Mono-ski Synchro Team

Vail World Synchro Finals Video Clip Click Here

ELITE SKIERS EMBARK ON DISABLED SYNCHRO TEAM

Imagine flying off a 90 foot jump at high speed, slamming into the ground
on landing and returning to a formation of eight skiers, making intertwined
turns in perfect rhythm all the way down the hill—-each synchronized skier
less than three feet from the other.

Now imagine the same thing….only this time, YOU’RE PARALYZED FROM THE WAIST
DOWN!!

Introducing The White Mountain Adaptive Ski School's TEAM SCREAM, the first
100% mono(sit)ski team to compete in the World Alpine Ski Championships in
the year 2000. The competition, which is seen by millions on global tv,
pits the hottest world-wide demo teams of instructors against each other
for the world crown. Headed up by ten year US Ski Team veteran,
Paralympic, World and National Champ, Chris Devlin-Young, WMASS TEAM SCREAM
has been two years in the making: In 1998, Devlin-Young and Kevin Bramble
became the first disabled competitors in the event. They anchored the
Silver Creek (Co) team to a Combined victory, becoming the first disabled
skiers in athletic history to compete straight-up against an able-bodied
field and win a World Title.

The team finished second in 1999. However, after the event, the judges
encouraged Devlin-Young to bring a 100% monoski team in 2000. "They said I
made some of the best turns in the event. Able-bodied or disabled. They
felt that, if our entire team could ski like that, we could be contenders
for the Overall title. This acceptance is what we have been working
towards for years. The support has been incredible from everyone, starting
with Silver Creek, who believed in us first."

Due to the lack of depth in the ranks of adaptive skiing, there is no ski
area with eight monoskiers/instructors. Although the instructors selected
for WMASS TEAM SCREAM teach at different adaptive ski schools across the
US, they all participate in travelling clinics and camps through-out the
US, working as a whole on behalf of an organizing body or ski school. The
home base for the team, where it will conduct clinics and train, is the
PSIA-recognized WMASS at Loon Mountain NH. In addition to Captain
Devlin-Young, the following instructors comprise TEAM SCREAM:

Kevin Bramble, US Ski Team alumni, 1998 World Synchro Ski Champ,
Bill Bowness, National and World race medals, US Ski Team alumni,
Jim Finch, US Ski Team alumni, 1997 National Slalom Champ,
Sam Ferguson, bumps specialist, half-pipe competitor,
Cris Criswell, White Mountain Adaptive Ski School,
Jay Germaine, Disabled Veteran, ski racer,
Geoff Krill, White Mountain Adaptive Ski School,

Devlin-Young concedes that there are many elements conspiring against this
pioneering team. "It was an impossibility to find eight disabled ski
instructors from one ski school--that simply doesn't exist in adaptive
instruction at this moment in time. Therefore, we are at a disadvantage
because we won’t be able to train as an entire team until just before the
event. Several groups of us will be training together, and the majority
will train at WMASS at Loon, but for the Big Event, lodging and travel
expenses are doubled and we need much more equipment and tech support due
to the stress the monoski places on the snow ski. Raising the money is an
uphill battle, and will continue to be so until the event. So the
selection of team members was key. They have to be mentally tough,
self-motivated and independent, fast learners and have a real feel for the
snow. As the first disabled team, all eyes are gonna be on us—and you only
get one chance to make a first impression."

Despite the hardships, the team has endured. Devlin-Young explains why: "We
want to smash the notion that people with disabilities are fragile" he
explains. But, beyond that, TEAM SCREAM has as its' ultimate goal bringing
global awareness for the recreational outlets available to persons with
disabilities. "We're all instructors, and we want to help spread the
'gospel' of adaptive skiing. We do it for the person sitting in the
hospital, feeling like life is over, jockeying the remote. I want them to
see us flying off a 90 foot jump on tv. 16 years ago, that miserable
patient was me, and if I had seen something like that, it would have saved
me years of heart-ache and bitterness."

Look for Loon's WMASS TEAM SCREAM to "smash notions"(and kick butt) at The
World Alpine Ski Championships April 21st-23rd in Vail, Colorado.

For more info, or to sponsor the not-for-profit team, call DONNA
DEVLIN-YOUNG @ 603.726.0098

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