Adaptive Sports and Recreation in WNY- Talking to Athletes

Four Western New York athletes, Steve Spitz, Emily Keicher, Kate Hahn and Adam Page, discuss their pathway to adaptive/inclusive sports, the multiple sports they enjoy and what keeps them in adaptive sports.  Host: Jeanne Langan, Department of Rehabilitation Science, UB.

The Adaptive Sports and Recreation in WNY podcast was created to share experiences and expertise of athletes, their families and community organizations on adaptive sports and recreation in WNY. Episodes will highlight different perspectives on adaptive and inclusive sports and recreation in WNY. This podcast is a collaboration between Greater Buffalo Adaptive sports and the Department of Rehabilitation Science at the University at Buffalo. 

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Transcript

 Episode 1 - Talking to Athletes Podcast

Fri, 6/24 1:13PM • 26:11

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

sports, adaptive, people, wheelchair, played, western new york, started, buffalo, adaptive sports, wheelchair basketball, athletes, recreation, friends, community, horseback riding, ski, sailing, watersports, involved, fun

SPEAKERS

Kate Hahn, Emily Keicher, Jeanne Langan, Adam Page, Steve Spitz

Steve Spitz  00:03

Hey everyone. Welcome to the adaptive sports and recreation in Western New York podcast. We're going to share some experiences and expertise of local athletes, their families and community organizations.  Our discussions are going to range from league sport competitions to weekend fun with family and friends. We're coming to you from Buffalo, New York, city of good neighbors, great year-round recreation and definitely play hard attitude.

Jeanne Langan  00:41

Hello, I'm Jeanne Langan. I'm excited to host the first episode of Athletes Talk: Adaptive and Inclusive Sports and Recreation in Western New York. Sports and recreation add so much to our lives: fun, camaraderie, fitness, just to name a few of the benefits. Giving everyone the ability and opportunity to compete or participate is the foundation for adaptive and inclusive sports and recreation. And with this podcast, I'm really happy that a larger audience has the opportunity to learn from the athletes here today. This podcast is a collaboration between the Rehabilitation Science Department at the University at Buffalo and the Western New York community. We have four athletes from Western New York and our roundtable discussion. Steve Spitz, Emily Keicher, Kate Hahn, Adam Page. I'm going to ask each athlete to tell us a bit about themselves and share what drew them to their sports and their pathway to getting involved.

Steve Spitz  01:31

I'm Steve, I'm a wheelchair user of 32 years now and I was injured in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in spinal cord injury. I got involved in wheelchair basketball and a variety of wheelchair sports very soon after my accident, and this gave me the, you know, kind of the push, so to speak, continue on and to get integrated back in the community.

Jeanne Langan  01:51

Great. Emily.

Emily Keicher  01:53

My name is Emily and I was born with spina bifida. I really wanted to be an active girl, but I was like, how could I get involved in all these sports? And my parents and I, we just found all these sports and I just love playing them.

Jeanne Langan  02:10

That's great. Kate.

Kate Hahn  02:12

My name is Kate and I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 19, wheelchair user for about 12 years. Before I was on a wheelchair, I played a bazillion sports, so I think these adaptive sports just help me to continue to do that, but just in a different way.

Jeanne Langan  02:29

Adam. 

Adam Page  02:30

I’m Adam. I was born with spina bifida and I'm a three-time Paralympic gold medalist for sled hockey, and I also co-founded the Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports Foundation. We are able to give disabled athletes the opportunity to participate in adaptive sports.

Jeanne Langan  02:47

I'm especially excited to have all of you here because you're not single sport players. I'm going to ask you to go back through and list all the sports you've played in Western New York, just so people get a chance to understand how much is available. Adam let's start with you.

Adam Page  03:05

I started off playing Challenger baseball. I did Lothlorien horseback riding when I was younger. Of course, sled hockey. I've done the downhill skiing at holiday valley with the Lounsbury program and just recently started playing wheelchair football and then also play wheelchair lacrosse as well.

Jeanne Langan  03:26

Excellent. Kate.

Kate Hahn  03:29

I have done a lot of watersports. Kayaking, tubing, water skiing, and I also did riding at Lothlorien and the adaptive ski program at Holiday Valley as well.

