Millenial Hope

Peering out the window on this Sunday, the start of daylight savings time, told me the skiing season was over. However, one more day of Adaptive Alpine Skiing was scheduled, and all indications were that Welch Village ski area still had snow. Fortunate for us, as we brought along soda's and the traditional load of weekly chocolate chip cookies, one more day on the slopes with adaptive skiers would provide an example of why we do this every year.

One of the instructors in my certification class in December was a slightly bashful young lad who  struggled a bit with the instructions I gave to demonstrate his skiing ability. Not that he didn't understand them, but he got a little flustered in execution of the maneuvers we use to judge skill level. His equipment was older, and his style was a little rough, so I was concerned about his qualification. He was a freshman college student, unusually serious minded and determined for his age, with a sharp mechanical aptitude. He demonstrated that aptitude to all of us when I asked him to explain the equipment, and when he volunteered his knowledge of medical conditions we might need to accommodate for our clients. The second day of skiing went much better, and by the end of the weekend I was confident in his skiing, and knew he would be a great asset to our team of instructors.

He started the season as a stand-up instructor (teaching clients who can stand on a ski or ski's, as opposed to needing sit-down equipment). The student assigned to him was a young, black, double amputee around 10 or 12 years in age who had come from Africa for medical attention. He had never skied before, but was excited to do something he would never do in his home country. Small and slight in build, he got around quite well on his prosthetics, and seemed to be fairly athletic. A more experienced instructor assigned to work with him determined they should start him on a single ski, using only one of his prosthetics, with the help of outrigger ski's. The program would have recommended starting him out in a bi-ski because of the stress and potential risk of injury that would come from the pressure he would have on his stump. But the team saw his determination and athleticism and decided it was worth the risk if he could catch on fast enough.

After the first two lessons, our young instructor assumed sole responsibility for the student, taking him from the beginner hill and moving him through the skiing progression to increasingly more challenging terrain. By the last Sunday of this season, I watched as he assisted his student through the ski rental process, through the fitting of the equipment, and through the attachment of his prosthetic. Out on the ski hill I was surprised to see the student confidently skiing down stretches of steep runs with the freshman instructor in tow shouting words of encouragement. I couldn't believe that in seven short lessons this adaptive skier would go from learning to balance on a ski with one leg to a competent blue and even black run skier. His instructor beamed with pride, though modestly taking little credit for the accomplishment, giving it all to his student. That kind of humble compassion and determination on the part of a young millennial gives me great hope for the coming generations.

The Freshman and his first year student