Water Skiers Leave Disabilities In Their Wake

By Kendra Bobowick

They all had a story.

Allie Lawson, 17, is visually impaired. Joe Eckler of Newtown, also 17, has a tumor in his brain and lost vision in his left eye. Katie Mawby from Michigan lost her vision years ago after an accident in high school. Sherman resident Dorinda Lenihan’s son Jack was born with albinism. Like others with his albino condition, he is legally blind.

Other guests gathered at resident Joel Zeisler’s picnic/water skiing clinic along Housatonic Drive on June 20, as in past summers, set aside a host of handicaps from blindness or diminished vision or loss of mobility due to illness or accident, and slipped into safety vests. Approaching the end of the dock, Allie held a ski upright and glanced at a rippling Lake Zoar. Noah O’Connor’s fingers curled around the end of the dock, his feet snug in bright orange skis that slapped the water’s surface. Behind him, Ms Mawby extended her cane and maneuvered her way along the walk leading to the water.

As soon as their skis cut a hard line through the gentle waves, their stories begin.

Joe lives in Newtown and is familiar with the season’s water sports. More recently he has enjoyed Mr Zeisler’s Leaps of Faith (LOF) Disabled Waterskiers Club clinics. The club is a nonprofit organization specializing in training water skiers with disabilities. The 17-year-old has been learning to water ski in the last two years. Unlike his everyday life where he describes himself as “a regular person, but it takes me longer to do things,” he finds the skiing “amazing.” He tried it last year, and now he is back. “It’s amazing they can teach blind people to do something like that,” he said. Describing his own experience on skis, he said, “I was up for a couple of seconds, then I went under. Joel was with me and he said, ‘When I tell you stand up, stand up,’ and I did, but the water, waves…”

His hope for this year? “I want to [ski] by the dock and hear a cheer from the shore,” he said. “I want that.” Thinking of his recent accomplishment of “getting up” on his skis, he said, “Now that I have been up and can deal with it, it’s a thrill. They say after you get up it’s like a bicycle.”

A Monroe resident, Allie had water skied when she was in elementary school, then “took a few years off,” she said. Quickly becoming a familiar face at Mr Zeisler’s ski club, she said, “I missed it; I loved it. It’s hard to explain. It’s like I can’t think of anything else.” Despite her visual disability, she said, “I love being athletic.” She recalls her apprehension her first time at the ski clinic. “When you’re in the water you’re nervous, but once you get up you’re smiling — you’re so proud of yourself.”

Musing aloud, she said, “I hope I get to do the single ski…I am going to ask.” Volunteers must have agreed. Less than 30 minutes later, Allie clutched the single ski and waited for her turn to get on the water. Eventually she hopes to learn tricks and go over the jump.

Both she and Joe recommend the clinic. “I was telling my mom that if I could do this everyday I would,” Allie said. What is it like for her? “I feel proud I am skiing. I feel I have achieved something. It’s like not giving up until you get to the top, you know?” When she arrived at the clinic this year, she said, “It was overwhelming, but a good overwhelming.”

Katie Mawby stood in the sun on Mr Zeisler’s back lawn bordering Lake Zoar. Visiting from Michigan, she had met and trained with Mr Zeisler in the past, and now volunteers at his clinics. After an accident in high school that cost Ms Mawby her sight, a determined family propped her spirits up. She skied with her family before and after her accident. She was on a snow ski team, and “got into” water skiing, even learning to ski barefoot. She was just 16 at the time she lost her sight. “I had a supportive family,” she said. With her family’s help she discovered she could still do things, only differently, she said. Her sister, for one, was a motivation.

“She figured out a way for me to do things, but modified,” she said. Thinking back to her teens, she also feels age was in her favor. “When you’re 16 it’s easier than at 40.” Water skiing has given her another outlet. “It has enabled me to compete like an able-bodied person — you can ski and I can ski, it’s equal ground.”

Skiing may be modified, but she sets her own limits. “I think you deal with life as it comes to you, without options sometimes. You play the hand you have,” she said. For younger people, or even the children, she said, “They get on the water and focus on what they can do.” Thinking of Allie, Ms Mawby said, “She’ll have fun with it and enjoy it and bring a lot of joy to the people around her.

Also among the volunteers was Mr Zeisler’s nephew Brett Rosen, completing school community service hours and photographing the skiers.

Resting in a lawn chair and watching the motorboat pull Noah O’Connor — another white-haired, pale featured, young man with albinism — Steven Caggiano, 16, is also sight impaired. “I didn’t ever really think about [skiing]. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it,” he said. But, he could. “I realized I could probably do more than I think,” he said.

Later that day, in fact, he would be skiing. Behind Steven’s spot in the shade, Dorinda Lenihan played tether ball with her son Jack. Despite his albinism, which compromises his sight, he was ready for the water.

She remembers her fear and confusion at his diagnosis. “We didn’t know what it meant,” she said. Coincidentally, she had seen a television special about water skiing that offered her a foothold. She later met Mr Zeisler at a conference and soon her son was involved with Leaps of Faith. “For Jack, it’s a place where he doesn’t have to feel different. He can just be Jack,” Ms Lenihan said. Although he is legally blind, she said, “This is a blessing in disguise. He can do things other kids can’t…” Thankful to Mr Zeisler, she said, “When you’re the parent of a child with a disability and someone you don’t even know takes time with you, it’s great.”

As the skiers edged toward the water and grabbed for the pull ropes and skis throughout the afternoon, the first Leaps of Faith clinic of the season was underway June 20. According to LeapsofFaithWaterskiers.com, clinics are planned during July, August, and September. The Leaps of Faith Disabled Waterskiers club is an organization that brings water skiing into the lives of children and adults with disabilities, in addition to training disabled water skiers to compete both on a national and international level. Experience is not necessary. For information, contact Joel Zeisler at 426-0666, or email joel@leapsoffaithwaterskiers.com.