Team USA Para Snowboarder Zach Miller heads into the winter riding well and inspiring others

Team USA Para snowboarder and two-time World Champion Zach Miller is gearing up for the next winter season on the mountain. Since joining Team USA back in 2018, Miller has been one of the most exciting snowboarders to watch. In addition to becoming a two-time World Champion and five-time World Championship medalist, this Paralympian was also the recipient of an ESPY award for “Best Athlete with a Disability” in 2023.

As Miller prepares for a season on the slopes he is also highlighting some of the changes that have happened on the Paralympic scene over the past few years and discussing some changes that still need to happen, in terms of athlete's visibility and more.

Miller was born with left hemiplegic cerebral palsy, which he was diagnosed with at six months old. He began treatment right away at the Children's Hospital in Denver Colorado. His diagnosis affected his muscle growth, and the treatment he received was meant to combat this. With cerebral palsy, the connection between the brain and the muscles is compromised and while bones can continue to grow, muscles have a more difficult time. Miller received physical therapy as a child several times a week at the hospital. It was here that he was given the chance to try sports and found his love for snowboarding.

"It was through that treatment that my doctors noticed I was very competitive," Miller said in an exclusive interview. "They were like, 'We have a sports program here, it's called the Arch Program, and it's an opportunity for him to get out with other kids, that are regular patients here at the hospital and go explore more sports'. At that time, it was February, I think, and the sport that they were offering was ski lessons up at Winter Park, and I had never been skiing. When I got home I could not shut up about the mountains and the snow and how much I wanted to go back. They were doing ski lessons, and then that year, I got on the lift with my instructor, I looked off to the side, and I saw a pack of snowboarders rolling down. They were hooting and hollering, they were spraying each other with snow, and I was like, I gotta try that."

In the beginning, Miller's time on the mountain was purely for fun but shortly after his instructors and those around him noticed his interest in going fast. There was a program at Winter Park called National Sports Center for the Disabled, that ran a ski team and was in the process of creating a snowboarding team. Miller joined them and in time caught wind of a new Paralympic sport being added called Boarder Cross. Snowboarders hurl themselves down the slopes as fast as possible while going around turns and flying off jumps. This is the sport that Miller has found his success at the World Championship level.

"The key theme of the story is the people that I met once I joined that program. That's where I met Mike Shay, Evan Strong, and Keith Gable. Those three ended up going to Sochi in 2014 sweeping the podium, putting the American flag up there. That moment was key for me because that was when I got to watch the guys that I had been chasing for the last couple of years go and show the world that the USA was the best," he said. "I wanted to be a part of that. That was also how I found out about the Paralympics, I didn't even know the Paralympics existed. I'd watched the Olympics before that, but I didn't know there was an event that was the exact same thing at the highest level of competition, but for athletes with physical disabilities like myself."

The Paralympic Games first began in 1960, but many people are unaware that it exists or how to follow the athletes. This is something Miller and his team are hoping to change. Over the last few years with the interest of athletes on social media and the publicity and interest holdover from the Olympics, the Paralympics has seen exponential growth but there is still work to do.

"I'm very grateful for where the Paralympics is now. I think we've been doing a great job pushing the Paralympic movement and I think overall, it's made a lot of progress that, being said, it could definitely make more. More people could know about the Paralympics. I think Paris was a really good example of that. Paris did a really good job of gathering a lot of attention and hype and keeping that up," he said. "I've gotten to watch the Paralympics really develop a lot over the course of my career, and especially my sport Para Snowboarding. You know, when it started out, there was really just a handful of athletes."

Beyond his own aspirations, Miller is focused on inspiring the next generation of athletes with disabilities. He has become a role model to those who are perhaps dealing with a diagnosis or following an injury. Miller knows that many times people with disablites can be overlooked when it comes to athleteic, Miller shared his own views on the subject.

"Usually once you have a disability, people tell you that, you know, hey, sports may not be your thing," he said. "You know, it's I was told growing up, to focus on the academic route, that sports just wouldn't be for me with with my set of cards I was dealt, but there are definitely still plenty of opportunities. And hey, if you're competitive, there are sports out there that are looking for you, and snowboarding is one of them, for sure. But yeah, that's really what I want to focus on in the future."

Miller is working on a video project that will highlight the sport and his USA Para Snowboard Team. The project is still in the works but hopes to capture the stories of the athletes as well as gain some more eyes on the sport as a whole. The Paralympics are obviously the big show, but that only comes around every four years. Each winter the team competes around the world, from the U.S. to Europe on the World Cup Circuit. The races leading up to 2026, when the next Olympic/Paralympics will take place, will begin their qualifying. Miller said that spots for the Paralympic team may not be set until two weeks before the Milan Games. With the 2026 Paralympic Games on the horizon, Miller is excited for the road ahead and continuing his passions on and off the slopes.

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