Ski group helps get dreams rolling downhill
Three Trackers makes sport possible for special-needs skiers
By Jonas Fortune
Akron Beacon Journal sports writer
POSTED: 12:02 p.m. EST, Feb 19, 2010

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/84779652.html

Darrel McCauley of Warren, skis down Champagne Hill. (Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal)

Find more images from Paul Tople and the Akron Beacon Journal at Brandywine below!

SAGAMORE HILLS TWP.: Imagine racing down a snow-covered hill. The cold air needles at your face as you pick up more and more speed.  You shift your body left, cutting across the grain of the hill and decreasing speed before you're ready to turn down the hill again. If it weren't for that body control you may fall head over skis.  Alex Lozano, 12, of Mentor, is just learning how to master those cuts and turns, a critical step in any young skier's life. But he needs a little more help than usual.

Lozano and his two brothers, Austin and Brandon, were born three months prematurely. Of the triplets, Brandon was the only one born without a disability.   Austin is autistic. It affects him in many ways but enjoying days on the slopes is not one of them.  Alex was born with cerebral palsy, which limits his motor skills and physical movements.  Yet, there they are on Sundays, all sliding down the slopes together at Brandywine Ski Resort.

''This is incredible,'' said their mother, Debbie Lozano. ''Who would think that you can go out skiing with two special needs children? These guys are really close. They have been since birth and we just couldn't handle leaving Alex at home when we would go out skiing.''  They can thank Three Trackers for that.

The ski group, which is an Ohio chapter of Disabled Sports USA, is at Brandywine every Sunday — and some Tuesdays — training, instructing, and skiing with special needs individuals who are gaining new life experiences that they may not have been able to achieve otherwise.  The Three Trackers have found ways to get everyone on the slopes. They have dealt with paraplegics, quadriplegics, visual impairments, head injuries and amputees.

''Pretty much every facet of a physical disability up to a (ventilator); If they are on a power vent or a (tracheostomy tube) or something like that, we don't take them out for safety reasons,'' group President Mark Dietz said. ''If we could find a way to take a person on a vent out, we would do it.''  As the group meets in the cafeteria between ski sessions on this Sunday, there are about five individuals who are in wheelchairs, with symptoms ranging from moderate to severe.  Another was walking, but not without the assistance of another person.

''When someone develops skills to get up and down the mountain, a lot of confidence comes with that. A better self image, and also you are more willing to go out and answer every other challenge you have in life,'' instructor Paul Miles said.  ''Our skiers, by the time they get out here, they have overcome more than most of us have in our life to even get here and to even get to that point, so that is inspiring in itself.''

Leland Foster, 45, drives himself nearly three hours from Swanton, which is about 30 minutes southwest of Toledo, every Sunday to ski with the group. His only other option for ''adaptive'' skiing is in Columbus. 
He is in a wheelchair and suffers from cerebral palsy that slurs his speech and limits his body control. Yet, if he wasn't out skiing ''I'd sit on my ass at home and do nothing.''  In order for him to ski, the Three Trackers place him in what is called a bi-ski. Two skis are close together underneath while the occupant sits in a bucket seat atop them. An instructor skis behind him, pushing him, and helping him turn.

In some situations the instructors are directly behind them, grabbing the equipment and exerting more control. In others, they hang back a little further and use reins to turn the ski when the skier struggles.

Independence- Ideally, the goal is to make everyone independent, Dietz said.

John Squires, 36, of Akron, accepts the challenge.  Squire, who broke his neck in a 1987 diving accident at Portage Lakes State Park, is nearly quadriplegic. He has feeling throughout his body, but no movement in his lower extremities. He can move his arms but struggles with his hands.  He still wants to master the turns himself though, so he uses outriggers when positioned in the bi-ski, which leaves three tracks in the snow. Instructors are still there to make sure he gets down the hill safely.  ''For me it is just a challenge,'' Squires said. ''It is not easy. It is something I really enjoy progressing at and getting better and better. I was an athlete before I got hurt. I am an athlete now.''

Alex Lozano's condition isn't quite as severe. He can stand up, but teaching him how to ski has still been a process. When Debbie Lozano met the Three Trackers four years ago, they would put him in a sled and pull him around the slopes and through the hills.  Now, Alex Lozano uses what is called a glider, a walker with two skis attached on the outside. He stands in the middle on his own skis.  An instructor ties reins onto the glider and skis behind him so he can gently turn Alex Lozano if he does not turn far enough on his own.  As Lozano came in from the slopes this Sunday, a huge smile crept between his rosey red cheeks as he gave instructor Rod Ramsey a high-five.  ''He's starting to turn down the hills now on his own,'' Ramsey said.

Ramsey, who lost his legs in a helicopter accident but was able to have the right one reattached, knows how much those little moments mean.  ''I'm an example for them. I'm leading the way,'' Ramsey said. ''I'm saying 'Hey look! It can be done.' Just because you have a handicap doesn't mean you have to sit at home in your wheelchair all day.''

Costs are high  The life experiences don't come cheap, though.  The unique equipment can cost more than $2,000 to buy initially, and a few more thousand to maintain.  Then there is liability insurance, which costs the group $2,500 a year. Insurance costs have forced them to drop some of their other sports, such as white-water rafting and water skiing. 

The Three Trackers are a nonprofit, volunteer-based organization that lives on membership dues, fundraisers, sponsorships and even some of the volunteer's wallets.  They currently have about 30 members who pay $15 for an annual membership and $10 for each ski session, but that only covers half of their operating costs, Dietz said.  Fundraising, especially in today's economic climate, has been the biggest problem, he said.

The Three Trackers do have a barn full of their unique ski equipment on site at Brandywine, but, for the most part, operate separately. Brandywine furnishes a place for them to offer the instruction, discounted lunch passes and free lift passes for the instructors. The skiers still have to buy lift tickets.

''We love the program,'' Dietz said. ''This is by far one of the best things I have ever done. It is such a wonderful feeling to come out here and work with people who are disabled.  ''You see all the wheelchairs parked alongside of the hill, all lined up, and they are all out on the hill skiing. It is the coolest thing. So to be a part of this, I just can't give it up. So we all do everything we can to keep the program running.''

Jonas Fortune can be reached at jfortune@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school sports blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.

Photos below are taken by Paul Tople of the Akron Beacon Journal at Brandywine on February 14th, 2010.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Thanks to the Akron Beacon Journal for taking the time to write this story and sharing it with our community!