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March09, 2005 - March 9, 2005 >> |
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================================================= Adaptive Sports & Recreation February 23, 2005 Vol. 1, Issue 10 ================================================= Stephen Michael Kerr, Publisher To subscribe, send a blank email to: 41809-subscribe@zinester.com Copyright 2005, Stephen Michael Kerr. ================================================= Privacy Policy ================================================= Your privacy is very important to me. Your email address will never be sold, shared, or distributed with anyone. You may forward copies of this newsletter to friends and family, and encourage them to subscribe. If you feel you have received this ezine in error, you may unsubscribe at any time; information on how to unsubscribe is at the bottom of this message. Some email programs automatically block or filter group mailings, so you may be missing emails and not know it. To make sure you receive each issue of this ezine, please add the following address to your approved email list: AdaptiveSportsAndRecreation@Zinester.com ================================================= In This Issue ================================================= - From The Publisher - Spotlight: Ski for Light Shines After 30th Anniversary Celebration by Duane Farrar - Profile: Blind Man Not Resting After Everest by Lee Benson, Deseret (Utah( Morning News - In The News - Keeping Fit: Reduce Stress In Your Life by the Lose Fat Fast Newsletter - On Deck - Contact Information ================================================= Feature Ad ================================================= NewsFlash*SnowPack is an ezine for the athlete in all of us. Filled with health and fitness info, tips, links and recipes, NewsFlash is your source for the latest healthy news. Articles include information about natural pain relief, the latest exercise research, a personal hiking journal, book reviews and so much more. Subscribe today at http://home.netcom.com/~newsflash Or send an email to: newsflash@ix.netcom.com with Subscribe in the subject line. ================================================= From The Publisher ================================================= Welcome to Adaptive Sports & Recreation, delivered to your inbox every other Wednesday. You'll find useful links and fascinating articles about unique sports played by people with many types of disabilities. Whether you're a friend or relative of a disabled individual, an adaptive physical education teacher, or a disabled person looking for ways to lead a more active life, this ezine can provide the information you're looking for. There's even a health and fitness section that anyone, disabled or not, will enjoy. Your feedback is always welcome. Please email me at: stevekerr@ev1.net ********** The 30th annual Ski for Light was recently held in Granby, Colorado. In our Nov. 3 issue, http://archives.zinester.com/41809/29508.html we featured an article on the event, which allows blind and mobility-impaired skiers to be paired with sighted ski instructors for a week of cross-country skiing and various social activities. Our "Spotlight" section once again focuses on SFL, with a review of the event, as well as comments from skiers and SFL officials on the event's success. Special thanks to Duane Farrar, who chairs the publicity committee of Ski for Light. I emailed him right after the event asking for a brief re-cap of all the activities during the week, snow conditions, and a few quotes. Well, Duane went above and beyond that. He wrote an entire article, complete with quotes, despite being swamped with a million other things to do after coming back from Granby. I've served on publicity committees before, so I know how hectic things can be, especially after a big event. So thanks, Duane, for putting up with me, and for such a well-written article. Talk to you soon. ------------------------------------------------- Stephen Michael Kerr is the publisher of Adaptive Sports & Recreation, as well as a radio broadcaster and freelance writer in Austin, Texas. Blind since birth, Stephen has written various articles and given numerous speeches on disability awareness. ------------------------------------------------- ================================================= Spotlight ================================================= SKI FOR LIGHT SHINES DURING THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION by Duane Farrar Granby, Colorado - Daily bright skies, comfortable temperatures and world-class skiing were the hallmarks of Ski for Light's successful thirtieth anniversary International Week celebration. Nearly 300 blind, visually impaired and mobility impaired skiers and sighted instructor/guides took full advantage of the favorable weather and beautiful trails at Snow Mountain Ranch for six days of cross-country ski instruction and partnership from Monday, January 31 through Saturday, February 5. "This was one of our very best events ever," said Ski for Light president and blind skier Larry Showalter of Bellevue, Washington. "The Colorado weather cooperated most magnificently with plenty of snow on the ground, moderate temperatures and mostly very sunny skies. Our participants had the opportunity to ski on the impeccably groomed trails at Snow Mountain Ranch every day and most had a very, very enjoyable week." Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of the outstanding conditions were the 23 first-time visually impaired and four first-time mobility impaired participants who attended this year's event. John Hollenbach, a first-time blind skier from Perkasie, Penn., glowingly summed up his week's experiences, "Ski for Light was great! This was my first time on skis. What a tremendous thing and what a great group of people. I can't fully express with words the joy, challenge and sense of fulfillment I felt in participating. Most of all, my appreciation for the commitment of the guides, the dedication and love for the sport they have and the sharing of this love, time and talent is something I will never forget." The week kicked off with the opening dinner on Sunday evening, January 30. After the meal, each disabled participant was given the opportunity to introduce themselves to the group by giving their name, where they're from and a little bit about what they do in the "real" world. This is always a time of great excitement as this is when the skiers discover who their ski guide for the week will be. After the introductions the pairs of skiers and guides spent some time together, getting to know each other and determining their goals for the coming week. On Monday evening it is the guides' turn to introduce themselves and this is always entertaining as some of the introductions can be quite creative and humorous. After dinner and the guide introductions it was time to dance to tunes spun by a DJ. For some participants this was their first opportunity to witness wheelchair dancing as practiced by the mobility impaired participants. In addition to the fine skiing, a week at Ski for Light is enhanced by a number of late afternoon and evening activities. Special interest sessions give participants the opportunity to either present or learn about a wide variety of interesting topics and hobbies. One highlight was the reading by guide Trond Woxen of Boulder, Colorado, with the assistance of his wife Astrid Ogilvie and others, of his own translation from the original Danish of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." A silent auction held on Tuesday evening featured many fine products from Ski for Light's corporate sponsors as well as items (some handmade) donated by participants. The highlight of Thursday evening's talent show was perhaps the most unique act ever performed at Ski for Light. First-time guide Brook Yates of Breckenridge, Colorado provided detailed verbal descriptions for the audience as she performed a series of contortions. The air in the ballroom was punctuated by gasps and exclamations as she twisted her body into one seemingly impossible position after another. She received a wild round of applause at the conclusion of her routine. On Wednesday evening, February 2 Ski for Light honored the memory of its late founder, Olav Pedersen. Larry Showalter played an audio recording from Ski for Light's twentieth anniversary, which was produced and aired by NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday program in 1995. Olav could be heard telling the story of how he took the concept of teaching Nordic skiing to the blind from Erling Stordahl, who created Norway's Ridderrenn in 1963, and introduced it to this country in 1975 with the first Ski for Light event. This was followed by a performance by Colorado singer/songwriter Jim Salestrom, a longtime friend of both Olav Pedersen and Ski for Light. Jim played a number of sometimes touching, sometimes humorous songs which thoroughly entertained the audience. "After that moving audio clip of Olav and then the touching songs that Jim began his set with, I felt my heart would burst with sadness and joy," said veteran blind skier Mary Hiland of Gahanna, Ohio. "I miss Olav so much. I did not know him well, but I did meet him, and the spirit of his mission lives on in us all." Friday evening is "Norway Night," when Ski for Light celebrates its Norwegian roots and continued close ties with the people and culture of Norway. Special guest Ambassador Knut Vollebaek of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C., visiting Ski for Light for the second consecutive year, was the keynote speaker. Despite his busy schedule, Ambassador Vollebaek said Ski for Light warrants his time because it is an opportunity for him to fulfill his charge as Ambassador to nourish the strong relations between Norway and the United States. In his address to the assembled participants he noted that the best export Norway sends abroad is friendship. And certainly the 24 wonderful Norwegians who attended this year's event brought a large measure of that commodity to share with their American counterparts. The week of skiing concluded on Saturday with the Olav Pedersen Race and Rally, named for Ski for Light's founder, who passed away in June 2004 at age 87. Skiers could either attempt to match a predicted time in the five kilometer rally or compete against the clock in the ten kilometer race. As each disabled skier and guide pair crossed the finish line they received their finishing medals and a big hug from Olav's widow, Suzanne Pedersen. The week officially came to a close that evening with the awards banquet at The Inn at Silver Creek, where the participants were housed during the event. Blind skier Ivonne Mosquera of New York City received the Jan Haug Award (a complete ski package of Nordic skis, boots and poles), which is annually given to a first-time disabled skier who demonstrates real enthusiasm for cross-country skiing. After dinner, participants danced into the night to the sounds of "The Kool Cats." The final evening at Ski for Light is always bittersweet, as you realize that the next day you must return to that "real" world. Yet, now it is that very world which seems so unreal. As Mary Hiland describes it, "you start counting down the days until you go back to the world of SFL, where achievement is expected, where equality is assumed, where hugs and touches are as natural as verbal greetings, where humor reigns, where courage is not marveled at but encouraged and where friends are made for life." Dana Simon, a first-time visually impaired participant from Brooklyn, New York echoes these sentiments. "I had a wonderful time at Ski for Light and enjoyed meeting new friends. I especially enjoyed the close relationship I had with my guide, Carollee Miller of Georgetown, Massachusetts. Ski for Light brought much hope to me in that I can have a life despite my vision loss. My vision decreases every year and things have become so hard for me. it is hard to meet new people and go to new places. I was so busy during the ski for Light week that I felt let down when I returned home. My social life was suddenly quiet. I hope to find more organizations like ski for Light here in New York City." The 2006 Ski for Light International Week will again be hosted in Granby, Colorado from January 29 through February 5. Ski for Light, Inc.?