Inside a shed at Mad River Mountain Ski Resort there is an assortment of braces, poles, straps and ski platforms designed to help handicapped and disabled people navigate snowy downhill runs on the resort’s slopes.
Hardware is important to The Adaptive Adventure Sports Coalition program, but it is the volunteers and certified instructors who make it work.
“I had heard about the program,” said David Shida, a Dayton resident recovering from a stroke, “but I didn’t realize how good they were until I started.
“They’ve made me feel at home like I’m a normal guy.”
ABOVE: Participants in The Adaptive Adventure Sports Coalition skiing program maneuver down a slope Saturday at Mad River Mountain Ski Resort. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | JOEL E. MAST)
Mr. Shida, a Vietnam veteran, has been skiing at Mad River Mountain for years. He was working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base when he was introduced to the winter sport.
He was used to seeing TAASC’s sheds and staging area at Mad River and its participants gliding down the slopes using unique devices.
After his stroke, he asked his doctors and therapists about whether or not skiing would help with his recovery. They encouraged him to try it.
“I figured skiing would help,” Mr. Shida said. “And it has. It is hard to put in words, but it seems as if the world has opened up for me again.”
TAASC volunteer and certified instructor David Holzer was working with Mr. Shida this past weekend.
He helped hook up straps and bracing poles designed to improve Mr. Shida’s posture as he navigates the slopes.
Mr. Holzer has attended a training sessions with the national organization Disabled Sports USA, which recognizes TAASC as a chapter.
At the sessions, the trainers not only learn the theory behind the equipment, they have to use it.
That way, Mr. Holzer said, they know how it works and can determine what is best for the participants.
Once readied, Mr. Holzer, Mr. Shida and two other volunteers hit the slopes.
George Christy and Garrett Yant are two DECA students from Liberty High School in Columbus working to promote TAASC and its annual winter sports challenge.
Dave Holzer adjusts straps for apparatus designed to help David Shido ski better. Mr. Holzer has been associated with TAASC for 14 years.
They are hoping their efforts will improve fundraising for TAASC which is in its 18th year.
They explained TAASC is open to anyone age five and older regardless of their disability. TAASC volunteers regularly work with veterans, both amputees and those diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder; paraplegics; and developmentally disabled clients such as clients of the Logan County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
Skiing is only one TAASC activity, the high school students explained. The Powell-based chapter also offers kayaking, hiking, bicycling and other outdoor activities.
There are 300 volunteers associated with TAASC and its goal for fundraising this year is $60,000.
The winter sport challenge, which is for all winter sports enthusiasts, is one of the biggest fundraisers, George and Garrett said, and it is Saturday at Snow Trails Resort in Mansfield, the only private, family-owned ski resort in Ohio.
Registration is available online at www.taasc.org or the day of the challenge from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All day ski and snowboard passes are $65 and two-hour tubing passes are $40. Packages include a event T-shirt and lunch.