SPORTS 'N SPOKES

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Freedom is Here

Sometimes it's difficult to escape the wheelchair, even during sports/rec activities. But a few allow you to venture beyond the spokes and wheels.

A ski boat takes a turn around the lake at SeaWorld San Antonio, and an ecstatic novice skier blasts through the wake while two outriders hold him in place. Others watch and wait their turn to be free for even a few moments from the shore and their physical challenges.

For 19 years, All Can Ski, a program of the nonprofit San Antonio Sports, has provided an opportunity for novices to experience water-skiing. The program now takes place for three days in August and includes special sessions just for kids and wounded military members undergoing rehabilitation in San Antonio.

Thanks to a grant from the Circle Bar Foundation of San Antonio, nearly 100 people got a chance to water-ski, some for the first time, with the aid of special adaptive equipment.

Event coordinator Ross Davis, a Paralympic gold medalist and San Antonio Sports marketing director, says the event has grown every year, and experienced volunteers keep returning to make it possible for anyone to get out on the water.

"The event T-shirt this year says 'Skiing is Freeing,' and that's kind of the gist of it," says Davis, who has been involved with All Can Ski since 1995. "It's a big deal, and we've provided an environment where we can put someone in the water and guarantee success with anything from what's basically a modified lawn chair that you can't fall out of to a boom."

Skiing Again

Ben Baltz watches other skiers whiz by while waiting his turn and recalls the first time he skied at age 5 near his home outside Destin, Fla. A year later he was diagnosed with a bone cancer called osteosarcoma, which led to the amputation of the lower half of his leg. But by age 9, the young athlete was ready to give his barely remembered ski experience another go. His father, airline pilot and triathlete J.C. Baltz, got him on a flight to San Antonio for All Can Ski.

Now 10, Ben returned, eager to make water-skiing a regular pastime. After his first go-round, he runs his fingers through damp hair and talks about playing with toys, his new soccer team, swimming with his family, and what it's like "living in the middle of nowhere." But skiing holds a different allure for the fifth grader: speed.

"I wanted to ski again," he says. "It's a lot of fun, and I really like going fast behind the boat."

J.C. says Ben doesn't let his amputation hold him back, and he encourages him to seek out new challenges. In March, Ben was snow-skiing on a kneeboard while still undergoing chemotherapy. "We haven't let him say, 'No, I can't do that.'"

Check out the complete article in the November 2011 issue of S'NS.

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