News

Adaptive ski program underway

By Tyler Ohmann

01/22/2013

Back in September Jeff Parness from the New York Says Thank You Foundation said that when “the first kid comes down the hill with a smile on their face, that is what it’s all about.”

Parness was speaking at the opening ceremonies of the Annie’s House project at the Bottineau Winter Park, a new chalet and adaptive ski program inspired by the “bucket list” found on North Dakota native Ann Nelson’s computer. She was North Dakota’s only victim of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City.

A little over four months later Parness’ vision came true as the first skier’s to utilize the adaptive program smiled as they skied down the BWP hill last Friday afternoon.

Those kids were the very kids from Portland, N.D. that have been helping raise funds for Annie’s House from the beginning.

Ricky, Hunter, Holly and Amanda were the first to utilize the newly trained instructors and enjoy themselves on the slopes.

“I’m amazed,” said Mary Stammen, the director of the special education in Portland. “They’re doing something that kids without disabilities haven’t had a chance to do, and they can go home and show their families and their classmates what they’ve been able to do.”

Stammen was surprised at the progress that the kids made in just a short amount of time.

“I never really expected that in just an hour that the kids would be going up and down the hill,” Stammen said. “I thought the kids were going to be more afraid, and they’re not.”

Stammen thinks that the instructors were a big part in that quick progression.

“Having the one-on-one instruction, makes all the difference in the world,” Stammen said. “The instructors are so patient, they’re doing it as the kids feel they can do it.”

One of the instructors was none other than Gary Nelson, Ann Nelson’s father, who has been instructing skiers for more than four decades.

“It’s a real hoot,” Nelson said. “This is absolutely great. We’re introducing theses kids to something that they’ve never experienced before.”

“We live in North Dakota, and it’s outdoors, and once these kids get introduced, they’ll be able to come out here after a few hours or a few weeks, and ski themselves,” Nelson added.

He agrees with Stammen that having one-on-one instruction can help keep the kids progressing at their own pace.

“I think it’s going fine,” Nelson said. “You have to understand that each individual student progresses at their own rate, so after we have them for awhile, we kind of know where they are at.”

Nelson said the successes that happened on the slopes last Friday took a lot of work to prepare both instructor and student.

“The preparation up to this day, it was a lot of phone calls, and discussing the ability of the students, and how they’ll be able to understand it,” Nelson said. “For the three hours we had them today, there was at least three or four hours preparation to get them ready.”

“It takes communication between people like Mary Stammen, who brought the kids here, and the ski school, so that we know exactly what to expect,” Nelson added.

Stammen said the kids did far better than expected, and that the preparation may have been the key.

“We didn’t even think we were going to get the boots on some of them, because they can be so restricting, and it’s hard to explain that to them,” Stammen said. “We had them watch movies, and had them ski on the Wii, but that’s still a lot different than strapping boots and boards on the bottom of your feet.”

Stammen thinks that the trip will do a couple things.

“Number one it’s going to show Bottineau Winter Park people that kids with disabilities can come up here,” Stammen said. “The kids can handle it, and the adults can handle it.”

“I think it also shows that there has to be that one-on-one,” Stammen continued. “You can’t come up here with 20 kids with disabilities and expect it to work.”

Stammen said the kids will be eager to return, as eager as they had been before coming last Friday.

“They’re going to be begging us to come back,” Stammen said. “They hadn’t even been skiing and they were begging us to come every week, ‘when do we get to go back to Annie’s House?’”

Stammen, Nelson and all the instructors, students and benefactors hope the smiles keep skiing down the BWP hills.

“That’s the idea, to make these kids as independent as possible in a winter sport,” Nelson said.

A group from Bottineau also received their first lesson on Saturday, and Nelson said that other students from other areas will be out there soon.

The program was created to help not only children with mental and physical disabilities, but wounded warriors as well.