Trading Disabilities For Water Skis

By Kendra Bobowick

Dan Bouffard rested a hand on Todd Munn’s shoulder to help keep himself steady while stepping into his water skis. He watched a speedboat’s wake unzip Lake Zoar’s surface as it pulled another skier, Matt Castalucio, on a sit ski. Waiting on the dock and already fitted into his life jacket was Joe Shortt, who would also ride the sit ski.

The three men were guests Saturday, September 8, at the Leaps of Faith Disabled Water Skiers group that Housatonic Drive resident Joel Zeisler started in 1991. He has been offering water skiing clinics to the disabled since his first client — a blind man — had requested lessons.

With the day’s trek on the water already behind them, both Anissa Porticelli and friend David Watson found a spot to dry off in the sun. Both in wheelchairs, they talked about their chairs’ designs, the afternoon waterskiing, and at times they spoke of their accidents.

“I would never go back to the way I was,” Ms Porticelli said. Since her accident nine years ago, she said, “Life is better now.” Mr Watson especially enjoyed the skiing. “I was an able bodied skier before,” he said. He had been an avid water and snow skier. Giving thought to his experience with Leaps of Faith, he said, “This makes you feel good again.”

Mr Bouffard had never water skied, but joined a clinic after he suffered a stroke during surgery. He sat with his skis dangling in the lake before pushing off the end of the dock. Once in the water with the ski tips breaking the surface in front of him, Mr Bouffard watched as the boat’s driver slowly stretched the slack in the ski rope.

As the men and women gathered in Mr Zeisler’s back yard bordering Lake Zoar for the second to last clinic of the season, sodas sat on ice, hotdogs simmered and spit on the grill, and the friends and acquaintances watched as one person or another got a rush from riding the skis cutting across the water.

Mr Zeisler’s mission is clear: “To teach and train water skiers of all disabilities to enjoy the sport for beginners or competitions,” he said. Since his first ski student in 1991, news of the Leaps of Faith had spread by word of mouth, he said, and many individuals and groups now attend his clinics. From the expanded programming available to the blind and visually impaired — some out of state — the organization also does a Wounded Warrior program, which was in Albany, N.Y., this year.

Although he will tell you he does it for the picnic buffet, Mr Zeisler said that after a life of skiing and competitions, the clinics were a natural transition for him.

Since his clinics began he often hears from parents or children who want to thank him, but remembers specifically one letter he recently received. He held an open clinic for all disabilities and ages, and one 50-year-old woman from Philadelphia had written to express that she had a “great time socially and skiing.” Reaching for the letter still on his desk he read what she wrote. “Dear Joel and volunteers...words do not express the enjoyment I experienced...I felt like my old self.” She continued, “It restores my faith...to see you and friends open your home to total strangers.” Referring to the certificate she can now hang on her wall following the clinic she said, “My friends at work will love it, that makes it all worthwhile.”

Mr Zeisler counts roughly 40–50 volunteers who help make the clinics possible by donating their time, efforts, and boats. “They get a good sense of letting someone else enjoy a sport they enjoy too,” he said. Since Leaps of Faith began, both the groups signing up to ski and assisting volunteers have grown.

Leaps of Faith Disabled Water Skiers is supported strictly through donations. The club is a nonprofit organization that brings water skiing into the lives of blind, visually and physically impaired children and adults, in addition to training disabled water skiers to compete both on a national and international level. Learn more at the organization’s website at leapsoffaithwaterskiers.com. Contact the group at 426-0666 or joel@leapsoffaithwaterskiers.com