Chris Baylow of Marblehead has a family member with autism spectrum disorder who loves sports but had trouble keeping up with his teammates.
“I used to coach baseball, and he was the only kid who couldn’t hit my pitching,” Baylow remembers.
Then, Baylow’s family discovered New England Disabled Sports at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire.
“It was like magic,” Baylow said. “He took to the program so well, and it opened up the world to him. Within just a few days, he was really making progress. And he had found a new social group with really caring people. This allowed him to be connected to sports.”
Over the last 36 years, NEDS has worked with thousands of people with cognitive and physical disabilities, ages 3 to 85. The nonprofit offers lessons and camps for skiing, cycling, pickleball, kayaking, paddle boarding and more.
Seeing how much it helped his family member, Baylow became a NEDS ski coach. He is one of more than 200 NEDS volunteers.
‘He can do everything we can do’
Owen Anketell started taking ski lessons at NEDS when he was just 3 years old. He lives with a hereditary disease and is unable to walk. He’s now 20 and a multisport athlete.
“After my first lesson at NEDS, I couldn’t stop smiling,” Anketell said. “I took lessons through ninth grade and then started coaching.”
Baylow is in awe of Anketell’s athleticism. “He uses a sit ski, with one ski underneath him. He can do everything we can do. He can ski any terrain; he can load and unload from the chairlift.”
Anketell loves the independence.
“It’s so much fun,” he said. “It’s something I can go out and do with my friends and family. I’m not holding them back. I can keep up. I can go out and do it myself.”
Anketell, who works in banking, earned a tennis scholarship at University of Arizona. When he was 16, he biked from Calas, Maine, to Key West, Florida. He competed in the Pan Mass Challenge last year and will do it again this summer using a hand cycle.
NEDS is open year-round and offers 2,600 adaptive sports lessons a year at Loon and Bretton Woods. People can take two-hour lessons or enroll in camps. (There is no housing, however.) NEDS also runs special programs for disabled veterans.
Several families in Marblehead participate in NEDS, including Kim and Vance Perry. Vance started as a volunteer ski instructor and is now on NEDS’ director of corporate development. Kim is on the board of directors.
“This gives people a sense of purpose and builds confidence,” she said. “It’s a whole community. Being part of a community that supports you and understands you is a really special thing.”
Learn more about NEDS at nedisabledsports.org.
