Derek Whitson (born 21 June 1989) is a Canadian

ice sledge hockey Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilita ...

player. Whitson was born in Chatham, Ontario in 1989, with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sens ...

. He joined the Canadian Sledge Hockey Team in 2007 after playing sledge hockey in the Windsor Ice Bullets sledge hockey program. He was a member of the Canadian sledge hockey team that won the silver medal at the 2009 World Sledge Hockey Challenge, as well as the one that competed in the 2010 Winter Paralympics. He was also a member of team who won the gold medal in the 2013 IPC Sledge Hockey World Championships in Korea. Whitson also is a player of

football 7-a-side Cerebral palsy football, also called ''7-a-side football'' or formerly ''Paralympic football'', is an adaptation of association football for athletes with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, including stroke and traumatic brain injur ...

, in which he won a bronze medal at the

2007 Pan-American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. He is also an avid golfer and artist, in which he has donated pieces of his art to art auctions in support of Canadian athletes.

Personal life

Whitson moved to

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are with ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in 2014 where he then became engaged to Tara Chisholm who is the current coach of the

Canada women's national ice sledge hockey team The Canada women's national ice sledge hockey team is the national team representing Canada in women's international sledge hockey. The team competed at the IPC International Cup and now competes at the Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge. ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitson, Derek 1989 births Living people Canadian sledge hockey players Paralympic sledge hockey players for Canada Paralympic bronze medalists for Canada Ice sledge hockey players at the 2010 Winter Paralympics Ice sledge hockey players at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Paralympic medalists in sledge hockey