Tehcnically Speaking Article # 2

Go hard or go home.

These are the words that Josh Chilton lives by. These words were spoken to him by a football coach, and they’ve stuck with him over the years. They’ve helped him through some hard times.

Chilton, a native of Clemmons, North Carolina, coaches Pop Warner football for the team the Broncos. Pop Warner is a league of junior football teams from around Winston-Salem. He also coaches high school basketball at Mt. Tabor Methodist Church. Because of his love of sports, Chilton wants to go into sports communication.

But Chilton is in a wheelchair.

Four years ago, Chilton was driving to his girlfriend’s house the day after Thanksgiving of 2003. It was raining really hard that day, and his car hydroplaned. He lost control of the vehicle and is now partially paralyzed. It is a struggle every day to realize that he can no longer walk. The first eighteen years of his life, Chilton was able to walk. Now, he is confined to a wheelchair.
He has hope of regaining the ability to walk. Five days a week, Chilton has rehab at the Comp Rehab Center sponsored by Baptist Hospital.

Four years is a long time to go without the ability to walk, but Chilton hasn’t given up on life. Perseverance colors his life. Due to the accident, Chilton had to sit out of college for a while. He still thinks that education is one of the most important things in life and hopes to transfer to either Wake Forest University, where his dad works, or to UNC Charlotte, where he already spent a year.

The accident taught Chilton that life is precious. His paralysis hasn’t stopped him from living life to the fullest, from going hard. He wants to coach sports; he coaches sports. He wants to get a college education; he’s getting a college education. He wants to regain his ability to walk; he’s doing everything in his power to do that.

Everyone can learn something from Chilton’s life. Go for what you want. Persevere. Don’t give up. As Chilton says, “If you’re going to do something, don’t do it halfway; just go for it.”