IF Canada take home any medals from this week’s World Disabled Water Ski Championships, Port Macquarie will have played its part.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Canadian adaptive waterskiing team based themselves in the Hastings last week in preparation for the week-long event which starts on April 24 at Lake Macquarie.
Stoney Park’s reputation as a world-class facility was the major drawcard for coach Dave Wassill and his team.
“When I was back in Canada I checked with some of the top skiers in the world, that happen to be on the Canadian team, where the best place was in Australia for us to train,” he said.
“I checked with our able-bodied team and their coach – who has been in the business since 1973 – said if we didn’t go to Stoney Park we might as well have stayed at home.
“That made it quite clear to me that this was the place to come.”
All team members have their own story to tell.
2015 gold medallist and current jump, trick and overall world champion Ashley Baerg was born with cerebral palsy.
Teammate Ryan Riehl is totally blind and has just 10 per cent of his hearing left, while Rob Gosse was involved in a motorcycle accident which left him in a wheelchair.
Blake Lamontagne became an incomplete paraplegic after a car accident in 2007, but still has use of his hands.
If we didn’t go to Stoney Park we might as well have stayed at home.
- Canadian adaptive waterskiing coach Dave Wassill
The oldest member of the team, Peter Andrews, was also involved in a car accident 16 years ago.
The fact they can do similar tricks on the water to their able-bodied counterparts is inspirational enough.
Wassill has high hopes for 27-year-old Baerg who finished fourth at the last world championships.
“She finished fourth in slalom at the last world’s,” he said.
“Last week she did a personal best (at training) which would have gotten her a medal at the last world’s so I can see if Ashley has a good tournament she’ll win the jump, win the tricks, maybe win the slalom and the overall again.”
Wassill said his youthful team were well-placed to get onto the podium after being close at the last three world championships in a row.
“We’ve placed fourth previously, but I’m confident whoever is going to battle us for third place is going to have to work hard,” he said.
“Because we’ve just come off our winter, there’s snow and three feet of ice on the lakes so we came here to get our training and are way ahead of where I thought we’d be.”
The Canadian coach was confident his team were as prepared as they could be.
“The goal I came here with was to make sure everybody could put their best performance on the water and we’re close to that,” he said.
“We’ve got two rookies who are skiing very very well, that are right on par and we have a veteran in Pete Andrews who has the potential to beat the world record in jump.”
“We’re in a good place.”