Ashley Dag

St. Catharines’s Ashlee Dag will never forget her first karate tournament. “I felt so accepted,” she remembers. “As a power wheelchair-user I’m the only seated karate athlete in my region. And I won two bronze medals in that tournament.”

Her second tournament, the Nationals this past November, rewarded her with a gold medal for her Kata. “I have never won in any sport in my life,” she shares. “It was so sweet.”
Her parasport success has not been without its challenges. The most difficult perhaps, was finding a wheelchair accessible dojo. “I started in karate over twenty years ago but was never thrilled about the number of stairs that I had to climb up. And my Sensei was not educated about disability at all.”

After a twenty-year break from the sport, Dag is back. Much has changed as her renewed enthusiasm for karate will attest. “Fast forward twenty years and my Sensei is amazing,” she touts. “She will go to the ends of the earth to make sure I can take part in the tournaments, making sure that they are accessible. I have found my sport again and I love it.

With her fresh zest for her sport, Dag has reset her parasport goals. “I want my 2nd degree black belt, and I want to have my own dojo that caters to athletes with autism and athletes with medically complex disabilities like myself. This is a way of giving back to something that has given me so much in just one short year.”

Dag serves on the Brock-Niagara Centre of Excellence in Inclusive & Adaptive Physical Activity Committee as well as volunteering her expertise to the Athlete Council for the 2025 Niagara Ontario Parasport Games.