Other Disabled Water Ski Information
The following report is by Jim Grew, Chairman of the IWSF Disabled Council. He has also included a section on new records.
1. DISABLED WATER SKI COUNCIL - 1996 Winter Report World Championships The United States' bid to host the 1997 World Disabled Championships was accepted by the IWSF Executive Board and Congress in France. Location and dates are to be determined. Records Since April 15, 14 world records have been set, 8 of them by American skiers. Six of these 8 fell to Ron Williams, FL, a leg amputee with prosthesis and Katie Mawby, MI, partially sighted. Ron is the first disabled athlete to ever run buoys on a 43'(13m) rope in a regulation slalom course and the second to exceed 100' in jumping (5' ramp). Paralympics Rhonda Van Dyk, WSDA president, Bill Furbish, IWSF Disabled Council Paralympic committee chair and Jim Grew, IWSF Disabled Council Chairman met with the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee in Atlanta at the end of October. Our request to be accepted as an exhibition sport in the 1996 Games was denied. Our focus remains on achieving International Paralympic Committee membership (IOC equivalent) and some status at the 2000 Sydney Games. Around the IWSF Regions Pan American Region: Efforts are on-going to encourage participation in Canada. South of the U.S. border, there is little activity if any. The disabled have sufficient difficulty simply maintaining a normal day-to-day existence. European, Middle Eastern and African Region: Three new countries (Israel, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic) have joined the fold. Undergoing testing is a system that would allow visually handicapped athletes to better simulate the slalom event: Pressure of the rope on a specially designed device at a given angle would generate a sound indicating to the skier when to turn. Asian Australasian Region: Pam Carter, IWSF Council member from Singapore, is in the process, a difficult one at that, of organizing a forum for disabled skiers in Taiwan in 1996, under the auspices of the newly formed Asian Water Ski Federation. Materials Compiling a library of materials for the disabled water skier, developing a list of recruitment strategies and finalizing the tournament handbook are in process. 2. RECORDS The following fourteen 1995 performances were approved as world records: NAME/COUNTRY CATEGORY PERFORMANCE EVENT (ROUND) DATE Walmead Record, Milledgeville, GA, USA July 8-9 1. Ron Williams, USA LP 29.4m J (1) July 8 1995 Nationals, Shortline Lake, Elk Grove, CA August 18-20 2. Ron Williams, USA LP 3 @ 13m S (2) August 19 3. Ron Williams, USA LP 32.3m J (1) August 18 4. Ron Williams, USA LP 32.9m J (2) August 20 5. Katie Mawby, USA VHB2/3 168 WS (1) August 18 6. Katie Mawby, USA VHB2/3 340 T (2) August 20 7. Katie Mawby, USA VHB2/3 15.8m J (2) August 20 8. Bill Joyce, USA VHB1 147 WS (1) August 18 1995 Championships, Lac Du Der, France Aug 31-Sept 3 9 . Tomaso Di Pilato, IT VHB1 14.5 J (2) Sept. 3 10. Peter Brepoels, BEL VHB2/3 18.9 J (1) Sept. 1 11. Peter Brepoels, BEL VHB2/3 19.8 J (2) Sept. 3 12. Peter Brepoels, BEL VHB2/3 770 T (1) August 31 13. Steve Armstrong, GB VHB1 540 T (1) August 31 14. Steve Armstrong, GB VHB1 660 T (2) Sept. 3