® is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization. Information and application forms for the 2006 event will be available by July 1 at www.sfl.org Start counting down the days! ** If you have an idea for a spotlight on a particular adaptive sport or organization, send it to: stevekerr@ev1.net with "Spotlight" in the subject line. ================================================= Profile ================================================= Blind man not resting after Everest By Lee Benson, Deseret Morning News Among the myriad events taking place at this weekend's annual Outdoor Retailer Show is a breakfast gathering today sponsored by W.L. Gore & Associates featuring an Embrace-the-Outdoors speech by Erik Weihenmayer, the first and, so far, only blind person to stand atop Mount Everest. Of the 6 billion people currently living on the planet, Weihenmayer arguably has the best vision of anyone when it comes to seeing the tremendous upside of the great outdoors. It was not quite four years ago - May 25, 2001, to be exact - when, at age 32, he summited the world's tallest mountain and delivered a blow to the solar plexus of pessimism from which it is yet to recover. If the blind can climb Everest, what can't they do? And while we're asking questions, what might be possible for those of us who can see? I managed to snag a short interview with Erik, who makes his home in Golden, Colo., before he went into deep preparation mode for today's speech - by spending all day yesterday skiing at Alta. "You have a guide skier in front and usually another in back," he said in explaining the process that allows a sightless skier to attack the slopes. "It's very exciting, especially when you hit some uneven snow conditions. I love it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For a man who did something most people - mountaineers especially - felt was physically impossible, Weihenmayer has anything but the air of a superhero about him; or, for that matter, a riverboat gambler. His descriptions of his accomplishments (he has also climbed the tallest mountain in every hemisphere) are so pragmatic, so down-to-earth, that he makes the improbable seem probable - like an aeronautic engineer explaining how a 20,000-pound jet airplane gets airborne. "What I've learned from the outdoors," he says, "is how to empower myself and reach out into uncertainty; how to take calculated risks, how to create good teams of people around me, people who believe in me, people I can put my life in their hands, and they can put their life in my hands." Do that, and climbing Mount Everest becomes a process, not a phenomenon. "A lot of people said a blind person had no business being on a mountain like Everest," he says. "But I had more climbing knowledge and experience than probably 99 percent of the people there." No matter what the goal, Erik stresses the importance of being realistic about it. "There's a sense of realism that you have to have," he says. "I started climbing at 16. I figured out all the systems. I worked at it. I found out what I had to do to be as physically fit as I could be. It takes a lot of discipline and preparation (to climb Everest). I'd spent half my life preparing for it. I want to motivate people to step out of their comfort zone, but I want them to be realistic too. I want to share the message that we can do things in our lives that are totally unexpected - but we need to know what's involved in getting there." He adds that every goal doesn't have to be as lofty as the first blind man to touch the top of the world. "To me," he says, "the outdoors are really about every man. They're about heavy people, short people, skinny people, blind people . . . everybody getting out there and enjoying the outdoors and figuring out ways of succeeding within that tough environment under your own set of circumstances." I'm sure he'd have said more. But he had a ski lift to catch. Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527. ** Have an idea for a profile? Just send an email to: stevekerr@ev1.net with "Profile" in the subject line. ================================================= Feature Ad ================================================= Like our Newsletter? Please vote for our ezine! Visit: http://www.ezine-marketing.com/cgi-bin/ezsearch/vote.cgi?ID=1094716097 ================================================= In The News ================================================= The United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) has announced the recipients of the 2004 Athletes and Team of the Year Awards. Royal Mitchell, a track athlete from Hardeville, South Carolina, was named Male Athlete of the Year, while tandem cyclist Karissa Whitsell of Eugene, Oregon, received Female Athlete of the Year honors. The U.S. Women's Goalball Team, who captured the silver medal in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, was named Team of The Year. The team will now be eligible for the U.S. Olympic Committee's Team of the Year Award, while Mitchell and Whitsell are both eligible for the USOC'S Athlete of the Year Awards. For more on this story, go to: http://www.usaba.org/pages/feature4.html ********** The 19th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic will take place April 3-8 at Snowmass Village in Aspen, Colorado. More than 350 disabled veterans will be skiing the Rocky Mountains during the