Tag Archive for: adaptive skiing

Pat McCloskey

Fast Freddie

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Blind Skier Inspired All Who Knew Him.

Fast Fred Siget on the left with Pat McCloskey, center, and friend at a long ago National Blind Skiing Championships.

 

The first time I skied with Fred Siget was in Snowshoe, WV, with Larry Walsh of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. This was my maiden voyage guiding a visually impaired skier. I had Fred, the first blind skier in our area, in front of me. Right turn, left turn, right turn, stay, stay. All of a sudden the only tree around popped up right in front of us as I yelled “Crash,” and Fred sat down as he ran into it.  I felt so bad, but Fred dusted himself off with a smile and said, “Pat, don’t worry about it at all. This will be one of many.” And we continued down the slope. This began a 40-year friendship with the one and only Fast Freddie Siget.

Fred lost his vision as a result of an accident with a high pressure hose when he was a volunteer fireman. As devastating as this injury was, he was undaunted. He became the first visually impaired computer programmer for Koppers Corporation. He continued dancing, and he learned to ski with guys like Larry Walsh, Jim Conley, Lynne (Kravetz) Hartnett, Shorty Leco and Micky Hutchko.

Fred always had ideas on how to make things easier for blind skiers and how to improve guiding techniques. He had a transmitter rig where the guide used a microphone and Freddie had an ear piece which made calling out commands easier and more understandable.

Once I used the transmitter while standing on top of a slope, calling commands to Fred as he skied by himself down to the chairlift. With his “Blind Skier” jacket on, people were shocked viewing his run. In the bar afterwards, we had some fun with Herman Dupre the owner of Seven Springs Mountain Resort. I put the microphone on and guided Fred over in front of Herman and told him to tell Herman how much he admired his red flannel shirt. Herman was stunned and later remarked to me laughing that he was starting to “get hot thinking about all the free passes I gave to Fred and now he is telling me how much he likes my shirt!” Hilarious.

Fred was always anxious to help new guides. He put himself at risk during the training but always felt that it was worth it not only to train guides that could assist him, but to help the other visually impaired skiers who were beginning to show up at BOLD (Blind Outdoor Leisure Development) outings at Seven Springs.

Perhaps the most compelling thing about Fred was his kindness and appreciation for his fellow skiers and guides. He always remembered your birthday and when he called me, he sang, “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, get plastered, you bastard, Happy Birthday to you.”

He was popular for his skiing for sure, but as a person, you could not get a better guy who was always interested in others and never talked much about himself.

We lost Fred this fall at 94 years of age. He had an amazing life, and we will miss him. Fred never let his accident slow him down. He always said that he did more as a visually impaired individual than he ever did before losing his sight. He took a perceived bad thing and turned it into opportunity. Shouldn’t we all learn from that lesson?

mikemaginn

Coming Back From Injury: Avoid One-Sidedness

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Adaptive Ski Instructor Provides Advice on Predictable Issues for Returnees

Alisa Anderson, Smuggler’s Notch’s (VT) adaptive skiing program manager, is a highly-specialized PSIA instructor who, over the past 20 years, has applied techniques and tools for skiers of all kinds who need a little extra help getting down the mountain.

Adaptive Ski Instructor Alisa Anderson guides a student on the "Snow Slider" at Smuggler's Notch. Credit: Alisa Anderson

Adaptive Ski Instructor Alisa Anderson guides a student on the “Snow Slider” at Smuggler’s Notch.
Credit: Alisa Anderson

She trained at the National Sports Center for the Disabled, Winter Park, CO, where she learned how to use bi-skis, mono-skis, and outriggers. At Smuggler’s Notch, she purchased a “Snow Slider” which is basically a walker on skis. While these tools are mostly used with people who have chronic physical disabilities, she also helps people who can ski on their own skis get back to skiing after injury, accident, or knee, hip or shoulder replacement.

“It’s important that people coming back from an injury take a lesson from a trained instructor,” said Alisa. “One reason is to help them get through the natural apprehension that you’d expect after being through major surgery and a year or so of rehab. The other reason is to spot and correct physical mistakes before they become habits.”

Most people coming back after rehabilitation, she said, will clearly favor the healing side. “It’s natural. There’s been a trauma to the area, and the body wants to ‘save’ that side. What you see are people not pressing the ski on that side or being very tentative about flexing.” That stiffness is risky because the skier doesn’t have bi-lateral control.

People aren’t even aware they are favoring one side, she said. That’s where coaching comes in.

“If they continue to be stiff and one-sided, they are going to form some bad behaviors. Stiff muscles lead to fatigue, and the risk of injury goes up,” she said. “They need to be constantly in motion.”

The solution is for the instructor to give the student skier active feedback on what she sees. “Basically, I remind the student to focus on keeping pressure on the front of the boot and weight on the ball of the foot. It’s really back to the basics. It’s important for the skier to loosen up, extend, get tall and bend their joints into through the turn.”

Alisa says that one lesson might be all a skier needs, others, maybe a couple more. “Most people get it pretty quickly. It’s just a matter of getting through the first days doing it right.”

Alisa knows what she is talking about. In addition to her experience as an adaptive ski instructor, she’s also recovering from ACL reconstructive surgery. “I have to wear a brace. It reminds me all the time about what it’s like to be rehabbing. Sometimes, I don’t like wearing it, but I do it, and I’m still skiing.”