Van der Poll swaps surf for ice at historic World Champs

Kirsty Van der Poll will compete at the inaugural Para-ice hockey Women's World Championships

Kirsty Van der Poll is no stranger to breaking boundaries.

From Para-athletics and wheelchair basketball to surfing – and now Para-ice hockey – the 24-year-old has embraced every sporting challenge thrown her way.

The Welsh athlete's journey began on the track, before a moment of inspiration led her into Para-sports.

"I was a really sporty kid growing up," she explained. "But I started struggling a bit in able-bodied sports because I was born with a disability called talipes – more commonly known as clubfoot."

Talipes is a lower limb condition where some of the tendons in her Achilles tendon and foot did not form properly.

"I ended up watching some Para-athletics on TV and got involved with it. That was my first real moment of realising what the world of disability sport was like – and that there were other people like me competing and achieving at a high level."

Success quickly came her way. Van der Poll captained Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2019 World Para-athletics Junior Championships in Switzerland, the former T44 sprinter and long-jumper claiming two silver medals, before making her senior debut at the World Championships in Italy later that year.

'Having your leg amputated is never an easy decision'

But her time at Loughborough University brought new challenges and, as she began to experience greater pain in her leg, led to a life-changing decision to have it amputated in 2022.

"I'd got to the point where I was pretty much using my day chair, my wheelchair," she said. "Most of the time I wasn't able to do the sport that I originally fell in love with, which was athletics.

"Deciding to have your leg amputated is never an easy decision," she said. "It's always going to come with a lot of worry, a lot of unknown.

"But I thought, well, if I can't stand up and walk around anyway, what's the worst that can happen? I spoke it through with the doctors and I ultimately came to a place where I was quite at peace with it."

Since that decision, Van der Poll never looked back and embraced her new challenge, seeing progress in moments of growth and development.

"Having nice moments of still being able to push myself physically in other ways, and still feel like I was, I don't know, progressing, I think helped me to just get through that process of having to rehab, having to wait, being patient to get a leg, being patient for my body to recover after surgery," she said.

"But sport has always been that constant for me."

From sunny California to the ice rink

Kirsty Van der Poll's move to ice hockey is a far cry from surfing on sunny coastlines

Following the amputation, Van der Poll looked for a new challenge and during a holiday to South Africa and Australia re-learned to surf, something she had dabbled with previously.

Less than 12 months on from surgery, Van der Poll was competing at the 2023 ISA World Para-surfing Championships at Huntington Beach in California, USA, where she finished fourth.

But with limited opportunities to surf in the Midlands where she lives, Van der Poll felt it was time for a change.

Having competed at kayaking, canoe polo and wheelchair basketball, she added another sport to her quiver by taking up ice hockey.

With her focus now on the rink, she will be part of history when she lines up for Great Britain at the first ever Para-ice hockey Women's World Championships, which begins in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, on 26 August.

"It's very different from the sunny, sandy beaches to a very cold ice rink, but ice hockey has been something that's been on my radar for a while," said Van der Poll, who has been selected as a forward in GB's 12-strong squad that includes former rugby union flanker Dani Czernuszka-Watts.

"I had a few friends who got into playing it and it was something I always wanted to give a go."

The six-team tournament, which includes the USA, Australia, Canada, Norway and a Team World, runs until 31 August. It represents a major milestone in the development of the women's game and its pathway towards future inclusion in the Paralympic Winter Games.

Great Britain face Canada and Team World in Group B, with the group winners meeting the runners-up from the opposite group in the semi-finals.

"It feels really important to show people what can be done," she said. "I'm a big advocate for getting stuck in and doing whatever you can to get involved in sport.

"Now that we've been given our own division and World Championships for women's Para-ice hockey, it's such an opportunity to showcase what female athletes can do – and to shape the direction of the sport."

Van der Poll's story is one of resilience, patience, and a desire to take every opportunity which is presented to her. Now she is set to make history.