Category Archives: Colorado
Ignite Adaptive Sports – 2023 Ski Season
Every winter Nick’s favorite activity (besides shopping) is going to Eldora Ski Resort in Nederland, Colorado and hanging out with the volunteers from Ignite Adaptive Sports for a fun day on the mountain. Nick looks forward to skiing all year, and if you ask him what his favorite thing is during the warmer months, there’s a good chance he’ll still answer “skiing.”
Nick has been a participant with Ignite since 2009 and every year the volunteers continue to be supportive, safety oriented, and kind. They always make sure Nick feels safe and check that he had a good time on the slopes.
For the last couple of years, Kevin Wilson has been the scheduler for Ignite. Kevin is also a person who uses a wheelchair, and a few times this season he joined Nick on the mountain in his mono ski. Kevin goes above and beyond to accommodate participants and volunteers, and makes sure everyone is safe and happy. He’s a passionate skier and Nick thinks his hair is pretty cool. Bring him some sushi, it’s his favorite!
Getting Nick prepped to go out is an intense process, but with Nick’s unique needs it’s important his body is comfortably and safely positioned for his lesson. This involves several different types of pads, straps, and usually a bit of duct tape! Once he’s ready to go, he stays out for 2 hours and goes on a ton of different runs, and even goes on black diamonds and the half pipe! Nick says the ski lift can be a little scary, but the volunteers always talk him through the ride and get him safely to the top.
Check out these videos of Nick skiing with some incredible Ignite volunteers!
One of Nick’s favorite parts of the ski season is his trip up the mountain with Adaptive Recreation Opportunities (ARO) with Fort Collins Recreation. Greg Shaner is one of Nick’s favorite people and a long time friend. He drives the ARO van and its participants up to Eldora for a full day of ski lessons and never loses his upbeat and positive attitude.
Karl, one of the volunteers, a veteran who used to be a participant himself, brings his service dog Red up to the Ignite building with him, and Nick loves seeing Karl and Red!
Nick sometimes comes in from his lesson covered in snow and a little worn out, but he never complains because he had a blast! He always talks about how much fun he had on the ride home. This wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers who come back every year.
Nick loves when he gets to go out with Ignite volunteer Brian, because he knows he’s gonna go fast! Brian takes Nick on the half pipe and even plays music for Nick on his bluetooth speaker! Nick loved listening to the soundtrack to one of his favorite movies, Gigi, while he was racing down the mountain! Thanks Brain!
Bobby is another volunteer Nick loved getting to see several times over the season. Nick thought Bobby was so nice, and he made Nick feel very safe every time they skiied together.
Nick and his team want to thank Ignite Adaptive Sports so much for all they do for all of their participants, from people with with vision loss, to disabled veterans, to participants on the autism spectrum, Ignite works with everyone as an individual with their own unique needs and treats participants and their families with respect and kindness.
Donate to Ignite Adaptive Sport’s new facility!
Ignite is breaking ground on their new state of the art facility at Eldora this month, and Nick would like to ask his supporters to consider donating to their fundraiser by clicking this link. You can also follow Ignite on Facebook and find the fundraiser link there.
Open Streets – June 16, 2019
Open Streets, organized through City of Fort Collins Bikes, was a fun filled community event in old town Fort Collins on June 16th with vendors from the community, food trucks, and live music. Nick was stationed at the Maple St. hub, prime real estate to make connections and build new friendships while educating the community on different abilities and challenges that come with them.
Community members had the option to participate in several different disability simulations including a wheelchair obstacle course, experiencing the course while blind, experiencing having limited mobility in their hands while buttoning up a shirt, experiencing sensory integration issues, and lip reading.
Kids who tried the wheelchair obstacle course found it much more difficult than they expected!
Most kids hit a cone or two but came away with a new appreciation for what it is like to move a different way and the challenges that come with it.
Nick had his speech device available for community members to see and experience a different way of talking. Nick demonstrated his device for many interested kids and parents.
As the day went on, more and more people stopped at Nick’s booth to see what we were all about. With our cones, wheelchairs, and canes people quickly became interested in what we had to offer.
When they learned that we were offering simulations of different challenges experienced by those with different abilities, attendees were really excited to see that Nick was out in the community advocating for those who live a little differently.
Nick’s favorite part of the day was watching the kids navigate the cones!
Parents loved seeing their kids engaged in these simulations and often helped Nick teach the kids about why it is important to understand that different people have different challenges in life and we should be respectful of everyone we meet.
Nick had copies of his book, Helping in Action, for sale at the event and many kids enjoyed checking out a copy.
Nick handed out bookmarks to anyone who loved to read.
Nick met many members of his community who share his passion for education, like music therapist Daniel Goldschmidt. Nick and Daniel have both done TEDx talks! Check out Daniel’s TEDx talk on YouTube.
Nick would like to thank the City of Fort Collins Bikes for this opportunity to educate and advocate.
Open Streets will come back to Fort Collins on September 29th, 2019, and Nick will be there to continue to show his community that even though we all have different challenges, we can still connect and care for one another. Come see him and support Awesome in Action and Nick’s message of inclusive diversity.
Awesome in Action, Co 