Jeanne Langan  03:43

Emily.

Emily Keicher  03:44

Well, I do adaptive swimming, wheelchair basketball, adaptive wheelchair lacrosse, adaptive baseball, and I'm about to do adaptive and wheelchair tennis.

Jeanne Langan  03:55

Awesome. Steve.

Steve Spitz  03:57

So, I'm not originally from Buffalo but moving to Buffalo, I got involved in the wheelchair basketball team here and managed them for about 13, 14 years. We had a wheelchair tennis program going here. Adaptive cycling, waterskiing, snow skiing, do some camping in Western New York as well. I just started with the football team here locally, also. I just sort of dabble and I try to I try everything I can get involved in.

Jeanne Langan  04:26

Great! How did you find your way to your sports? Emily, you had mentioned that your parents kind of helped you get started?

Emily Keicher  04:33

Yeah. Well, for wheelchair basketball, for instance, I actually played in Rochester and I really liked it, but I wanted to do something that was close to home. So, I was like, why don't I make my own wheelchair basketball team and have my friends who are and who aren't disabled in it, because I want everybody to be included because that's what these sports are all about, having everybody disabled or not disabled, mental or physical disabilities included.

Jeanne Langan  05:01

That's great. And thank you for bringing up that some of the things we're talking about are inclusive sports, whereas other things are adaptive.

Emily Keicher  05:09

For me, adaptive means that you have to adapt it to yourself, but inclusive means it already has been adapted for you.

Jeanne Langan  05:17

I like that. That’s great. And so, Emily and Adam probably had help getting into sports with their parents, but Kate …

Kate Hahn  05:26

I always went horseback riding as a kid and loved it. I was just looking for things that I could do, and actually asked for it for my birthday once as a full-grown adult. I just found this, and I just had everybody in my family say, “If you want to get me a gift, you don't have to, but you can all chip in and do this”. And so that's how I went horseback riding. And the watersports is all pretty much Steve. I met him and he voiced that he participates and leads some of them. I just jumped in on that and loved it. And the skiing, I don’t remember how. I think I’m just always looking for things to do and somehow it must have just been mentioned by somebody and I took advantage of that and looked into it and jumped in on it as well.

Steve Spitz  06:20

I have to agree. Once you take that first step, and whether it's word of mouth, or you searching out for different, you know, recreation and sports, that's kind of how it worked for me. You know, the wheelchair basketball, when I was injured was the most prevalent wheelchair sport around. Most of the small mid-sized cities had one and in larger as well. And from there, there's word of mouth. You get involved in the sports community and you either, as Emily and Adam did, to some extent, you create another sport. You round up some people to get involved, or you just you seek it out, you know, within your geographical areas so you can participate.

Jeanne Langan  07:12

Great. And so you started a couple of your own sports. How did you get started and how did you grow it?

Steve Spitz  07:22

Putting the pieces together, you know, with other members of the community. You know, I’ve been in the disabled community for so long now, you get to know other people, and they came to me and, you know, with the Water Sports Foundation, you know, Water Sports Association, you know, we just decided that with all the beautiful waterways we have around here, it made sense. I had some prior experience in waterskiing. I took on that activity and just, you know, kind of took off from there.

Jeanne Langan  07:51

Great. And Adam you co-founded the Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports. How did that come to be?

Adam Page  08:00

So, after I actually came back from Vancouver in 2010, I was lucky enough to meet a family that their child was just born with spina bifida. And I didn't realize this at the time, but while I was leading up to the Paralympics, in 2010, the family was in the Ronald McDonald House here in Buffalo and kind of was following my story in the newspaper articles and was saving everything. And when I came home, a family friend said we’re having a fundraiser and they called us and said, “Would you like to go and meet the family?” And of course, we said yes, we would love to. And so we went down and met the family and I think at that point we kind of realized what impact I could have on, you know, the community and not just, you know, one person but a whole disabled community in general. So that kind of sparked the idea of starting what was the Sled Hockey Foundation back then. But then we kind of realized that not everybody is going to like sled hockey, and then to be able to service more athletes in the community we rebranded and kind of expanded the sports that we offer.

Jeanne Langan  09:18

Right. And so I'm hearing a lot of you pull others into the sports that you're in. How do you reach out to other people and if you are suggesting to the community to get involved, how to get involved in the sport, I should say.

