Hands: an instrument that must be treated with gloves!
The hands are perhaps the most refined and competent tool we have at our disposal. We hardly ever stop to think about it, but thanks to our hands we can create, shape, recognize, break, fix, build, count, caress and even communicate. Hands tell something about us. In fact, everyone has their own gestures and their own communicative style, characteristics that can say a lot about our personality.
When we first read Willem Hooft‘s story, we immediately noticed the importance of hands in his life. “I can no longer walk, but I will learn to fly”: this is the promise that Willem made to himself immediately after the motorcycle accident that left him in a wheelchair in 2016. A great windsurfing enthusiast, he never stopped fighting for his dream of him.
And so, one day, he met the man who changed his life: another dreamer, as he would say. A man who kitesurfed on a custom board equipped with a special seat. Without using his legs but holding on with all his strength – and his hands – to that kite, he was able to literally fly over the waves. Inspired by this great example of tenacity, Willem worked hard, trained and finally made his dream a reality. Today he travels around the world to spread the sit-kiteboarding movement and inspire other boys and girls like him.
Now his goal is even greater: to make sit-kiteboarding a Paralympic discipline. And we wanted to be by his side.
