Brookes student who lost leg vows to ski again (From Herald Series)

Brookes student who lost leg vows to ski again

10:40am Saturday 21st November 2009

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A YOUNG sportsman who lost his leg in a traffic accident is due to get a hi-tech prosthetic limb that will allow him to ski again.

Jozef Metelka, 23, was on course to coach some of the world’s top tennis stars when his motorbike was hit by a car in Twelve Acre Drive, Abingdon, in March.

For three weeks, doctors tried to save the Oxford Brookes University student’s leg, grafting muscle and skin from his back on to his damaged foot.

When they were finally forced to amputate his leg below the knee, Mr Metelka realised he would never achieve the success in tennis he had dreamt of since childhood.

Now he is determined to ski for his native Slovakia in the Winter Paralympics, saying he has to look forward rather than back.

After slowly progressing from crutches and four different prosthetic legs, next week he will be fitted with an artificial limb specially adapted to help him ski.

Built at a different angle to other prosthetics, and made from lightweight carbon fibre, the leg will slot into his skis when he takes to the Slovakian mountains next month.

He has been training in the gym six times a week to build up the strength in his legs and maintain his fitness to prepare for his first chance to ski since his crash.

He said: “Skiing is probably now the only sport I can really do at a similar level as I did before.

“There is a chance to represent Slovakia at the Winter Paralympics in 2014 if I’m good enough, and that's now the highest ambition I can have.

“I'm definitely looking forward to it.”

Mr Metelka, of Dene Road, Headington, started skiing aged three and took up tennis aged six.

A sports coaching student, he had already worked with Davies Cup competitors before the accident.

He said: “I never wanted to coach kids, but professionals. That is over. I’ve been told I will not be able to get back to that level.

“Time has gone very slowly.

“It’s not the same and I guess it never will be again, but I’m trying to do my best.

“You need to think what is going on now and not live in the past. I cannot change what happened.

“Looking backwards and saying things could be different is a waste of time.”

The insurance company for the driver of the Volkswagen that hit Mr Metelka has accepted responsibilty for the accident, and he is likely to receive substantial damages.

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