Here are some pictures Donelle took of Brian shooting his bow, and Dave shooting Brian. Summer, 2004

New Faces

New CAWV Pro Instructor-Jeremy Green

Jeremy Green is 19 years old from Clarksburg, West Virginia. He attended Fairmont State College in the fall, and plans to finish college at Valley Forge Christian College for Youth Ministries. Jeremy is single and his girlfriend is Erica Cochran from Front Royal Virginia. Jeremy's hobbies are football and snowboarding.

Jeremy will be working with skiers and snowboarders from all the disability groups. Jeremy's reflections on his tenure with the program so far are very positive. Jeremy says that "the resort and people are the greatest and the experiences with the program have taught me a lot about life."

Jeremy is a great addition to the program and exhibits maturity and insight that you wouldn't expect in such a young man. He has a friendly way with students and inspires confidence in everyone he works with. Please extend Jeremy a warm welcome this season and spend some time with him on the snow when you have the opportunity.

Brianna James

Brianna James hails from Melbourne, Australia and will be assisting Challenged Athletes of West Virginia as an instructor during her college break. She is 21 years old and a student at Victoria University where she is studying Human Movement. She will pursue her Masters Degree in Exercise Rehab next year. She will be working with the Adaptive Program through the end of March. She has learned many things under Dave's tutelage and exclaims that "Snow is good, trees are bad!" Welcome to West Virginia and CAWV Brianna!


Notes from Challenged Athletes of WV Fundraising Meeting

Beth Gardner - Dec. 3, 2003

The WVCCC will work on marketing for 2 events for the Challenged Athletes of WV program. The first event is taking place in January. January 8-10 is Motorsports Weekend. On January 12th, Kyle Petty and five other Coca Cola team NASCAR drivers will be at Snowshoe to sign autographs and to participate in cardboard box races. The proceeds will benefit the Challenged Athletes of WV program as well as the Victory Junction Foundation, which is run by Kyle Petty. With this event only one month away, we will have to move quickly to market this event.

The second event will be a bike-a-thon where the challenged athletes will bike the entire length of the Greenbrier River Trail. This will be held in either August or September of 2004. It will be a relay event with each rider biking 10-mile segments. Each rider will obtain sponsors that will pledge a donation to the program. After each rider completes his or her segment of the trail, they will be transported by vehicle to the finish line area. We will have a tent with food, games, and perhaps music. For the last mile of the trail, all of the challenged athletes will join the final riders as they all cross the finish line. There they will all participate in a cook out with their families and the event coordinators and guests. We may even have other teams participating to complete the challenge. We could have a WVCCC team with 8 or 9 riders. We could challenge other agencies to participate. Each person could get 5 or 6 sponsors. If we get lots of people involved, this has the potential to generate substantial funds.

We will also work with Dave McDowell, Doc, and Calvin to get a new building for the program. Dave McDowell has committed to providing the shell of a timber home to David Begg for the program. Doc and Calvin could help them finish the inside. We could also get Jean Ambrose involved with AmeriCorps crews to help with the labor. We will need to raise $40,000 to finish the building. I will set up a meeting with Dave McDowell, Doc, and Calvin for the week of January 12th.

We will also look at finding corporate sponsorship for some of their other events. For the Chili Cook-Off in July we could use corporate sponsorships to provide tee shirts and hats, thereby saving the Challenged Athletes Program those funds. After meeting with and approving our participation with Joe Stevens of Snowshoe, Beth will contact other partners who might be able to help. They include:




Brandi and Brian Compete

Brandi Garrett and Brian Woodyard
competed in the Marine Corp Marathon
on October 26, 2003 in Washington DC.
There were 18,000 runners and 10 in the
mens and womens wheelchair group.
Brandi finished second and both CAWV
members finished the marathon in under
three hours.


Brandi commented, "I think it was awesome
and I cannot wait to do another one! I trained hard and Dave (Begg) helped me. It was lots of fun."


Positive Training

By Kate Abney



     This has been an exciting year for training in the Snowshoe Adaptive Skiing and Snowboard Department. The November training session welcomed over 30 volunteers and one of our first snowstorms.

      The first training session of the year has proven to be effective in many ways. This is a time to welcome back our "old" volunteers and invite the new. It is a time to reevaluate our successes and decide where we need to improve. This year our topics for discussion were policies and procedures within our department (an oldie but a goodie), fitting for the mono-ski, tethering and use of ski tip stabilizer, working with persons with Down Syndrome and other medical issues. New this year was a discussion led by Brandi Garrett on communication "etiquette" with people with disabilities and a discussion on Autism led by Kent Moreno, Director of the WV Autism Training Center.

     Two on snow training clinics were held in December, the first one held at Snowshoe, was primarily with the Wintergreen Adaptive Teaching Staff. The second on snow clinic was held at Silvercreek specifically for the CAWV volunteers. Again we had an overwhelming turnout of people. The mountain was completely covered with snow, and we were able to train with all of the different types of equipment. Personal skiing, mono-ski, bi-ski, and three track skiing sessions were held throughout the two-day clinic. However, the training did not end in December. Anyone who is a regular weekend volunteer has been a part of the afternoon clinics. We are thrilled by the interest and enthusiasm by all of our staff. Each weekend Dave, Nathan, and Jeff hold training sessions. Whether it is sessions on personal skiing, tethering, or bi-skiing, the volunteers are eager to learn and become proficient in their teaching methods. For this very reason we believe this year has been the year of "Positive Training".



Service Dogs

     Service dogs work for a wide range of people with disabilities. They can be used for people in wheelchairs, people who need support for walking, and people who have seizures. Most service dogs can be recognized by a harness and identification. Many people ask what does a service dog do? These dogs can do almost anything they are trained to. The most common service dog skills are:

  • Picking up items, usually as small as a dime or paperclip

  • Fetching items, like the phone, TV remote, wheelchair, etc
  • Opening doors
  • Pushing buttons (elevator/automatic doors etc.)
  • Turning on/off light switches (better than a remote!)
  • Paying cashiers
  • Opening cabinets and retrieving items out of them
  • Pulling/pushing small items like a laundry basket
  • Carrying packages, bags etc.
  • Helping people dress/undress
  • Pulling up/down the blankets on a bed
  • Whatever other creative things you want to teach your dog!
     Watching these dogs work is very exciting, however there are a few rules people should be aware of when around people with service dogs. The most important rule is No Petting. Service dogs need to concentrate on their person and any interaction by a third party takes their concentration away. Additionally, if everyone was allowed to pet the dogs they would be difficult for the person to handle. It is also a good idea not to talk with the dogs or distract them in any way. The less amount of interaction you have with the dog the better. People with service dogs are usually happy to answer any questions you may have about them. Do not be afraid to introduce yourself to the person and ask them about the dog. They will appreciate your asking and not petting the dog. So go out and enjoy watching these wonderful dogs work!

Submitted by Brandi Garrett