Life
By Eric Robinette
Staff Writer
WEST CHESTER TWP. — One might think that if you can’t walk, you can’t water ski.
Don’t tell that to some of the international athletes who will compete at the 2011 World Disabled Waterski Championships, to be held Aug. 25-28 at Voice of America Park in West Chester Twp. Opening ceremonies will be held Aug. 24, with preliminary rounds Aug. 25 and 26 and final rounds Aug. 27 and 28.
The event will draw dozens of waterskiers from across the globe, including the U.S. Australia, Brazil, Canada and France. Each athlete has a handicap of some sort, be it paralysis, missing a limb, or even blindness. But the skiers want to make spectators forget about the “dis” in disabled.
“The draw is the skiers’ refusal to accept any disability. It’s man overcoming of obstacles,” said Larry Downs, the local chairman of the event that previously has been held in England, France and Australia.
The coach of the U.S. team is Matthew Oberholtz of Chico, Calif., who became a paraplegic after a 1986 car accident.
“Waterskiing was one of my biggest loves as a child. And one of the first questions I asked was ‘Can I ski?’ ” he said.
The answer turned out to be an unequivocal yes. Oberholtz trained with Royce C. Andes, who is considered the “godfather” of skiing for the disabled.
“It was such a thrill to be back out on the water,” he said of his first skiing jaunt after the accident. Now Oberholtz is a champion skier who is a world’s record holder for performing a flip.
The event is surprising to some people in wheelchairs, he said.
“People in wheelchairs ask me ‘I can waterski? I can snow ski?’ Yes, you can,” Oberholtz said.
The championships will offer skiing in three divisions: trick, jump and slalom. The teams receive gold, silver and bronze medals, similar to the Olympics.