Emily Keicher  09:36

For some sports, a lot of men are playing, but women, they don't think they can actually play sports. But as matter of fact, you can. So, you guys just need to reach out for like family and friends, and they can get you started.  And for me, when I get all my friends recruited, they were from school or from what my parents, my parents knew their parents. So, they reached out to them. And so, everybody can play even if you guys don't think you can. You can create your own team. You can create your own sport. You just have to dream it and make it happen.

Jeanne Langan  10:16

Others, how do you bring people in or suggestions for getting involved?

Steve Spitz  10:22

I think it's, you know, the obvious is these days, it's so much easier with the internet, you know, to reach out and get some collaboration. Back in the day, it was kind of, you know, going. It was actually pounding the pavement. Going to different, you know, organizations and leaving flyers, talking to people, spreading the word, you know, one team, I remember trying to steal people from the sled hockey team. Yeah, yeah, it's much easier now, because there's so much more interconnectedness. But, you know, it's just trying to do the best you can with the word out there. There's this new sport, organization, whatever you want to call it, forming for recreation and give it a try.

Jeanne Langan  11:16

I'm curious, Kate, what did Steve say to get you involved in the water sports?

Kate Hahn  11:20

I don't know. Probably just voiced that it’s available.

Steve Spitz  11:26

She didn’t need much coaxing.

Jeanne Langan  11:27

It didn’t take a lot of twisting your arm.

Kate Hahn  11:29

I think I showed up there the next day and I was like, “What the heck! Why is nobody in the lake?” I think it is definitely just word of mouth. Like even for me, I mean over all of us, if you have a disability, you end up having other people with disabilities in your life. So even if I post a random picture of me being a hooligan on a jet ski, like, people will see that and in my sphere of, you know, friends and such, you know, they may have a disability or not, or they have a child with one. And I mean, so even if I am not doing it like a direct creating a team or whatnot, just that word of mouth, and the circles of friends that we are in just, it tends to spread that way too.

Jeanne Langan  12:14

That's great. And what keeps you in the sports? 

Kate Hahn  12:19

The adrenaline rush?

Emily Keicher  12:22

Yeah, my friends and my family. They, you know, like, they cheer me on and they, and they say you can do it, you can do it. So, I know that I can always do it even if it's hard. I always had to push on and move on and do it, do my best.

Steve Spitz  12:42

Initially, it's the adrenaline that you mentioned. It's the ability to compete and have some fun. And then for me, that was the initial push. I had seen a wheelchair basketball game. I think either I was towards the end of my rehabilitation, inpatient rehabilitation, and you know, over a weekend stay or shortly after, and I thought it was incredible. I’d never touched a basketball. Almost never touched a basketball through high school, playing other sports and just said, this looks amazing. Came out to the team and found that not only the rush of the competition, but the camaraderie, the networking, the figuring out, you know, how these other people with disabilities live their life benefits you a great deal. It’s a huge, huge, huge boost.

Kate Hahn  13:39

I always say to that, like our bodies crave to move, like that doesn't go away, just because suddenly you're in a wheelchair. And I think it just, you got to find different ways. Like I've always played sports and I think when you're if you weren't born with something and you're diagnosed later, like you still, I still wanted to play sports. I still I think our bodies crave to move. And even if it's not like, like your arms and legs are moving, like going down a, you know, a ski slope, at a bazillion miles an hour, it’s that movement. And I think it's just, I think all bodies probably in some way, shape or form just want to move and whether it comes in that way or actually running or something. I think it's just part of it is that it's satisfying, satisfying that, you know, the need or the desire to move around a little bit when you can't maybe do that in a way that you would have in the past.

Jeanne Langan  14:34

What about the competition part of it? Is that something that's a driver or not as big?

Adam Page  14:46

For me that's what I liked the most about it. I love having fun, but I always like to whatever I'm doing, I like to you know, give it my all and the competition is my favorite part.

Emily Keicher  15:01

Yeah, I totally agree with Adam on that, one hundred percent.

