“To me, there’s two symbols for Team U.S.A.: the national anthem and the American flag.”
― Mike Schultz
“I love being outdoors and trekking around.”
― Mike Schultz
“Once I started feeling better and healthier and learned to walk on my first prosthetic leg, I realised I’m not going to be satisfied with just walking around.”
― Mike Schultz
“Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, you’re doing better now than before the accident.’That irritates the hell out of me.”
― Mike Schultz
“I loved to go hunting out in the woods and hiking, and that’s just not easy anymore. For me, to walk up and down hills in the rough terrain, it just doesn’t work very well. It can, but it’s three times as hard as it used to be.”
― Mike Schultz
“For the most part, if you’re willing to work hard enough, you can recover from most injuries. Having that mentality really helps you keep moving forward.”
― Mike Schultz
“The Moto Knee shows people what’s possible. It’s about guys getting back in action in a sport they love.”
― Mike Schultz
“It is definitely easier to deal with injuries on the mental side after you’ve had a few of them, since you are aware of the recovery process.”
― Mike Schultz
“It’s an amazing feeling when I have a customer who tries a leg on and is able to go snowboarding for the first time.”
― Mike Schultz
“It was a true honor to have represented my country at my first Paralympic Winter Games and proud to bring home gold and silver medals for the U.S.”
― Mike Schultz
“As a kid growing up in a rural area, I was always tinkering with parts and machinery.”
― Mike Schultz
“Having adaptive events televised in the X Games is huge. There are people out there who might want to do this but don’t think they can. They can see us out here tearing it up. That’s going to help people realize that if you want something bad enough, you can get there.”
― Mike Schultz
“Having already used a Fox shock in my Moto Knee, the prosthetic leg I developed, I knew that I would take advantage of Fox’s superior suspension dynamics in the Versa Foot as well.”
― Mike Schultz
“Fox and I go way back… I got to know the Fox folks pretty well as the result of spending time at races with them over the years.”
― Mike Schultz
“I know firsthand the way that Fox supports their athletes because they’ve been there for me since the beginning. I know that I can count on them.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’m a huge fan of Fox, and I’m honored to be officially joining the FOX team with them as my title sponsor.”
― Mike Schultz
“I take a ton of pride in what our flag and our anthem stands for.”
― Mike Schultz
“I travel a lot. I didn’t want to be stuck sitting in my office managing the business.”
― Mike Schultz
“For riding a snowmobile, you need to have your knee bent. It needs to absorb the impact of riding over bumps, to allow yourself to stand up or sit down, balance side to side.”
― Mike Schultz
“Not a day goes by when I don’t wish I had both legs.”
― Mike Schultz
“The crazy part, with all of the surgeries I had, I retained water from the IV fluids, and I gained 60 pounds. I was 247 pounds at my maximum. I couldn’t even touch my face because my joints were swollen. I was so big, it was ridiculous – just insane.”
― Mike Schultz
“I was always out wiping around on the farm with three-wheelers and four-wheelers. I loved the speed and the adrenaline rush that followed.”
― Mike Schultz
“I didn’t even think about snowboarding until after my accident.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’m from Minnesota and have always lived there. And my competitive career actually started in the late ’90s racing motocross, which then turned into racing snowmobiles professionally. I turned pro in 2003, racing with the best in the world and living my dream as a professional athlete.”
― Mike Schultz
“I had a wreck during a race in Michigan, which led to the hyperextension of my left leg and subsequent amputation.”
― Mike Schultz
“Snowboarding and skiing are big adaptive sports, so that’s kind of a market that I wanted to make our equipment used for.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’m out of my comfort zone every time I’m on the race course.”
― Mike Schultz
“It’s kind of mind-blowing what some of us adaptive athletes can accomplish as far as physical sports.”
― Mike Schultz
“Never did I ever think I would be competing on a snowboard out here in X Games.”
― Mike Schultz
“I know what it takes to make myself perform.”
― Mike Schultz
“The thing that really stands out is that my parents taught me right from the start, if you want something in life, you need to work for it.”
― Mike Schultz
“I remember my dad telling me that if I wanted to start racing motocross, I had to get a job and pay for it myself. So I did. As soon as I was able to drive myself to work, I got into racing motocross at age 15.”
― Mike Schultz
“I am the owner of my prosthetic manufacturing business, BioDapt, which manufactures lower-limb prosthetics for sports.”
― Mike Schultz
“After snowboarding a fair bit in 2011 and 2012 to test equipment, I got pretty good at it, and some friends at Adaptive Action Sports talked me into competing at the exhibition event at the Winter X Games in the adaptive boardercross. I was able to step up my game pretty quick and compete. I took last place, but knew I could improve.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’m a huge patriot, and what holds a lot of value for me is to be part of Team U.S.A.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’m very fortunate that I get to make people smile by creating.”
― Mike Schultz
“A lot of the jobs I had revolved around metal fabrication and creating and building and maintaining equipment.”
― Mike Schultz
“I was in the garage fixin’ things, and I’m like, what better project than building your own leg?”
― Mike Schultz
“Being an athlete, my job was to physically perform.”
― Mike Schultz
“When I originally started looking at different prosthetic components, most of them were just set up for walking.”
― Mike Schultz
“Snowboarding has taken me so many different places.”
― Mike Schultz
“It’s kind of crazy how one thing can lead to another if you keep your eyes open to it.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’m helping people do things they haven’t done since they had two good legs, and that’s worth it right there.”
― Mike Schultz
“You know you’ve made it to the big time when you’re on a cereal box.”
― Mike Schultz
“To be able to wear your country’s colors and compete in the Paralympics for the snowboard team… it’s pretty powerful.”
― Mike Schultz
“I shattered the heel in my good leg, and it was an extremely bad injury. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to snowboard again.”
― Mike Schultz
“I bought my first dirt bike when I was 12, and I started racing motocross when I was 15 and started getting pretty successful. Then I started racing snowmobiles at 17 and decided I wanted to focus on that and see if I can make a career at it.”
― Mike Schultz
“I’ve had several broken bones and sprains throughout my career, but the one that really changed things was when I wrecked in 2008 during a Pro Snocross competition. I was thrown from my machine and landed on my left leg and caused a 180 degree hyperextension of my knee joint.”
― Mike Schultz
“I ended up winning a silver medal at the Summer X Games Adaptive Supercross seven months after my injury – on a leg that I built.”
― Mike Schultz
“When you walk, you need the leg to swing back and forth underneath you. It needs to flex at a certain point, then extend as you follow through your gait. Now, that function doesn’t really help at all while I’m standing on my dirt bike or snowmobile.”
― Mike Schultz
“For my equipment, we’re not about running. We’re about wheels, action sports, and that type of thing. So we want range of motion and shock absorption. The foot itself has 28 degrees of ankle motion as you press into it or you put weight into it. A typical running or walking foot has kind of around 10 to 12, at max, flex at the toe.”
― Mike Schultz
“Building prosthetics that allow people to get back to the fun activities in life is as rewarding a job as I can imagine. It’s just as fulfilling for me as winning at the racetrack.”
― Mike Schultz
“To be on the world stage carrying our flag and representing the U.S. Paralympic Team is a huge honor.”
― Mike Schultz
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