Cam's Corner: Paralympians battle it out on snow and ice

LATE NIGHT television might not be as sexy now that the curling from the Sochi winter Olympics has finished, but, not to worry, you should get a second bite at the cherry from tomorrow.

While some might not be aware of it, post the winter Olympics there is the winter Paralympics - just the same as the summer Olympics. And, get this, they have wheelchair curling - can't wait to check that out.

I suppose that is one of the beauties of the Paralympics, the curiosity of seeing sportspeople with disabilities compete.

Part of the appeal for me, with my sports fan hat on, is that cliched human interest story of seeing someone who has overcome adversity to be a pretty amazing athlete.

I've been to two incredibly interesting Paralympics so far.

Whether the athletes are competing or not, seeing how people just get on and do it is something we should all see.

It's human nature to sit there and think "my life is so hard, babble babble babble", but these guys are much worse off than most of us and here they are competing in a sport which could cause them more injury.

Injury to someone in a wheelchair might not mean much, though - I mean it's not like they're going to lose their ability to walk - they've already lost it, in some cases anyway.

These athletes though are doing a winter sport, where snow and cold temperatures can cause gangrene and amputations in areas where they can't feel.

Now, amputations to an area where you can't feel - or is relatively useless anyway - might not sound like much but something like that can make a big difference to transfers, stability, and the way someone in a chair is seated.

So, hats off to the winter Paralympians, my winter counterparts if you like. I for one will be checking out the wheelchair curling, although other sports on offer include alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and ice sledge hockey.

The only catch, however, is that to watch all of the said winter Paralympic sports you'll have to go online to attitudelive.com to watch the live feed and sport on demand.

AttitudeLive has taken a leap of faith to have rights to cover the event, along with TVNZ, in the hope of catering to a wider audience rather than the staunch Paralympic followers who have a connection to it. Why not take a step into the unknown and learn about winter Paralympic sport?