Adaptive Ski

Written by Susan Janowski-Richey and Lisa Neal • Photography by Lisa Neal (article from the USAWS Water Skier Magazine, March/April 2011 www.usawaterski.org)

Twin Lakes, Wis., has had a long-standing reputation for outstanding fun on the water.  The Aquanut Water Show Team, which makes its home on the shores of Lake Mary in Twin Lakes, has a near 40-year history, marked by outstanding skiing skill and hysterical family entertainment. The team has had many highlights over the years, including state championships and national championships, as well as several individual skier awards.  In 2010 the Aquanut ballet line earned the top award for ballet at the Wisconsin StateShow Ski Championships and the Division 1 Show Ski National Championships.
Each year the Aquanut skiers enjoy the benefit of an organization developed years earlier, one that enables them to spend hours on the water improving skills at building pyramids, swivel skiing and barefooting, among a host of other show skiing acts. The same organization that enables the team hours on the water, also has been instrumental in conducting adaptive aquatics programs for children with disabilities and long-term disease, as well as wounded war veterans. The program provides the opportunity for physically challenged individuals to experience the freedom of water skiing with the help of adaptive equipment and experienced volunteers.

In 1998, Aquanut alumni Susan Janowski-Richey, an occupational therapist by vocation, developed an adaptive aquatics program with training supported by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Dreams for Kids Foundation. Janowski-Richey brought her love for the sport of water skiing through the use of adapted chairs fitted with skis. This program endured funding cuts over the past decade, and nearly faced being dissolved, but the Aquanut Water Shows, Inc., a 501c3 charity, eagerly adopted this worthwhile
program. Over the past 12 years the program has grown in number of participants. During the summer of 2010, there were more than 200 skiers who were members of the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association (GLASA), Adaptive Adventures, One Step Cancer Camp, Wounded Warriors, and Dreams for Kids. This past year, Dreams for Kids termed its day at the Aquanut show site “Extreme Recess,” complete with kayaking, water skiing, tubing and riding wave runners around the lake.

Sergeant Daniel Casara, a former member of the U.S. Army and a participant during the Wounded Warriors’ clinic, spent his time on the water learning to wakeboard. On Sept. 23, 2005, while on a routine mission in Southern Baghdad, Casara was in an M113 armored personal carrier, which rolled over an improvised explosive device causing the tank to flip. Two on board the tank were killed, and four, including Casera, were wounded. Casara, now 33, of University Park, Ill., was in the Brooke Army Medical Center in
San Antonio, Texas from Oct. 1 2005 to Jan. 31 2006. He returned home Feb. 1, 2006. Casara received bilateral fractures in his right tibia and fibula, dislocated his right hip and has a titanium rod in his left leg. Sergeant Casara has had 24 surgeries on his lower extremities after being injured in Iraq. “I never thought I would be in position to do any water sports, especially wakeboarding,” Sgt. Casera wrote in a heartfelt thank you e-mail to the Aquanuts.

Providing this opportunity requires a support team for each skier. Aquanut members provided expertise with “pinning,” the quick release of a rope from the moving boat separating the skier from the boat, and “spotters,” who followed closely on wave runners to assist a skier if needed. A typical clinic day operates with 10 Aquanut volunteers, a perfect chance to share their love
for the water with even more people.