Posted on 04/12/2005 7:28:42 AM PDT by TexKat
Snowmass, Colo. -- April 7, 2005 -- Nicholas Popaditch, a Marine Corps veteran from Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif.,is enjoying the challenge of skiing, and an opportunity for self-development at the 19th National Disabled Veterans Winter Soprts Clinic. The Clinic is taking place April 3 - 8 in Snowmass Village, Colo. Established in 1987, the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic is the largest annual rehabilitation event of its kind in the world. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV).
Popaditch, 37, a combat-wounded veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom, is among more than 300 U.S. military veterans from 47 states who have gathered in Snowmass to learn or improve their skills in adaptive Alpine and Nordic skiing and snowboarding. The Clinic promotes rehabilitation by teaching downhill and cross-country skiing to veterans with significant physical or visual impairments. It also offers a variety of adaptive activities and sports for Popaditch to take part in, including scuba diving, rock climbing, sled hockey, snowmobiling and self-defense. Nearly 50 veterans recently injured in Iraq are participating in the Clinic this year.
Popaditch, is visually impaired, and receives care at the the VA medical facility in Loma Linda, Calif., He is a beginner skier and will snowboard and Alpine (downhill) ski using a 2-track ski (regular Alpine skis and poles) and a sighted guide (Ski descriptions are posted on the Clinic's web site: www.wintersportsclinic.org. See Adaptive Skiing page.)
"I have been excited about everything," said Popaditch, a first-time participant at the Winter Sports Clinic. "I had never been skiing in my life!"
With 1,300 health care facilities across the United States, VA is a recognized leader in rehabilitative and recreational therapies. DAV is a nonprofit, Congressionally chartered veterans service organization with a membership of more than one million wartime disabled veterans. The Winter Sports Clinic provides disabled veterans with sports and leisure activities that they may have felt were closed to them because of their disabilities. All Clinic activities demonstrate that having a physical or visual disability need not be an obstacle to an active, rewarding life.
Note to Editor: Backgroung information is available on the Clinic's web site: www.wintersportsclinic.org If you would like to interview Popaditch, he can be reached after April 11th at (760) 368-1310. For more information about the Winter Sports Clinic please contact Jenny Tankersley, National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic public affairs coordinator at (757) 728-3450.
Good for you nully. Sorry that I did not ping you yesterday.
No problem!
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