Steve Spitz  15:08

You get a bunch of people on the court, you know, for a basketball game or whatever lacrosse, whatever it may be. And it's fun to see, you know, people are tentative at first, but that's then once everyone kind of gets used to it, the intensity slowly, slowly increases. It's a lot of fun.

Jeanne Langan  15:27

Give us a sample of your most memorable sporting memory.

Emily Keicher  15:31

It's when I first started my wheelchair basketball team. I saw how many people were there on like the first or second or third day we had like 15 to 25 people, and I was like, oh my god, I can't believe we recruited this many. I was like, I'm so excited to start this program. 

Jeanne Langan  15:51

It's great.

Steve Spitz  15:53

That’s a tough one.  The longer you've been involved, you know, in sports, each activity you get, you know, a different feeling every time you're out there. The first time even though I was in a very basic ski, my first time at the top of the ski hill. You know, first time riding handcycle and just going. Waterskiing the first time. I got on the water ski and actually got up and then was able to go outside the wake and slalom and was like, oh my gosh, you know, I can't believe I'm doing this you know, again, that gives you the impetus, the drive to try something else. 

Emily Keicher  16:32

Yeah, I definitely agree. And I also do adaptive track and field. So, adaptive track and field, there's like, four things you can do, track, javelin, shot put. All those. Yeah, so one sport can give so many opportunities.

Jeanne Langan  16:49

And in some of those sports you do both standup in crutches and some sports in a wheelchair?

Emily Keicher  16:59

Yeah. Most of them I usually use my wheelchair and stuff. But the one I usually use my crutches for is adaptive baseball, because it's all grass and I can’t move my wheels on the grass.

Jeanne Langan  17:13

Okay. 

Kate Hahn  17:15

I think my most memorable was waterskiing as well. But the reason it was so memorable is because everyone said it's impossible to tip this the outward because it’s so far out and I proved them wrong, because that's how I roll. No pun intended. I think, I don't know it was even though I rolled it or flipped it, whatever, it just, part of it was just that it was awesome to get moving. And the other part was that all the volunteers there were so amazing. Like, it was just like, do you want to keep going? Do you want to try to, for us to get you back on the ski? And, and they did. But the thing that was so cool is I find in all groups like this, you know, the people that are making it possible for you to get out there. It almost seemed like when I came back in and was up on a ski, like they knew that I tipped it, but they were all like cheering and it was like as if, you know, I was like friends with them for 10 years, like they legitimately just are so joyful to get people out there that maybe wouldn't have. And I think for me, that's a huge part of it. Like, it just, I think it is amazing. Like I went to Lake George once and learned adaptive sailing. And even though it was, you know, quite a distance from there, the group was the same as here, they literally were just this joyful group of people that were so excited to get you out on the water when you probably couldn't have and that just makes you excited and happy too because it's, they love it, you love it. And it's just, I mean, again, some of the people you feel like you've known your whole life because, they just, their so kind and joyful. And you know, they're giving their time. But not only that, but they're kind of you know, they just make you feel welcome and make you excited to not only do the sport, but just be part of the group.

Adam Page  18:59

My most memorable moment would probably be winning the gold medals in the Paralympics, not realizing when I was born or when I was even five or six when I started sled hockey, that that's where it would give me the opportunity to play for Team USA and compete for a gold medal. So that was awesome.

Emily Keicher  19:18

Another most memorable moment was actually when I was on the ice for sled hockey, and I actually met Adam. We started playing and doing sled hockey together. Yeah.

Jeanne Langan  19:29

So, give me a sense of what's up and coming for sports in Buffalo and the greater area.

Adam Page  19:40

So, for Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports, we're looking into, we just started wheelchair curling, a couple of clinics that we've done with the Buffalo Curling Center. We're going to be starting wheelchair tennis as well. That's up and coming for the summer and fall and then we're also looking to bring wheelchair softball here as well and do a clinic sometime in the fall. So, those are the up-and-coming ones for us that we're looking into getting started.

Jeanne Langan  20:24

Any recruits from the audience?

Emily Keicher  20:27

Well actually, we're actually doing an up-and-coming session of our wheelchair basketball team so we practice every Thursday at the Boys and Girls Club until mid-October and then we go into February and this we're actually ending our season next Thursday for basketball with an end of the year party, so if you guys want to join our team just we’ll give you information and just and you guys are welcome to join. We won't have like tryouts, we just have you guys come in and we’ll just see if you guys if you guys would like to enjoy it and join our team.

