Alex Massie

Bubz [given to him by family when he was a child. It refers to the literary character Ali Baba]. (Athlete, 07 Mar 2018; paralympic.org, 15 Nov 2016)

Ice hockey, mountain biking, wakesurfing, photography, videography, skateboarding, golf, football, fantasy football, watching the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team, fishing. (Athlete, 03 Mar 2022, 07 Mar 2018; paralympic.ca, 15 Mar 2018)

Winning his first Winter X Games medal, a bronze at the 2015 edition in Aspen, CO, United States of America. (Athlete, 03 Mar 2022)

His family, and Finnish snowboarder Mikko Wendelin. (Athlete, 03 Mar 2022)

His grandfather James Cardno Massie, Finnish snowboarder Eero Ettala. (Athlete, 03 Mar 2022, 07 Mar 2018)

After recovering from his wakesurfing accident, he fell while getting out of the shower and broke his amputated leg in three places, including two breaks in his femur. "That actually hurt more than losing my leg." (ctvnews.ca, 12 Mar 2018)

He never shaves during a competition. (NPC Media Guide, 01 Jun 2018)

"My big one I always say to kids is, you know the old thing about how 'the grass is always greener on the other side'? The truth is, the grass is always greener where you water it. So if you want to have a good happy life, you've got to put in that work, and go out and water your lawn." (ctvnews.ca, 12 Mar 2018; Athlete, 07 Mar 2018)

In 2016 he was inducted into the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame in Barrie, ON, Canada. (bshof.ca, 31 Dec 2016)

To win a medal at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. (cbc.ca, 14 Mar 2018)

He was involved in a wakesurfing accident in 2011 at age 16. His left leg was struck multiple times by a boat propeller, which resulted in his left leg being amputated below the knee. (ctvnews.ca, 12 Mar 2018; Athlete, 07 Mar 2018; CDN Paralympics YouTube channel, 13 Feb 2018; thebarrieexaminer.com, 26 Jan 2015; xgames.com, 01 Jan 2015)

BIG SNOWBOARDER
At 191 centimetres tall and weighing more than 100 kilograms, he says people are often surprised to hear he is a snowboarder. Before his accident, he played ice hockey at AA minor level in Canada and football with the Barrie North Collegiate Sr. Wildcats. "I'm not the same size as most guys [who snowboard], I'm a lot bigger so I ride knowing that I'm bigger, and that I don't get pushed around out there and so it allows me to go into a corner [strong]. I try to race smart and not do risky things that are going to endanger anyone but you know, if you're in a corner and there's a guy beside me and we touch, I know that I'm probably going to ride away and he won't." (ctvnews.ca, 12 Mar 2018; cbc.ca, 14 Mar 2018)

FAMILY CREST
He wears a ring with his family crest and motto on it. "It's my family crest. The motto at the bottom is 'Fac et spera', and it means 'Do and hope'. My dad once told me when I was a little kid, it's easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. So, go out there, try it and hope it works out." (cbc.ca, 14 Mar 2018)

OCCUPATION
While based in Canada during the northern hemisphere summer months, he has worked for his family's waste collection business by driving a garbage barge. "It's a business I actually inherited from my older brothers, so that's one of the kinda cool things. I live up in my cottage in the summer, and everybody that's up there lives on islands. So, there's no way really for them to get their trash to the station, and so like 40 years ago someone had the great idea that there needed to be a garbage man." (Athlete, 07 Mar 2018; paralympic.org, 19 Nov 2016)