{"id":8736,"date":"2009-12-15T20:39:10","date_gmt":"2009-12-16T01:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=8736"},"modified":"2009-12-15T21:43:32","modified_gmt":"2009-12-16T02:43:32","slug":"physically-challenged-rowers-compete-for-spot-on-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/12\/15\/physically-challenged-rowers-compete-for-spot-on-national-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Physically challenged rowers compete for spot on national team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Physically challenged rowers compete for spot on national team
\nAthletes row despite disabilities<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Pamela LeBlanc
\nAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
\nDecember 12, 2009<\/p>\n

They surge down Lady Bird Lake, a synchronized mass of rippling muscle and
\nfierce expressions against slate blue water.<\/p>\n

Reminders of the challenges they face \u2014 prosthetic legs and an attentive
\nguide dog \u2014 stay on shore.<\/p>\n

Out here, oars dipping and bodies pushing, they’re athletes with a common
\ngoal: to make the U.S. National Team and row at the 2012 Paralympic Games in
\nLondon.<\/p>\n

Disabilities don’t matter any more than the rain that’s driving down,
\nsoaking them from head to toe.<\/p>\n

For three days, rowers from around the country have convened at the Texas
\nRowing Center for a development camp co-sponsored by the U.S. Olympic
\nCommittee-Paralympic Division and United States Rowing. It’s a chance for
\ncoaches who will make team selections in June to see who’s out there.<\/p>\n

Austin, with its mild climate and scenic river, is one of three centers in
\nthe United States for Paralympic rowing.<\/p>\n

Diane McDiarmid , a former academic at the University of Kansas with a
\nbackground in social work, started the adaptive program at Texas Rowing
\nCenter a year ago after noticing she never saw people with physical
\ndisabilities on the water. A rower herself, who once headed a program for
\nhomeless people with all types of mental and physical disabilities, she
\napproached Matt Knifton, owner of the Texas Rowing Center, with a plan.<\/p>\n

Today, the center’s Row For All program teaches injured military veterans,
\nstudents from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Texas
\nSchool for the Deaf, and others with physical challenges how to row. The
\nparticipants don’t have to pay to be in the program, which is funded through
\ngrants and donations.<\/p>\n

“It provides people with the opportunity to find direction, work on their
\nhealth and wellness. It really changes a person’s identity from a disabled
\nperson to an athlete,” McDiarmid says.<\/p>\n

Knifton agrees.<\/p>\n

“We’re a parks and recreation concession, and one of our missions is to
\nserve everybody in the community,” he says. “Our goal is to be the most
\ninclusive boat facility in the country.”<\/p>\n

In the adapted rowing program, it doesn’t matter if you’re missing an arm or
\nleg or if you’ve got a head injury. Equipment is modified, goals are set,
\nskills are learned.<\/p>\n

This day, with National Paralympic coaches Karen Lewis and Pat Brown looking
\non, everyone wants to row their best.<\/p>\n

Natalie McCarthy, 22, came all the way from Seattle for the camp. It’s the
\nthird time she’s tried for the team. As she powers down the river with eight
\nother hopefuls, her guide dog Gazette waits patiently at the dock.<\/p>\n

McCarthy lost her sight 12 years ago, during surgery to remove a brain
\ntumor. She learned to row five years ago. “I had to learn in a very
\ndifferent way \u2014 through verbal direction as opposed to watching experienced
\nrowers,” she says. Early on, that was a disadvantage. Today, she says, it
\nmakes no difference.<\/p>\n

What does matter is focusing on form and visualizing every second of a race.<\/p>\n

A Spanish interpreter for a Washington law firm, McCarthy knows she must
\nperfect her stroke in order to make the team. That means using her outside
\narm more when she pulls, keeping the oar’s blade buried in the water longer
\nand comfortably rowing 1,000 meters in 3 minutes and 45 seconds.<\/p>\n

She’s optimistic but not cocky.<\/p>\n

Just getting invited to camp was an accomplishment. Each athlete had to
\nfigure out how to row, despite physical limitations. Each had to qualify
\nbased on how well they rowed on an ergometer, or erg, a land-based rowing
\nmachine.<\/p>\n

“Rowing is all about balance, so being an amputee presents a challenge,”
\nMcDiarmid says.<\/p>\n

Kara Roth, 50, of Spring Branch, says it’s simple. If you’re missing a leg
\nlike she is, you have to make up for it through sheer strength. Roth
\nseverely injured her right leg in a horseback riding accident as a teenager.
\nSix years ago, doctors attempted knee replacement surgery. It failed, and
\ntwo years ago she had the limb amputated.<\/p>\n

Today she works as a recreational assistant at the Center for Intrepid, a
\nrehabilitation facility at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. She
\nstarted rowing last year, and comes to Austin twice a month for training.<\/p>\n

“It builds core strength I need for walking with a prosthetic,” she says.
\nShe’s hopeful of making the national team, too. “I’m on the older side, but
\nI figure if there’s a window of opportunity it’s now, so here I am in the
\nrain. Seize the opportunity!”<\/p>\n

Pat Font, 28, of New Jersey, lost his leg below the knee in a car accident
\nin 2005. The former high school athlete saw a flier about adaptive rowing at
\nhis doctor’s office and signed up for a lesson. His biggest challenge?
\nLimited range of motion in both legs.<\/p>\n

“I thought, ‘This is a chance for me to get back into competitive sports,’ ”
\nhe says.<\/p>\n

He paid his way to Austin for the development camp, which was free for
\ninvited athletes, his hopes high for making the national team. “If I don’t
\nmake the team, I’m going to work my hardest attempting to,” he says.<\/p>\n

The team, when chosen, will train in California and compete at the World
\nChampionships in New Zealand before focusing on the Paralympic Games\u00a0in
\nLondon in three years.<\/p>\n

It won’t be easy to get there.<\/p>\n

The rain keeps coming. The rowers keep sweeping, water streaming down their
\nbacks and faces.<\/p>\n

pleblanc@statesman.com; 445-3994<\/p>\n

Source:
\nhttp:\/\/www.austin360.com\/recreation\/physically-challenged-rowers-compete-for-spot-on-national-116181.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Physically challenged rowers compete for spot on national team Athletes row despite disabilities By Pamela LeBlanc AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF December 12, 2009 They surge down Lady Bird Lake, a synchronized mass of rippling muscle and fierce expressions against slate blue water.…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[21,2424,2419,24,511,2420,2417,17,2421,2422,604,2423,2418],"class_list":["post-8736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-austin","tag-blind","tag-brooke-army-medical-center","tag-deaf","tag-disabilities","tag-national-paralympic","tag-paralympic-games","tag-texas","tag-texas-rowing-center","tag-texas-school-for-the-blind-and-visually-impaired","tag-texas-school-for-the-deaf","tag-u-s-national-team","tag-world-championships"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-2gU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42947,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2022\/04\/28\/tsd-students-represent-team-u-s-a-at-the-2021-summer-deaflympic-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":8736,"position":0},"title":"TSD STUDENTS REPRESENT TEAM U.S.A. 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