clinic, an annual rehabilitation program open to all U.S. military veterans with spinal cord injuries or disease, visual impairments, certain neurological conditions, orthopedic amputations or other disabilities. A number of newly injured veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom have signed up for this year's clinic. During the six-day event, participants will be introduced to various adaptive sports and activities, including rock climbing, scuba diving, snowmobiling, sled hockey, and adaptive Alpine and Nordic skiing. For more information, contact Jenny Shafer Tankersley, VA public affairs coordinator, Winter Sports Clinic, at (757) 728-3450; or Rob Lewis, DAV Communications, at (859) 442-2049. You can also log onto the event's website at: http://www.wintersportsclinic.org/ ** If you know of an adaptive sports event for this section, send it to: stevekerr@ev1.net and put "News" in the subject line. ================================================= Keeping Fit ================================================= Minimize Stress in Your Life This article is brought to you by Lose Fat Fast Newsletter. Use these simple tips to minimize stress in your day to day living. Lower your expectations and you will suffer less disappointment. Try seeing everything as already perfect and accept things as they are, then you can strive less and relax more. Learn to say NO. Next time someone asks you to do something, before the word ???yes??™ slips out, pause, say you can??™t give an answer just yet ??“ you??™ll get back to them. This technique gives you time to think. Now you can choose to say NO, calmly, politely and kindly. Do one thing at a time. SLOW DOWN! If you are racing, so is your heart! Write yourself a list, prioritize your tasks and work through your list methodically. You need to enjoy what you are doing, not just the results of your efforts. Stop trying to fall asleep. So many people go to bed desperate to fall asleep as quickly as possible, and then suffer the frustration of wakefulness. Quit struggling ??“ you need to relax before you can sleep! Be thankful that you are warm, safe and cozy, be glad that your body is resting. Breathe deeply, slowly, gently and listen to your heart beating peacefully. Laugh more! Get serious an about humor. Laughter is seriously healing. The special chemicals released when we laugh are nature??™s finest form of natural medicine. When you??™ve suffered a stressful day, make sure you ???suffer??™ some serious humor in the evening. Watch a comedy show or film, one you know will produce copious laughter, to counter the stress you??™ve endured. If you want to take a 30 second 'holiday' here is a funny video to watch: http://www.netjoke.ws Treat yourself to a catnap and don??™t feel guilty. When your body is pleading for rest, ???40 winks??? works wonders but only if you don??™t feel guilty about this. Get out in the fresh air! Drab office, the whir of computer hard drives the drone of your boss??™s demands. Get outside during your lunch break, find a patch of green, some flowers, even wander around a garden center! Lose yourself in nature and feel your tensions dissipate, for a while at least. Live in the now. The past is gone, you can??™t change it. The future is mysterious and seductive, but only with you in your dreams. What you need is with you NOW so make the most of it. Be creative and give everything you??™ve got to NOW. (c) Copyright Kim Beardsmore --Kim is a successful weight loss coach who will cut through the diet-hype and help you reach your goal weight. No public 'weigh-ins', meetings that cost you money or fads...simply results you will love! Free consultations. Visit: http://tinyurl.com/5krlh Are you interested in earning money from home? We can help you grow a profitable home business: http://tinyurl.com/5bnor ================================================= Feature Ad ================================================= DO YOU QUALIFY TO GET YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS FREE? Most people don??™t realize this, but there are over 800 different programs that will provide nearly every medication on the market, free to those that qualify. And you DON??™T have to be poor to qualify. See if you do at: http://www.netterweb.com/rexaid/. ================================================= On Deck ================================================= Here's a peek at what's coming up in the next issue. ** Skiing is freedom to wheelchair athletes Joe Tompkins and Chris Devlin-Young. But before both could achieve amazing speeds of 70 miles an hour on the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, they first had to overcome accidents that resulted in the loss of their legs, and the battles with depression, drug and alcohol abuse that followed. Read their powerful story in our next "Profile". ** Want to increase your upper body strength without having to invest in a lot of weight equipment? Why not do pushups? Fitness enthusiast and professional body builder Venkata Ramana will show us a great workout with power pushups in the next "Keeping Fit". ** Plus: Our new feature, "Helpful Links" will make its debut with links and contact information to several adaptive sports organizations. ================================================= Contact Information ================================================= Stephen Michael Kerr, Publisher stevekerr@ev1.net 1218 Hughmont Dr. Pflugerville, Tx 78660 There is no charge to subscribe to this ezine. Just send a blank e-mail to: 41809-subscribe@zinester.com To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to: 41809-unsubscribe@zinester.com ================================================= Disclaimer ================================================= Although we believe our advertisers to be honest in their practices, we cannot be held responsible for the products or services they offer. 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