World Record Holder Anjali Forber- Pratt may be well known for her sprints in track and field – but she also has an impressive background in skiing. Anjali will also be mentoring disabled athletes including Brad Humphrey, injured in the stage collapse at the Sugarland concert in Indianapolis earlier this year. Anjali describes her motivation in simple terms: Dream. Drive. Do.
"If I can do this, I can do anything!"
DENVER, Dec. 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --The 23rd annual The Hartford Ski Spectacular, an event of Disabled Sports USA (DSUSA), takes place December 4 – 11, 2011 at the Breckenridge Ski Resort and the Beaver Run Lodge. The five-day event, sponsored by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., the founding partner of U.S. Paralympics, is the nation's largest winter sports festival for those with physical disabilities, planning to bring more than 800 participants ranging in ability from first-time skiers to members of the U.S. Adaptive Ski Team (USAST). This is also a signature event for wounded warriors who want to pursue skiing and competitive skiing. Paralympics Champion Anjali Forber-Pratt joins the hundreds of skiers and riders from around the country enjoying a week of skiing and riding, as well as ongoing clinics and races. Although she is a World Record Holder in the 200m in Wheelchair Racing, Forber-Pratt's role at Breckenridge is to mentor athletes in her winter sport – downhill skiing.
Born in Calcutta, India, Forber-Pratt was adopted moving to Natick, Massachusetts. However, two months after arriving in the United States, she contracted transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord and left her paralyzed from the waist down. What some people might view as a tragedy, Forber-Pratt would come to view as a positive life altering event.
"I was exposed to a variety of sports at an early age, but took a strong liking to track, and by time I turned nine was competing at the national level in track and field. Following a crash in a road race where I broke both wrists, I endured a forced hiatus from wheelchair racing. But, I refused to give up competitive sports. I switched to downhill skiing, which was less intensive on my wrists."
One of the athletes Forber-Pratt is to mentor is Brad Humphrey who was injured in the stage collapse at the Sugarland concert in Indianapolis earlier this year. A competitive tennis player prior to his accident, this will be the first time attending the annual Hartford Ski Spectacular. Forber-Pratt hopes to show him changing from one sport, able bodied or not, to another is possible.
Pratt-Forber was the first disabled person to attend the Waterville Valley Academy, the feeder program for Olympic athletes. Most of the other students at the academy at that time were the Olympians for the Vancouver Games. About her competitive skiing years, Forber-Pratt has this to say.
"My most memorable memory was after many first place finishes and basically sweeping the Junior Downhill program races, I placed third in my first outing in the professional level the Columbia Crest Cup at Winterpark, CO.
This was just before the Salt Lake Games, and on the home turf of many of the competitors there. Sara Will, one of my role models when I was learning the sport, now became direct competitors. At the medal ceremony, she greeted me saying, 'welcome to the podium, we expect to see you here more often.' It goes to show how everyone involved is a good sport and helps to develop the sport."
This is also the challenge to thousands of other wounded warriors in this country and around the world. The event is put together by Kirk Bauer, a true war hero. He lost a leg in Vietnam, but refused to let that slow him down. He is the executive director of Disabled Sports USA (DSUSA.org).
The warriors help others who have also suffered. They inspire adaptive or disabled skiers and snowboarders of all ages. They participate in programs around the world. Programs offered at The Hartford Ski Spectacular help to strengthen and expand adaptive ski programs in communities throughout the U.S.; identify and train youth, wounded warriors and others with disabilities who strive to be winter Paralympians; and help local DSUSA chapters improve their services.
A week of ski race training, sponsored by U.S. Paralympics, prepares athletes for the 2011 U.S. Disabled Alpine Ski Championships in Alyeska, Alaska, the 2011 World Championships in Sestriere, Italy, and 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
One of the organizers, Mark McLaughlin, says there are sled hockey and wheelchair curling clinics this year at Breckenridge. This includes a game of wheelchair curling. There are also special classes in Alpine and Nordic Skiing, as well as snowboarding and biathlon.
Most of the participants stay at the Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center. It is a terrific home base for this and other events, with ski in and ski out areas, for all participants. The event is sponsored by The Hartford, with other contributions appreciated. Such support gets tougher each year, as the economy slides. But these warriors deserve your support. It is one of the finest ways you can "thank them for their service."
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The following files are available for download:
| wkr0001.pdf | World Champion Wheelchair Athlete Anjali Forber-Pratt at Hartford Ski Spectacular in Breckenridge |
| [Image] | Anjali Interview on NBC Chicago |