Non-profit organizations are helping to disprove the common notion that disabled people cannot participate in sports. They are actively training disabled people to develop skiing and snowboarding skills and to compete in competitions.

For those that still believe that the loss of a limb makes someone unable to play sports, I strongly recommend that they see the film “Murder Ball”, a little seen 2005 documentary about wheel chair rugby, where athletes missing one or more limbs go all out in full contact mode to win a championship. I guarantee that anyone after seeing this movie will have a lot more respect for those with disabilities among us.

Snowboarding is widely considered an “extreme sport.” It gained mass exposure and popularity in the U.S. during the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Park City, Utah. Snowboarding can be a difficult sport to master as it combines elements of surfing, skateboarding and skiing. Yet, these days, we’re finding more and more people with disabilities on the snowboarding slopes.

A prime example of organizations working with disabled persons to help them achieve their full potential is Challenge Alaska which has worked with disabled athletes in Alaska for over twenty years. They are a non-profit organization that provides sports and therapeutic recreation opportunities for those with disabilities. This past winter, they worked with developmentally disabled students of all ages, instructing more than one thousand lessons, to teach them skiing and snowboarding skills.

A type of snowboarding that is becoming more popular for those with physical disabilities is Adaptive Snowboarding. Similar to the rugby sport mentioned above, adaptive snowboarding allows partially disabled sportsmen and women to participate in their sport. Although Adaptive Skiing has been around for a while, many people are just starting to become aware of Adaptive Snowboarding.

The sport is relatively new but manufacturers are already beginning to develop specialized snowboards and equipment built around the sport. Counts vary as to how many adaptive riders there are in the country with no one having a hard number, but everyone agrees that it’s popularity is growing rapidly. The short term goal is to eventually have Adaptive Snowboarding included as an athletic competition in the Winter Paralympic Games, possibly as soon as the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Whistler.

One organization at the forefront of teaching the sport of Adaptive Snowboarding is the non profit U.S. Adaptive Recreation Center at the Bear Mountain Ski Resort in California. They have a full staff of recreational therapists on board to lead and monitor the training. They accept people with disabilities of all types including blindness, autism, spinal cord injuries, missing limbs, partial paralysis, and many others. Adaptive Snowboard Training, consisting of one-on-one sessions, costs less than $100 a day which includes the cost of lift tickets and equipment.

Organizations like the Adaptive Recreation Center and Challenge Alaska are true to the idea that we can do anything if we put our minds to it and that our capabilities are more than our physical limitations. They have proven that snowboarding and other extreme sports can be enjoyed by people with a wide variety of disabilities if they are simply given the confidence to try and the equipment and opportunity to shine.



By: Jim Garza

About the Author:

Scott asked:


It may seem like an unenviable task, even to the most heart-struck of instructors, but teaching girls snowboarding is a rewarding tradition that many a ski hill and mountain has established as a part of their integrated programs for the season. It’s hard not to get carried away with visions of a line of girls falling over as you instruct them to snowboard, but the reality is that many of the girls will probably end up teaching girls snowboarding skills just like you. You might even learn a thing or two about snowboarding from watching other people learn and you can perfect your own technique from learning from other mistakes and successes.

Never discount the learning experience that you can get through teaching girls snowboarding skills. Even the simplest of techniques can be revised and made even simpler with a little practice, so thinking in terms of keeping it simple and real can be a great way to go about teaching your class. Don’t be nervous, either, as girls will catch on to any sort of emotional deviation from the norm and won’t be as confident as you need them to be when you start your class. You need to let every girl in your class know that she has the ability to fly down those hills, take that big air, and get down on those moguls with the prowess of a professional female snowboarder.

Teaching Skills For Life

When you teach girls snowboarding skills, you are also teaching them skills for life because you will be preparing them for what to do when they fall and when they fail at something. Do not let them get too discouraged or alarmed at a mistake but rather encourage them to try it again and to try it again a different way. This is important because adapting to new situations is an integral part of life and it is an integral part of teaching girls snowboarding classes. If you are nervous as their instructor, you could take some hints from their confidence so that they can learn to grow as well.

The best part about teaching girls snowboarding classes is the immense reward of instructing people to a skill and an aptitude that they can use for fun and enjoyment. If you teach them well enough, you might find that you have taught a world champion in the future and that you have laid the foundation for success in girls snowboarding for years to come for that one person. That, in itself, is a great reward and a great reason for getting into teaching of any kind.