Paralympian Malik Jones lets the tape come off

The first time Malik Jones picked up a sled hockey stick, trainers taped it to his right hand. Born without shinbones and with three fingers on each hand, he didn’t yet have the grip strength to slide up and down the stick the way elite players do. He remembers the workaround and what came next: “As I progressed and really wanted to make sled hockey my career, I realized that to play at a high level, I needed to slide my hand up and down the stick, use both hands,” Jones told NBC Sports “So I went to work in the gym… forearm workouts, grip workouts.”

That same cause-and-effect—adaptation, then acceleration—has defined Jones since his grandmother signed him up for sled hockey at seven. “Her encouragement for me to do more sports also encouraged me because I’m an athlete at heart,” hesaid