DAYTON, Ohio — With the Olympics coming up, that also means the Paralympics will be happening later this summer.
One Ohio parafencer will be center stage at the games, who also happens to be a police officer.
What You Need To Know
- Byron Branch qualified for his first Paralympics this summer in foil
- The parafencer began fencing in high school
- Just eight months into being a Dayton police officer, Branch lost his leg in an accident
- After many months of recovery, Branch took up Parafencing and he's climbed the ranks since
There are a lot of steps to get ready to parafence. But once it’s go time, there’s no holding back for Byron Branch.
“It's more of a thinking sport," Branch said. "You don't have to be big enough to be strong. You don't even have to be that fast. OK? You outhink the person in front of you? Then you'll do pretty well.”
Branch began fencing in high school as a way to stay active in the baseball off season. But he soon found out he was pretty good.
But Branch’s life changed just eight months in as a Dayton police officer, responding to an accident in an ice storm.
“I pull up behind the semi (truck), I see the semi driver come around the passenger side of the semi, and he goes to come over to my driver's side door, but I say, hey, no, traffic's horrible right now," Branch recalled. "You need to stay over the other side. And then I woke up in the hospital.”
Branch was hit by a car and woke up without his lower leg.
“But I said, 'how am I going to fence?'" Branch said. "It was like, the first thing I said when I woke up.”
While he grappled with how he would pursue his passion, he worked hard to get back into shape to get back to work.
“Three-hundred and sixty-four days later, on the day, I was back to full duty on work," Branch said.
It's a job he wanted to see through.
“I was only on the job for eight months," he said. "I signed up to do it as like a career, you know, I wouldn't want to do it for eight months and then be like, oh, there's nothing for me to do now. I just really wanted to get an idea of what the job was like and after eight months you have no idea.”
While he was working on getting back to the force, he was approached to start parafencing.
“He's like, hey, you should get into a parafencing — you ever thought about?" Branch said. "I was like, bro, I don't have any teeth. I was like, I'm missing my leg. I'm in a ton of pain. I'm not thinking about this like at all. He was like, you should really do it.”
But soon enough, Branch won his first Pan-Am games in foil and it was all uphill from there. And this summer, he's achieving his dreams of making the Paralympics.
“I didn't even, like, sit and process," he said. "And I think it'll finally hit when I'm, like, standing in the village and, you know, taking in that experience.”
It’s been a long journey for Branch, but to represent the U.S. is something that’s been at the top of his list for a long time. And while a medal would be nice, he plans to just take it all in.
“I'll just do my best," he said. "We'll see what happens. I don't talk too much about it ahead of time. I'm very superstitious.”
The Paralympics begin on Aug. 29. You can catch Branch fencing starting on Sept. 3.