Mountain Lifestyle-Nov 2020-Crestline-Lake Arrowhead edition

A Marine Corps ski student who was part of a Wounded Warrior group give
the thumbs-up with Jack Coopermen at Bear Mountain in Southern California.
Photo courtesy of J. Cooperman.
Adaptive Sports Takes a Little More
Ingenuity This Year
Jack Cooperman has had an
additional challenge this year over
other years working with Special
Athletes on the mountain.
Throwing COVID-19 into
the mix has made it especially hard
on coming up with the correct formula
to make it work. And
add to that it was hard for the athletes
to not be with their friends .
Last year, almost about 30 individuals
a day participated in the Rim
of the World Special Athletes Foundation
summer activities on Lake
Arrowhead which included swimming,
kayaking, stand-up paddle
boarding, pedal boats, water-bikes
and plenty of water toys.
Jack recently spoke about
the trials and these tribulations to
his fellow members of the Mountain
Sunrise Rotary Club of lake Arrowhead
of which he is the current
president. So, Jack set out to find
unique and different ways to make
it work.
“We did a singular program
without any volunteers and only
one family at a time,” he said. Some
days he would have
one family in the morning, anoth-
er in the afternoon. Quite often,
Cooperman said, both the mother,
father and a sibling of the participant
would also join in the fun.
“It was hard for them not
to see their friends, but it got them
closer with their families,” he said.
After doing an abundance of
sanitation, questions and temperatures
were taken, masks were worn
when close proximity was necessary.
The Rim Special Athletes
have 14 kayaks, four stand-up paddle
boards, two pedal boats and
a water bike. “We’re set for next
year to take on 50 students at a time
if conditions allow it,” Cooperman
said.
The purpose of the Foundation,
according to its website, “is to
provide a recreational experience
that is safe and positive
for adaptive individuals. It provides
year-round activities for adaptive
athletes, serving veterans and individuals
from our
mountain communities and beyond.
In addition to the water activities,
the other summer activities
have included golf and yoga super-
vised by Kim Meares.
Golf is held one day a week thanks
to the Lake Arrowhead Country
Club. Yoga, which is an all year
program had been taking place at
the Lake Arrowhead Community
Presbyterian Church has moved to
a Zoom platform.
“We’ve had a little over
1,000 participants in yoga lessons,
which are given three days a week,”
Cooperman said. A couple of people
in Northern California and Oregon
have logged on as well as members
of Disabled Sports Eastern Sierras.
Now Cooperman is focused
on how to deal with the adaptive situation
this coming winter. Rim Special
Athletes has partnered with the
Western Division of the Professional
Ski Instructors of America and
will have eight adaptive instructors
Zoom sessions that are going out
nationwide every other week.
While stand-up skiers will
be able to keep proper social distancing
and wear masks, the concerning
issue is the sit-down
skiers. That will inevitably put instructors
close to them, face to
face. That “will continue to be
worked on”. Working with ages 2
to 89 years old, Jack enjoys it all.
The oldest was 89-year-old Carl of
Twin Peaks. He can only focus if
Jack stays within five to eight feet
in front of him, wearing an orange
vest. With other visually impaired
skiers sometimes the mountain is
mentally divided up into lanes and
then the instructor lets the skier
know which lane they are in. There
is additionally a key word used that
means to stop immediately. Other
adaptive equipment is available to
best work with the participant as
needed.
In the past, the Rim Special
Athletes have held several “Top of
the Mountain” fundraising events
at Snow Valley. This year the local
event had to be canceled “We’ll be
hurting without funding.” Rim Special
Athletes has never charged for a
lesson and they don’t plan to.
The primary objective of
Rim of the World Special Athletes
Foundation is to provide a recreational
experience that is
safe and positive for adaptive individuals.
The goal is to have the
adaptive athletes have fun, learn a
new skill, and develop self-confidence
from the experience.
It provides year-round activities
for adaptive athletes, serving
veterans and individuals from
our mountain communities
and beyond, says the website.
“Rim Special Athletes are
individuals with visual and hearing
impairments, amputations, spinal
cord injuries, traumatic
brain Injuries, Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, Down Syndrome,
Autism, as well as many other cognitive
and physical
disabilities.”
Donations can be made
through the website: www.rimspecialathletes.org.
In observance
of November
10th, the Marine
Corps Birthday,
Marine Corps
League #1383 will
have a small gathering
at Three Marm
Brewery in Crestline
from 4pm to
7pm – a $25 minimum donation
is requested. The public is invited
and welcome to attend—masks and
social distancing will be required.
The organization’s (MCL #1383)
detachment location is in Victor
Valley, California. During the event
entertainment will be provided by
local musician Steven John Taylor.
The US Marine Corps started
as the Continental Marines on
November 10, 1775. On that date,
the Second Continental Congress
decided that they needed two battalions
of Marines to serve as landing
forces with the Continental Navy
during the American Revolutionary
War (1775-1783). After the war, the
Continental Navy was dismantled,
and as a consequence the Marines
as well. However, after increasing
conflict with revolutionary France,
the Marine Corps was formally
Local Marines to Celebrate US
Marine Birthday
re-established.
Where we are today…The
United States Marine Corps is the
US Armed Forces’ combined-arms
task force on land, sea, and in the
air. It has more than 180,000 active
duty personnel as well as almost
40,000 personnel in the Marine
Corps Reserve.
Last year the League came
up with the idea of “Fire Teams”
for rural areas. We kind of have a
budding relationship of one in the
mountain communities of Crestline,
Twin Peaks, Blue Jay, Cedar
Pines Park and Lake Arrowhead.
Past Commandant and Chaplain
Mike Brewer and the Paymaster
Dan Wylde both live in Crestline
here and states “we hope to grow
this ‘Mountain Patrol’ as we call it.
Hosting the Marine Corps Birthday
on November 10th is a start. “
Page 6 Mountain Lifestyle (C) November 2020