Steve Spitz  21:14

That’s in the Depew Boys and Girls Club?

Emily Keicher  21:17

Depew. Yeah.

Jeanne Langan  21:19

Great. So, they could get information probably through the Boys and Girls Club in Depew. 

Emily Keicher  21:23

Yes, yes. Yeah. 

Jeanne Langan  21:26

Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports has a website.

Adam Page  21:27

Yep, that they can go to. And we usually list like, on our blogs, like what we're doing or what's up-and-coming. 

Jeanne Langan  21:37

I’ve asked you about things that are happening local to the area, but I'm guessing you've probably participated in things outside of the area too. What other things have you participated in?

Emily Keicher  21:50

Well, for me, there's only actually one thing. I actually do adaptive baseball, which I actually don't use in my wheelchair I use in my forearm crutches.

Jeanne Langan  22:00

That sounds fun. What's your position?

Emily Keicher  22:04

Um, I usually do like I'm usually base. I usually do like third or second base, but it depends. We see what the coaches want and yeah, so that's out the area. We have like a 25-minute drive from where we live to go there. 

Jeanne Langan  22:24

Where do you play? 

Emily Keicher  22:25

Um, I think it’s in Lackawanna or somewhere, but around that area. It's like there's like baseball fields and then it's like there's also like a little area where you can get snacks and stuff after the games but yeah.

Jeanne Langan  22:43

Nice. 

Kate Hahn  22:45

I've gone out to, someone had mentioned an adaptive sailing program at Lake George. So, I made it a little trip. I stopped at Whiteface Mountain and climbed that in my van, which was not happy about that. But then I did the adaptive sailing, which is amazing. They kind of just teach you but also let you go sailing on Lake George, which is pretty awesome. And then I skydived versus sky dome. That was in New Paltz, New York outside of the city, and hang-gliding, which was in the Outer Banks. That was just a random I saw a billboard and called the number, and they were like, hey, if you can get here in an hour, we'll take you up. So, I did that as well.

Steve Spitz  23:29

The adreniline.

Jeanne Langan  23:34

Anything else you're hiding from us? 

Kate Hahn  23:43

I can’t think of anything else. Oh, NASCAR! Yeah, I did go on a NASCAR ride. 

Jeanne Langan  23:49

Where was it? 

Kate Hahn  23:50

I can't remember where it was. It was one of the NASCAR tracks. Oh, you know, it was in Michigan. They have the ability to do ride alongs there. So, they, I think the most adventurous part was probably them, pushing me and pulling me out of the window because there's no doors. But you also, I think we went, I want to say maybe you can go 150 or 175 miles an hour. I can't remember which it is, but it was pretty great. I was turning 40 and just was looking for something fun to do. So, I took some friends, and we went to Michigan and went on a NASCAR ride. Because of course that's what you do when you turn 40.

Steve Spitz  24:27

The epitome of sporty 40!  I can't say that I've tried anything. Some of the sports that I've done outside of Buffalo like sailing, we've been up to the Thousand Islands. They had a North Country Access Expo up there and we did some water skiing and sailing up there. You know, I've done a lot of the other, you know, traveled to do some wheelchair tennis and basketball. But there it is. There's so much more out there to adapt. I mean if you can dream it, either someone's doing it, or someone's trying to adapt it so that a disabled person can use it, can do that sport as well. And that, you know, recreate the same way. It's great, you know, to see the explosion of adaptive sports.

Jeanne Langan  25:20

All right. Well, thank you all for joining me and sharing your experiences. And we'd love to have you come back and tell us a little bit more in another episode.

Steve Spitz and Emily Keicher   25:30

Definitely. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Jeanne Langan  25:33

Thanks for listening. If there are suggestions for podcast topics or questions for the athletes, please contact us through Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports. You can reach them through their web page or find them on Facebook. Or you can also reach us through the Rehabilitation Science Department at the University at Buffalo. I'm faculty there and my email is jlangan@buffalo.edu. Thank you to everyone at the UB libraries for helping to produce this podcast. Thanks for listening to the adaptive sports and recreation Western New York podcast. Have a great day.