Jones Bros BMX

In January of 2020 our lives changed.  Callan experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) as a result of a bullying incident in the car pick-up line at school.  After a few weeks of restricted activity for concussion protocol from his pediatrician the symptoms worsened and he ended up in the ED at Riley Children's Hospital.  At Riley he was seen by an excellent group of doctors and nurses, became a patient in their TBI Clinic and started Neuro PT within a few days. That continued one or two times a week until COVID-19 lockdowns prevented that from happening. 

When school switched to E-Learning his doctors provided exercises that could be done at home.  E-Learning ended up being a good thing because he could take breaks when his brain would get tired.  As part of the treatment he also saw an eye doctor and ended up getting glasses to relieve eye strain in addition to seeing a hearing doctor.  In the spring of 2021, after over 400 days since the TBI, he was able to “graduate” from regular appointments at the TBI clinic.  During the “graduation” visit the doctor explained how even though he was healing there would be some activities that he would not be able to participate in due to the TBI, including several sports.

With traditional sports options extremely limited, his mom, Kyla, took him and  his younger brother Rolland to an open practice at our local BMX track. USA BMX takes rider protection very seriously, helmets are always required in addition to other protective gear.  While the chance that a rider would get a concussion while BMX racing is low, USA BMX is upfront in providing information about concussion signs and doctor clearance to resume activity.  They had so much fun and couldn’t wait to go back.  After a few practices worth of stories from Callan and Rolland their siblings decided they needed to try it out too.  Emmitt really liked it even though the bike he was on wasn’t the right size and Reagan loved the balance bike.

The second race we went to was a Gold Cup Qualifier (regional series), we had no clue what we were getting into.  Callan made it to the main on a really heavy bike.  The kids practiced at our home track as much as possible and we started checking out some other tracks in the area.  In June Emmitt had surgery to release his tethered spinal cord and had to take several weeks off to heal.  Callan got a new bike that was designed for BMX and was so much faster.  The kids took every opportunity to practice either in the driveway or on the track.

After several months of watching, encouraging and helping the kids “the itch” got the better of dad and he tried it out and really liked it.  A few weeks later his first race had so few riders that everyone combined into a single class and he got to race against all 3 boys, which was really special.  

By the end of the season everyone had checked off several goals that each had set for themselves which was quite an amazing feeling for everyone.  Emmitt came back strong after he recovered and was the first to pick up a win.  Callan had a lightbulb moment after his first win and after a private lesson wound up with 8 wins at 5 different tracks across 4 states.  Rolland earned lots of podium finishes, but couldn’t quite get that top spot before his season was cut short in November for the same spinal cord surgery as Emmitt had in June.  Reagan went from a balance bike, to training wheels in the driveway, then one day decided she was done with those.  She refused any help and after about 20 minutes was riding around the driveway on her own.  She started on pedals in October and hung up the balance bike a few weeks later, right after she turned 4.

We are so grateful to have found a sport that everyone loves and can celebrate personal victories regardless of where they finish, balancing themselves in the gate, going down a big starting hill, making a great pass, getting faster in any portion of a track or just plain having fun.  Because BMX is an individual sport everyone is able to compete according to their own schedule and take time off according to their own needs/wants.  We also love that BMX racing is a family oriented sport where nearly anyone can compete regardless of skill, age or disability status and words of encouragement are never far away.  It has also allowed us to meet some pretty amazing people from all over the US and the world.

Thanks for taking the time to get to know us.