Obstacles & Opportunities

Michael Frogley—widely known as Frog—is a revered wheelchair basketball player and coach. After becoming paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident in 1986, he was introduced to wheelchair basketball while at a rehab centre in Ottawa.

He made Team Canada in 1989 and competed with the Canadian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, where Canada placed fourth.

He then served as the head coach of the Men’s National Team from 1996-2004. He guided Team Canada to Paralympic supremacy for the first time in program history with gold medals in 2000 AND 2004, as well as a Paralympic silver medal in 2008.

Frog also served as an assistant coach in 2006 as the Canadian men won their first World Championship title.

He coached men’s and women’s collegiate wheelchair basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Illinois, leading his teams to a combined 12 national championship titles.

Frog served as inspiration to a participant in the third season of the documentary series Mind Set Go.

He has received several awards during his illustrious career- including being inducted into the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Hall of Fame!

Frog has a Master of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and he currently lives near Toronto with his wife, Mo, and three kids.

He is hard-working, and committed to empowering others to achieve their best on and off the court. We can all learn from his inspiring mindset.

We hope you enjoy our conversation!

Hal Johnson & Joanne McLeod aka 80s/90s sensation BodyBreak! The Canadian television hosts are both former international-level athletes. Hal with baseball, and Joanne as a hurdler.

Since 1988, they produced over 300 short episodes of BodyBreak as well as a single season television series. They expanded the program into speaking engagements, fitness equipment, and other products.

As a mixed-race couple, they have faced their share of racism, and sought to be inclusive when casting for their BodyBreak episodes.

In 2013, Hal & Jo participated in the first season of The Amazing Race Canada (TARC)! This is how WE became connected with them. After our season of TARC aired in 2016, Hal & Jo reached out to us, took us out for breakfast, and they haven’t been able to shake us since!

In 2016, they received the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal for positively impacting the health of Canadians.

They have an impressive list of guest appearances. Some fun ones include… being grand marshals of the 2013 Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Parade, being guest “anchors” on the news comedy program This Hour Has 22 Minutes, doing a parody of themselves for the Netflix Series Santa Clarita Diet, and creating a COVID-19 physical distancing segment for the Vancouver International Airport.

In this episode, we delve into Hal & Joanne's past athletic careers, BodyBreak, and—of COURSE—the Amazing Race Canada. We’d love to learn more about their love story and experience with racism, so they’ll just have to be guests again. Thanks Hal & Jo!

https://bodybreak.com/

Jon Montgomery is best known as the beloved host of Amazing Race Canada as well his gold medal in skeleton from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, and the jug of beer he carried through Whistler Village!

Jon was born in Russell, Manitoba, and currently lives in Victoria, BC with his wife, Darla- also a Skeleton athlete—and their two beautiful kids.

In 2016, Jon co-hosted the JUNO Awards with eight-time recipient Jann Arden.

In 2016, he also received the Canadian Screen Award for Best Host of a Reality TV Series!

An auctioneer by trade, Jon earned his automotive marketing degree from Georgian College. He uses his skills to auction cars to raise funds for charities including KidSport Canada, Canadian Olympic Foundation and Right to Play.

We had a blast chatting about all things including Jon's Olympic career, that jug of beer, behind the scenes on Amazing Race Canada (especially since we competed on Season 4 and got to see him hard at work), and mindset lessons learned throughout it all. What a man!

http://jonmontgomery.ca/

Marnie McBean is a rowing champion, and one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians! She competed in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and 1996 in Atlanta, and brought home three gold medals and one bronze from those two Games. A back injury forced her to withdraw from competition at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

After her rowing career, Marnie continued in the sport as a mentor, and she is the Chef de Mission for the upcoming 2020ne Olympic Games in Tokyo!

Marnie was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1994 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. She is a recipient of the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal (1995), appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has been given the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2002, she was presented the Thomas Keller Medal by World Rowing.

Marnie earned her degree in kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario and has been given three honorary doctorates. She is a public speaker, and wrote a book titled The Power of More. She currently lives in Toronto with her wife, Deanah and daughter, Isabel.

Marnie has a fascinating story, an incredible athletic career, and a contagious sense of humour. She was so open and honest, and shared beautiful memories of her rowing partner, the late Kathleen Heddle (1965 – 2021). Rest in power, Kathleen.

http://marniemcbean.ca/

In 2004, Josh Dueck was paralyzed from the waist down in a ski accident. With the support of his now wife, Lacey, he embraced the challenges he faced. In 2009, he was the Para Alpine world champion. He went on to win silver at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics, and a gold medal at the X Games in 2011.

In 2012, he made history by becoming the first person to ever land a flip in a sit ski! This accomplishment even earned him a guest spot on the Ellen DeGeneres show!

At the Sochi Paralympics in 2014, he won a silver medal followed by gold in the Super Combined, and he became Canada’s flag bearer.

Since his retirement from competing, Josh has dedicated himself to his wife and two kids, as well as furthering opportunities for other like-minded athletes. He leads the British Columbia Freestyle Ski Association, and has been appointed the Chef de Mission for the 2022 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Josh and Lacey support several non-profit organizations including Spinal Cord Injury, BC, High Fives Foundation, Live it LOVE it Foundation, and others. Josh’s award-winning documentary entitled Freedom Chair is definitely worth the watch!

Josh is as fun as he is inspiring. He has depth and wisdom, and included a beautiful tribute to the late Canadian freestyle skier, Sarah Burke (1982 – 2012) and her husband, Rory Bushfield. Rest in Power, Sarah. “Let love lift us higher.”

https://joshdueck.com/

Catriona Le May Doan was the fastest woman on ice! She’s a two time Olympic speed skating champion and the first individual Canadian to ever defend an Olympic gold. She has countless medals, records, awards, and honourary degrees.  She was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame AND appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

After retiring from speed skating in 2002, she broadcasted for 5 Olympics, became a sought after public speaker, and is the president and CEO for Sport Calgary. Catriona was the Lead Athlete Mentor for the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, and is the Chef de Mission for the upcoming 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing.  Most importantly, Catriona is mom to Greta & Easton.

She tells us her story, and talks about the pressure of being a top performer. She spoke about the mindset of how to deal with that pressure, and what she has learned from pressure in sport, and about herself. What an inspiring woman!

Follow @catrionald on Instagram & Twitter.

http://catrionalemaydoan.ca/

Stephanie Dixon is a Paralympic swimming champion who was born with one leg! She has competed in three Paralympic Games, and earned 19 medals—7 of which were gold. She holds multiple world records, and was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame is 2016. In 2017 she received the order of Canada, and was a CBC sports broadcaster for the 2018 Paralympic Games AND the Commonwealth Games. She’s the Chef de Mission for the Tokyo 2020ne Paralympic Games, and is an ambassador for Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart Charity. She was born in Brampton, ON, earned a BA in psychology in 2009 from the University of Victoria, and now owns Stephanie Dixon Motivational Coaching in Whitehorse. Stephanie participated in season three of Accessible Media’s docu series Mind Set Go available at ami.ca. Also, search “Stephanie Dixon” at ami.ca to learn more about her story on Level Playing Field.

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