Whistler Adaptive Ski Program hopes to expand to include snowboarding
One man created a device called a "board buddy" that resembles a windsurfing boom with a harness in the middle to help his visually impaired wife snowboard down the mountain.
Another young man from New Zealand with cerebral palsy uses outriggers, poles with skis attached, to help him stay balanced on his snowboard and to push himself through flat areas.
One former snowboarder who lost his legs above the knee lowers himself into snowboard boots and uses his hands to help him carve down the slopes.
Paraplegics and amputees have used buckets mounted on snowboards, and adaptive ski instructors in Colorado have used ski poles attached to bicycle inner tubes to guide snowboarders with visual and motor function disabilities.
A few adaptive ski programs in B.C. and around the world already offer a wide range of snowboarding opportunities for their disabled clients, but there is no program in Whistler yet, and no set of guidelines for adaptive ski and snowboard instructors.
That should change after a Jan. 20 information session hosted by the Whistler Adaptive Ski Program, which brought together coaches from the B.C. Snowboard Team with adaptive snow sports volunteers from around Whistler, Vancouver Island, the Interior and the Lower Mainland.
"We’re in the process of information sharing," said Tyler Mosher, a volunteer with the Whistler Adaptive Ski Program who is spearheading the effort to create a universal standard for adaptive snowboarding.
"There has been adaptive snowboarding for a long time now in different places, and we all knew each other existed, but we were all moving forward independently. This was a chance to finally come together and share what we’ve learned," he said.
According to Mosher there is currently no manual for instructing adaptive snowboarding. "There’s no formal methodology to teach it, like ‘this person has this disability, so these are the tools you’re going to need, and this is how a lesson should go,’" said Mosher.
There’s also no governing body or association for the sport, and no progression or infrastructure has been put in place to take recreational adaptive snowboarders into competition.
The future of adaptive snowboarding is particularly important to Mosher, who sustained a spinal cord injury while riding on Blackcomb Mountain three years ago. A fall onto some rocks left him partially paralyzed, with no feeling in his calves or gluteus muscles. It’s difficult to balance and lean forward on his toe edge, he says, but he can still carve a little on groomed runs using a shorter snowboard.
One day he would like to see a program for adaptive snowboarding in Whistler, and at every ski resort that offers programs for disabled skiers. He would also like to see disabled snowboarding competitions at the provincial, national and international level.
There’s already been some talk of including a snowboard giant slalom as a demonstration sport in either the 2006 or 2010 Paralympics. If that’s the case, Mosher would like to be there representing Canada.
"That’s what would motivate me. I’d be more motivated to get up the hill and really push my limits physically and mentally, and try to adapt to my disabilities – to do better, to go faster and get stronger. Right now I have no way to measure myself except against myself," he said.
"I think that I, and other disabled snowboarders, have a lot to gain from competing with other people, and from having that support network…. To know that there’s other people out there enjoying the mountains with similar issues."
Mosher sees the competitive side of adaptive snowboarding as a natural extension of an adaptive programs created for beginners and recreational-level disabled snowboarders.
"It has to start somewhere," said Mosher. With the 2010 Paralympics coming to Whistler and the Whistler Adaptive Ski Program (WASP) in a good position, Mosher believes that Whistler should take the lead co-ordinating the development of a comprehensive adaptive snowboard program.
The information session was called "Rehabilitation and recreation through competition and through positive coaching," and touched on teaching theory and the equipment needs of disabled boarders. Two of the participants, Jason Stevens of Mt. Washington and Curt Lewchuk of Cypress Bowl, are currently working on a manual to teach disabled snowboarding based on their own experiences.
"Some of our goals were to learn to identify potential athletes, to encourage and maintain enthusiasm in the sport, to scout out the potential competition opportunities for adaptive snowboarders, and to help create a network of adaptive snowboard instructors, volunteers and participants. I think we were pretty successful in doing this," said Mosher.
Mosher has been working on the Whistler program for two years. Last year WASP acquired some equipment to help teach adaptive snowboarding. While WASP doesn’t officially offer adaptive snowboarding to the public just yet, they have helped out a few snowboarders in the past by request.
One of WASP’s snowboard students is a youth from Mt. Currie with mild cerebral palsy. He only wants to go straight down the hill right now, says Mosher, so the challenge for instructors is to find ways to get him turning. A manual for instructors would include that kind of information, says Mosher.
J.F. Racine and Andrew George, the head coaches from the B.C. Snowboard Team, did a few exercises on the mountain as part of the information session to show how instructors could motivate the Mt. Currie snowboarder to work on his turns.
"We talked about things like building little snowmen around the hill, and getting him to go and kill the snowmen, or getting the guy to try and hit you with a snowball while you’re turning down the hill. This kid is really good at basketball, and plays with able-bodied players, so there has to be a way to get him to turn emulating basketball," said Mosher. "These are the kinds of things we have to look at when we develop a program."
If all goes well, WASP could start to offer a snowboard program by as early as next season. The goal is to be as inclusive as possible, says Mosher, which is why WASP started to offer an adaptive cross-country program last year.
"It depends a lot on our partnerships really. We can offer (snowboarding), but we can’t promote it right now," said Mosher. "We only have one or two certified instructors that could really do this, so we’ll have to add instructors.
"At CADS (Canadian Association of Disabled Skiers), snowboarding isn’t totally accepted yet because for a lot of (disabled) people skiing is probably better. But if you’re missing a hand, or went deaf or blind, or have cerebral palsy like this one kid we have, why wouldn’t you snowboard? If you’re young, I think it’s great."
Beginners need equipment, a manual and instructors to get into the sport, says Mosher. More importantly, he says, disabled people need programs like this as part of their rehabilitation to keep them motivated.
Once people are at the recreational level, some adaptive snowboarders will want competitive programs so they can continue to push themselves and improve. That in turn helps disabled people mentally and physically, says Mosher.
"There’s life after injury," said Mosher.
"The theory behind it is that there are people out there like me who are rehabilitating, learning a new sport or learning to do things again, and building our self-confidence.
"Then you get people like (Paralympian) Stacy Kohut. He’s a really good skier, he’s been paralyzed for 10 years, and he’s already rehabbed. He’s out there recreating – he doesn’t compete any more – but the goal is to take people rehab-ing and recreating and pointing them towards competitions. There has to be something to work towards, and the goal for everybody is different."
Mosher says the adaptive snowboarding program will need to be associated with groups like the B.C. Snowboard Association and the Canadian Snowboard Federation to take it to the next level where there are opportunities to compete.
"Whatever we come up with, we want this to be authentic. We want all the snowboard coaches out there to say it’s doable, and get behind this. We want them to say ‘this is our social responsibility and these snowboarders are our comrades,’" said Mosher.
"I think it has the support of a lot of people around the world already, who are doing what we’re doing, but because we’re Whistler our voice might get head first."
