NEW GLOUCESTER – On a recent winter day at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, a group of cross country skiers gathered at the Oak Hill trail to enjoy the cold morning by gliding across the fresh coat of snow that had fallen the night before.
It’s not really that unusual of a scene, Pineland’s trails are a popular destination for cross country skiers from all over. What made this group of skiers different is the fact that they were all hitting the trails as part of a new adaptive cross country ski program designed to help disabled veterans stay active by trying a sport that they may have thought was impossible for them.
The program is the brainchild of Raymond’s Kristina Sabasteanski, a two-time Olympic biathlete, who came up with the idea during an internship at the Togus VA Medical Center after she completed her degree in occupational therapy.
Sabasteanski said that during that internship, she discovered the Paralympic Military Sports Camp. “It introduces veterans with disabilities to 10 different sports in a short period of time,” Sabasteanski explained. “I just saw the difference in four days, getting veterans together and people seeing other veterans that have the same injuries, but were able to do things that they thought they weren’t able to do yet. They were inspiring each other. And at the end of that four days, it was a transformation.”
That experience led Sabasteanski, who is a veteran of the Army and the Vermont National Guard herself, to try and come up with a similar program to help veterans, and with her background, cross country skiing was a natural fit. “I love skiing, and I thought ‘what a great way to give back’,” she said.
Sabasteanski participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and while she didn’t finish in the medals, she was the top American biathlete in 1998. “It was amazing, a dream come true,” she said of her Olympic experience, which was made possible by the Army World Class Athlete Program, an Army program that provides soldier-athletes support and training to compete in national and international competitions leading to the Olympics.
Thanks to a grant from the United States Olympic Committee by way of the Department of Defense, Sabasteanski was able to set up the ski program through the auspices of the New England Nordic Ski Association. The free program is open to any level of skier. “We have first-timers, people who have skied before their injuries, just all levels,” Sabasteanski said.
While the program is geared to helping disabled veterans, Sabasteanski said that any veteran could come out and help. “If you are functioning or have less injuries, you can volunteer (to help the other skiers),” she said. “It’s a great chance to get out in the winter.”
The program began in January, and through word of mouth, a small group has started coming to the weekly sessions at Pineland, held every Wednesday morning from 9 a.m. until about noon.
Dick Mynahan, a veteran from Lewiston who is not disabled, heard about the program through friends and he wanted to come out and lend a hand. “I think it’s really valuable to the veterans that come out here,” Mynahan said. “It gives them the opportunity to have a little fun. You can really see some marked improvement (in the skiers).”
One of Mynahan’s friends, Portland’s Lou Albert, also decided to do what he could to help other veterans. Albert said that the program was especially valuable in helping veterans realize that they could still be active in a sport that they may have thought was lost to them due to their disability.
“You get them out in the elements, you get them out into the environment, they see snow and trails and they think ‘I wonder if I could?’ And they realize that they can,” Albert said. “It’s an unbelievable opportunity for anyone, not just necessarily anyone who was a cross country skier or downhill skier in past history before they became disabled.”
One of those veterans who has taken advantage of the opportunity to get back into the sport is Durham’s Rocky League, who was in his second session with Sabasteanski. League said he really enjoys the program. “I feel great,” he said, while waiting his turn to shoot at targets with a laser rifle, part of a biathlon simulation developed by Sabasteanski.
League, a Navy veteran, has multiple sclerosis, and he was skiing on a special rig called a “slider,” an adaptive device that helps skiers with balance issues. “I used to cross country and downhill ski about 20 years ago, and I came down with MS and slowly it’s taken my legs from me,” League said. “(But) I still have to stay active, still have to stay on my feet. I got some information from Togus about the program, and I had to give it a try.”
Doing more than just giving it a try, League has started to make some progress in just his short time in the program. He said the first time he went out, he fell several times, but this time, with the help of the slider, he made it through the entire loop with the rest of the group without a slip. “It feels fantastic,” he said. “I wanted to get out and do something in the winter instead of being housebound and this is the avenue for it and they find a way for me to do it.”
And while the main point of the program is to get veterans out and teach them a new way that they can stay active, there is another benefit, one that became crystal clear watching the men take their turns with the laser rifle. They were helping each other out and trading jokes and laughing, and it was clear to see that a strong bond was forming. “It’s been amazing,” Sabasteanski said. “Just a lot of fun.”
And that fun is what keeps veterans like League coming back to Pineland every week. “This is one of the things I miss most about the military, the camaraderie,” he said. “We get together, there’s no strangers here. We’ve never met each other, but we’re all friends. We’ve all got something in common.”
For more information on the program, e-mail Sabasteanski at Kristina@nensa.net or call 310-8694.
With the winter wonderland of Pineland Farms as a backdrop, theSend questions/comments to the editors.
