This past June, Disabled Sports USA’s first ever SummerFest 2003 took Long Beach by storm. Featuring outrigger canoeing, sailing, windsurfing, biking, rock climbing, and water skiing, SummerFest gave participants a unique chance to learn about and sample new sports from the nation’s leading instructors — including many activities to which they never thought they’d be exposed. In an encouraging atmosphere that promoted camaraderie and teamwork, SummerFest spurred new relationships among instructors and participants, and created lasting bonds far beyond the single event for the participants involved with their newfound sports.

The city of Long Beach showed her hospitality by providing accessible, pristine sites for the sporting events, offering everyone involved a chance to experience the city — some logging miles by cycle or canoe, some taking in the view from the top of the climbing wall.

At the start of the Long Beach Bike Path, Mark Wellman, the only paraplegic to have climbed both El Capitan and Half Dome, manned the artificial climbing wall, belaying participants with specialized adaptive equipment. Encouraging cheers from below lifted spirits as one climber after another — including Kirk Bauer, executive director of DS/USA — reached the top on the first try. Considering Wellman’s own feat of summitting El Capitan required more than 7000 pull-ups over a distance of 3000 feet, he was an inspiration to all, proving that even the most extreme of sports is attainable by the newly initiated!

With their more than 20 high-tech adaptive cycles, the crew from Denver-based Adaptive Adventures worked one-on-one with participants to fit the best bike for their individual needs, before riding off next to them along the five-mile bike path that laced the Pacific. For many of the participants, this

experience marked the first time they had ever seen and ridden on such state-of-the-art cycles, which were priced well into the thousands per unit. Indeed, though not all of the SummerFest participants were competitive athletes, they were certainly treated as if they were.

At Alamitos Bay, across the way from the rock climbing and cycling, outrigger canoeing kept its momentum as eight people at a time joined together for a paddling tour of the Venice-like passages known as the Rivo Alto Canal. With support from the local community, such as Long Beach-resident Ted Ralston who shared his vessels for the DC-8 set-up (“double canoe” for 8 people), the outrigger canoeing instruction took full advantage of the surroundings, offering a team environment for the athletes and instructors to get their feet wet and loosen up those muscles with vigorous paddling. It seemed that the participants couldn’t get enough, and many returned for a second and even third time. For Robert Schrader, this experience led to his being asked to compete in an outrigger canoeing race with the Kahakai and Lokahi Outrigger Canoe Club the Saturday after SummerFest ended.

Event participants with Dana Bowman

As the canoeing teams set off from the shore, paddles in unison, the sailing and windsurfing group alternated from sand to water instruction, making sure each participant was comfortable with the techniques before setting the sails themselves. With the Hobie catamarans rigged to accommodate wheelchair participants, instructor Art Stevens, U.S. Sailing, demonstrated that sailing is for everyone. At the same time, he showed that with a little persistence, windsurfing is also achievable, as long as you’re willing to get wet!

A couple miles down the road, Long Beach Marine Stadium was buzzing with water skiing activity, a rush of energy from the constant wake and background din of motorboat and jet ski. Combined instruction from the DS/USA Far West chapter and professional water skier Steve Hornsey of the City of Sacramento’s Parks and Recreation Department’s Access Leisure program ensured that every skier went away with a well-deserved sense of accomplishment.

Dana Cummings climbs the wall.

As Haakon Lang Ree, program director for DS/USA Far West, shared after the event: “Water skiing is not an easy sport, but the specialized water ski equipment allowed people with involved disabilities to ski successfully on the first try, while others with less involved disabilities even progressed to the point of becoming nearly independent after just 30 minutes behind the boat.”

Regardless of disability or past experience, water skiing — as well as every other sport represented at SummerFest — proved to all involved that success in new sports and recreation is immediately attainable.

Julija Sajauskas, a recreation management major at Radford University, stated, “SummerFest was not just an educational experience but an opportunity to network with others in my field. The activities, hands-on learning, and interaction with instructors throughout the week provided new opportunities. And during the event, I developed a relationship with the Far West chapter of DS/USA and hope to join this group as an intern next summer, providing water ski instruction to people with all forms of disabilities.”

The pinnacle of the week was ushered in by Hanger Orthotics and Prosthetics, which sponsored Dana Bowman’s sky dive onto Long Beach. Bowman, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and member of the U.S. Army’s elite parachute team, the Golden Knights, is a double amputee who lost his legs nine years ago in a mid-air collision. Low cloud cover Monday morning delayed his planned jump, but spirits weren’t dampened as Dana committed to a Wednesday descent instead. The 10 a.m. anticipated arrival lifted heads and spirits alike as all gathered at First Place Beach to turn their eyes skyward for Dana’s 6,000 foot parachute jump. With an American flag streaming behind him, Dana landed gracefully in the sand, showing everyone firsthand that dreams should not be abandoned. He concluded his jump by stating to the crowd: “It’s not about the disability. It’s about the ability.”

SummerFest only lasted a week, but its impact is far reaching. The participants and instructors will each take their experiences and what they’ve learned back home to their local communities.

Louisa Pena is one of the handful of single leg amputees who, after only a limited time of practice, progressed to the point where she could water ski without any adaptive equipment. With the training and confidence she’s taking away, she knows that, if invited to water ski back home in Eagle Rock, California, she can — and will — do it. A dancer all her life, Louisa was also inspired by SummerFest to create an adaptive program for dance, and will be working with DS/USA to develop an initial lesson plan for dance for amputees.

With the dedication of instructors across the country and continued collaboration among chapters, next year’s event is sure to be filled with more success stories just like Rocio Palacios’s scaling the climbing wall with not just upper body strength but sheer determination, Greg Birkwitz’s solo windsurfing achieved through balance and desire, Robert Schrader’s quick uptake as lead man in the DC-8 canoe, which led to an invite to compete in a local race, and Kris Keck’s determination to water ski without outriggers.

We have one SummerFest behind us, but many more to come. The participants and instructors have built a solid foundation for a lasting event. By showcasing such a broad range of sports and recreational activities, SummerFest truly showed that nothing is impossible for the disabled community — a message that should keep everyone from SummerFest 2003 looking forward to SummerFest 2004.

For more information on the activities mentioned, contact Disabled Sports USA national headquarters at events@dsusa.org or call 301-217-9840.

About the authors....
The above article was compiled and written by Tara Dugan, Meghan Fitzgerald, and Melinda Bagatelos, who led the publicity efforts for SummerFest 2003. They work for Schwartz Communications, Inc., the largest, independent public relations firm in the U.S. focused on emerging growth technology companies.

Please send questions or comments to dsusa@schwartz-pr.com.