Apple TV+ continues to expand its content lineup, and one Paralympic skier’s story has entered the spotlight. Last week, the streaming service released Best Foot Forward, a family comedy that is loosely based on the life of Josh Sundquist. Six years after losing his leg to cancer, he started to ski, eventually making it to the 2006 Paralympics. He later became a comedian, motivational speaker, and wrote numerous books, including Just Don’t Fall: How I Grew Up, Conquered Illness, and Made it Down the Mountain. He is played in the show by Logan Marmino, who also has one leg.
In an interview with Parade, Josh discussed what drew him to skiing:
“It was just the sport that came along. I actually was really into playing soccer before I lost my leg. The first adaptive sport that I had the chance to learn after my amputation happened to be Alpine skiing through a program at my rehab hospital. At the local ski resort in Virginia where I grew up. And I just immediately fell in love with skiing. I loved that sense of speed and the freedom to carve my way down the mountain.
I skied recreationally for a number of years. When I was in high school, I actually started skiing competitively, again because it was just sort of the competitive sport that came along. I guess I felt like I hadn’t gotten to play competitive sports the way I might otherwise have if I hadn’t had cancer and if I hadn’t lost my leg. I became aware of the Paralympics and just had an incredibly strong desire to try to make it to the international level and represent my country on that stage. So I just started training when I was in high school and kept at it until I made the team.”
It’s unclear if the skiing portion of his life is actually a part of the show, as the trailer doesn’t show any shredding. The main target audience for the show though is “for the kids who maybe have never seen someone like them on authentically depicted on screen, it could also show young people with disabilities on screen having fun.I hope this is refreshing and validating to be able to look at, In my case, if I had had amputees that I could watch when I was growing up, I think that it would have been really meaningful and encouraging to me.“
More representation is something that is needed in TV shows and movies, so this looks like a great show. A trailer to Best Foot Forward is below.
Image/Video Credits: Josh Sundquist, Apple TV+, Parade
