Ryan Straschnitzki recently spent some time in Charlotte, North Carolina sharing his story. 

A survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, Ryan Strachnitzki is a very busy man, playing all kinds of different sports, rehabbing, working on his Straz Strong Foundation and now has become an ambassador for Vecova. Another thing he has added to his list of engagements is public speaking. Most recently, as the opening keynote speaker at a Health Symposium in North Carolina last week. 

"They reached out and asked to hear my story. I wanted to give everyone who's attending the conference, a motivating start to their their long week."

Straschnitzki says that he gets fulfilment with public speaking because he gets to connect with people from all over the world.

"To be able to share what I've learned along the way is one of the best things in the world. Attending these conferences, and hearing people's stories is a great experience, I'm excited to see where it goes."

When asked about how he got started in public speaking, he shared that it began shortly after the accident when he was sharing his story with news outlets. 

"I was told by my sled hockey coach that I should try getting into public speaking a little bit. I didn't know where to start, I didn't know what to do. So I remember just trying it out for the first time, not really having a structure and essentially just building my story while lining up all the details so that it becomes a better talk altogether." 

Straschnitzki has also spent a lot of time speaking to minor-league hockey teams and schools and has also had the chance to speak to the Nashville Predators and  Arizona Coyotes over the past couple of summers.

This past summer, the Straz Strong Foundation hosted its first-ever charity golf tournament on August 27th. According to Straschnitzki, it was sold out. 

"We are super thankful for all the support and we're hoping that next year we can have an even bigger audience and raise some funds towards putting it back into the community."

While the total amount raised is unknown as of right now, they were able to purchase some more adaptive equipment to allow people with disabilities to play adaptive sports, the main goal of the foundation.

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