic snowboarder whose own struggle to get back into action sports prompted it, and Gale runs the organization day to day.
What does Daniel Gale do at the X Games?
He organizes the adaptive events at the ESPN Summer and Winter X Games, including the Adaptive Moto X Race, the Adaptive Skateboard Park Jam, Adaptive Sno-cross and the Adaptive Snowboarder X.
How did adaptive snowboarding become a Paralympic sport?
Adaptive Action Sports partnered with USA Snowboarding to create the first adaptive snowboarding competition division, which gave athletes a sanctioned place to compete. That groundwork fed into snowboarding being added to the Paralympic program.