 Poster: A snowHead
|
My 15year old son, Jaimie, has dyspraxia (lack of co-ordination) and hypotonia (weak muscles) and is going on a school ski trip to Stowe, US at Easter. I wondered if anyone could give us some advice in general about learning to ski with these conditions and especially as to whether he should have any type of adaptive ski equipment (short skis maybe?) or anything special in boots please? Also is there anything we should insist the school explains to the ski instructor?
We want to get him some lessons before he leaves too and wondered if anyone could make any recommendations please? When he was little we used to go to the British Disabled Ski Club (?) sessions at High Wycombe, until it burnt down, though we actually live between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Reading in Berkshire. Our closest dry slopes are probably Aldershot and Bracknell.
Jaimie goes to the gym with a personal trainer to try and strengthen his muscles each week and isn't severely dyspraxic, so we think he can learn to ski with help.
I don't know if any of the instructors that used to help at High Wycombe read this forum, but just in case they do, someone may remember us .... our amazing instructor used to carry Jaimie up the slope all the time because he was too weak then to side step up. He used to help me in the boot room as we struggled to get Jaimie's boots on. I'm very small (just 5ft tall) with lots of dark curly hair and we talked about my Dad who used to swim for GB. The instructor was brilliant and Jaimie has wanted to going skiing for real ever since! He came from the Gloucester area and had daughters who were competitive swimmers, but I can't remember his name unfortunately. If anyone recognises this, please say a big thank you to him from Jaimie and his Mum, Helen. Because of the destruction of the ski slope we never got the chance to say thank you personally and he made the sessions such fun for Jaimie.
Thanks very much for your help.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 23-01-11 20:33; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
HelenS, Welcome to snowHeads!
I can't help with your questions about Jamie's skiing, but I do know that Hemel has been rebuilt into an indoor slope and that a lot of the instructors post here. I'll point one or two in this direction!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
HelenS, Google tells me that there is an adaptive Programme at Stowe, but I can't open the Stowe Ski Resort website www.stowe.com to find out more details. It would be worth contacting them and getting one-on-one adaptive lessons for Jaimie while he's there. One-on-one would be better for him than being in a group lesson as I expect that he will get tired quicker and would need to rest more often.
| Quote: |
we think he can learn to ski with help.
|
For sure, he can... It might take a little longer to get the hang of it but he'll certainly get there.
It helps that he has already done some skiing on a dry slope and lessons before he goes would be good too. As Spyderman, says, contact DSUK at Hemel.
He'll find skiing on real snow much easy than skiing on the dry slope as there is less friction and resistance.
If you have any questions give me a shout.
I hope he has fun!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Thanks for the replies, everyone. It was obviously a bit late last night when I posted though - it was High Wycombe where we skiied with DSUK, not Hemel, sorry!
As it's a school trip I suspect we can't access the adaptive instructor, but I will try to contact Stowe and see what they say. I guess it's just possible as it's the end of the season and they're probably not too busy.
Does anyone know whether Jaimie should have shorter skiis though please - or any other mods to help?
Thanks again
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
HelenS, I tried again to look at the Stowe website, it worked this time... Here's the link to their adaptive page http://www.stowe.com/equipment/lessons/adaptive/
Try talking to your son's school as well as the Stowe Adaptive programme. Hopefully between them they'll be able to sort out some one-on-one adaptive lessons for him.
As for shorter skis or specialised equipment? I wouldn't want to say definitely this or definitely that without having seen your son. You say he's not severely dyspraxic and he's working on building his muscles, so it may be that all you need is an instructor with some understanding of his condition and some patience.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jaimie has just finished a week of private lessons at Aldershot with a great instructor, Adrian, who helps with DSUK sessions there. Jaimie's not using any special equipment and has only really struggled to maintain a strong enough rotation of his right hip for a wide/even snow plough. He is now turning and just loves it! He's using the shortest ski length in the recommended range for his height and that seems to be enough.
We've just started to stay on the slope after his lesson and will build up to 2 hours before he goes. I feel confident he can enjoy the trip with everyone else now and would recommend anyone else with a child in the same situation to give it a go.
I think kids with dyspraxia are so used to feeling uncoordinated that they don't feel any different to usual on a pair of skis (unlike the rest of us!). Jaimie certainly doesn't look any less co-ordinated than other learners at his standard (though it was taken him longer to reach the same level).
Thanks for all your help everyone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HelenS, That's great to hear. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
HelenS, I have a proprioceptive loss that means I'm very similar to Jamie co-ordination wise... I don't have the muscle weakness issues...
It did take me a long time to learn to ski because my instructors had to teach me everything in gory detail and we had to work out how to teach me. However I now ski better than a fair number of the instructors at the place I first learnt to ski and just recently got my first NASTAR platinum medal.
You should try to contact the ski school at Stowe as SaraJ has linked to. In the USA all adaptive ski schools seem to be completely disconnected from the regular ski school but do offer very good rates etc. You will usually need to fill out some sort of paper work including medical information and the resort will give you a special rate on lift tickets also. He may not want to go to a different ski school... in which case try to get him at least to speak to the instructor about his issues... or perhaps the supervisor allocating instructors...
If you cannot get the adaptive guys on board let me know and I'll see if I can find any suggested folks from friends that used to work there.
He should be able to learn to ski fairly well although it will take longer as you have seen. Being a technical sport having to spend time learning is not necessarily a bad thing.
If he does go to regular ski school at Stowe and they take them through the NASTAR course he can be listed as having a disability which will give him a medal a little more easily, the adaptive crew will know all about that I would think.
If he heads to Colorado or Australia ever let us know...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
