For Romy, snowboarding is much more than just a sport.
It helps her to feel free and independent -
a feeling she’s less familiar with in her everyday life.
Romy Tschopp was born with spina bifida, i.e. incomplete paraplegia. Today, she is an active snowboarder. And quite a successful one at that. She has been the Vice World Champion in para-snowboarding since March 2023.
This sport is particularly important to Romy: «Snowboarding has given me a new outlook.»
As a child, Romy’s chances were much better, and she could run and jump around. However, as she grew, everything became more difficult. She developed neurological deficits in her legs, needed back and abdominal operations and had to spend many long periods in hospital and rehabilitation.
«And that’s when one day, I thought about what really made me happy and I very quickly realised it was sport and snowboarding.»
Sport always cheered Romy up when she was feeling down. She decided to participate in the Paralympics while still in the rehabilitation phase.
Silvan Hofer, the national coach at Swiss Parasnowboard, particularly appreciates Romy’s determination and her motivation. «What fulfils me most as a Swiss Parasnowboard national coach are athletes like Romy Tschopp, who actually reaches her full potential given her form of disability and gets up every single morning and is highly motivated, despite certain disabilities and obstacles.»
Silvan and Romy’s husband are just two of the many people who are supporting Romy on her journey.
«Sensopro devices create completely new possibilities for me - precisely because I can’t do certain things at all.» Although Romy doesn’t find the devices particularly aesthetic, they are pretty helpful.
She can use the Casa to execute movements that she wouldn’t be able to manage on a normal mat. This helps her to systematically train her sense of balance and her responsiveness, which are, in her eyes, crucial to snowboarding.
«I go on the device and enjoy training very quickly, and that’s really good for my day-to-day training.»
