Hawaii-Born Nicolas Marasco Found Para Sports As Adult. Now He’s Making Up For Lost Time

When Nicholas “Ola” Marasco was growing up in the surfing mecca of the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, he had a pair of athletic role models in his own household.

His mother was a former professional volleyball player, and his older brother was a multi-sport captain in high school.

Sports were not so much an option for Marasco, however, as he was born with an underdeveloped leg due to spina bifida that limited in his sports opportunities.

“I was always trying to be like them but never could,” Marasco said. “Hawaii never had those (Para) sports.”

His sporting aspirations seemed to take another hit in 2004, when Marasco lost his other leg in a surfing accident.

However, things changed as an adult when he followed his church to Las Vegas.

“That’s when I got motivated from the Lord to go be the best version of myself,” he said.

And he did that through adaptive sports.

Now the 41-year-old is a three-sport adaptive athlete with aspirations of becoming a Paralympian in powerlifting.

Marasco is already competing for Team USA as a Para powerlifter, and he achieved a career high point in June 2023 when he won a bronze medal in the 88 kg. weight class at a world cup event in Veracruz, Mexico, by lifting a total of 421 kg. He finished the year ranked 19th in the world for total lift in his weight class.

“Now the Lord has blessed me with sports that I’m able to do because in Hawaii … I never had Paralympic sports of any kind,” he said. “It’s kind of like my dream come true playing sports. Thank God I have the opportunity.”

Marasco first attended a Para powerlifting camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2017. Powerlifting is not the only sport he competes in, though.

While getting ready for a workout at a gym in Las Vegas one day, Marasco decided to shoot a few hoops.

“I was just shooting the basketball just to get the blood flowing before I started working out,” he said. “And the coach for the UNLV men’s basketball team was there, and he was like, ‘Have you ever played wheelchair basketball?’”

Marasco went on to pick up that sport, and now he also plays quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders Wheelchair Football Team. The Raiders are one of 11 NFL teams that has a team in the USA Wheelchair Football League.

Marasco got off to a late start as an athlete, but he’s determined to make up for lost time.

“It feels like I just got out of college trying to go pro,” said Marasco, who is also a “pro” in the working world as a physical therapist tech.

Reflecting on his successful performance in Veracruz last year, Marasco said he wasn’t going for the heaviest lifts possible but was trying to ensure he completed three successful lifts. His best lift in a competition so far has been 145 kg., and he’s trying to get that up to 200 kg.

Marasco said he would have liked to have gone after a spot in the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, but he didn’t have enough competitions under his belt.

“I wasn’t involved in the powerlifting for a couple years after 2017,” he said. “Now I’m playing catch-up. I would have loved to go to Paris 2024, but it just gives me more time to train and focus.”

He plans to compete in world cup events this year in Dubai, UAE, and Cancun, Mexico, and possibly a couple more for good measure.

Any competition Marasco lifts in now pushes him towards his goal of securing a spot in the Paralympic Games Los Angeles 2028.

“I’m on the pathway for that,” he said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to competing in.”

He has dreams bigger than even the Paralympics, however.

“The ultimate goal is to get on the Wheaties box and maybe get sponsored by Under Armour,” he said, “trying to get a few gold medals.”

Marasco will continue to be led by the faith that brought him to Para powerlifting and let him follow the example set by his mom and brother.

“I want to be able to compete,” Marasco said. “I need Christ in my life so that I can continue to be the best version of myself. He’s a big part of my life.”

Bob Reinert spent 17 years writing sports for The Boston Globe. He also served as a sports information director at Saint Anselm College and Phillips Exeter Academy. He is a contributor to usparapowerlifting.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.