Ski ClubsDISABILITY AND INTEGRATION
Mauro Bernardi, the first disabled ski instructor in Italy, and Jacopo Petrocco, disabled ski instructor "Honoris Causa", tell Neveitalia the importance of alpine skiing for children with motor and cognitive disabilities.
Tuesday 18 October 2022 15 minutes reading time
In 2016 the "La Montagna per tutti Enjoy" project was born, conceived by a group of disabled athletes of the "Enjoyski Sport Odv" association, based in Albino (BG), which made it possible to make the mountain a little more accessible to people with motor disabilities and more. In recent years, the collaboration with various ski resorts in Lombardy and Trentino has allowed various disabled people to take advantage of the technical equipment including dual skis, monoski and stabilizers necessary for the practice of alpine skiing.
All this translated into a great opportunity also for children with disabilities who were able to participate in alpine skiing courses and have fun as all children should do at their age. Mauro Bernardi, paraplegic since 2005 due to a road accident, captain of the "Enjoyski Sport Odv" association and of the "La Montagna per tutti Enjoy" project, who became the first disabled ski instructor in Italy in 2013, explained to us the importance of the practice of alpine skiing for the integration of children with motor and / or cognitive disabilities: "Last winter we carried out activities at the Presolana Pass. With the help of the teachers of the area, we created an alpine skiing course where at inside there were both able-bodied children and disabled children. For children with physical and cognitive disabilities it is important to practice outdoor activities because it connects them with the external environment and, by taking group lessons, connects them with others children who have their own problems or, better still, puts them in relationship with able-bodied children ".
"It was a basic course for beginners - continues Mauro Bernardi - and for both parts (able-bodied children and disabled children), the steps to learn, such as attaching skis, were very similar. The equipment changed, because the children with disabilities they used the dualski or the monoski. But they all started from the same point. While the able-bodied began to make the first turns with the toe stop, the disabled children instead of the toe stop had the assistant who accompanied them from behind and was the "brake" of their tool. The ski instructor demonstrated to the able-bodied children, while I demonstrated to the two disabled children why we had the same tool. Then I showed them how to turn their heads, how to rotate their torso, how to use breathing that in skiing is fundamental. At the end of the descent, I explained to him how to access the treadmill of the camposcuola to go up again because, even if there is a preferential lane to avoid making too much effort (without the orsia preferentially you have to lift the tool), not all ski resorts are equipped with it and, where it is present, it is not certain that it will be able to be used when there is little snow. On the treadmill, therefore, we taught them to keep their balance and this is essential for those sitting in monoski and dualski, while able-bodied children had to learn to keep their skis straight without letting themselves fall ".
"After the fourth / fifth lesson - continues Mauro Bernardi - we gave the sticks to the able-bodied children and the stabilizers to the disabled children. So, placing them side by side, the progression was very similar, although the tools were different. The procedure for teaching was the same. The children. able-bodied people began to make the so-called Christian curve, while the disabled children, with stabilizers, began to make the first phases of the curve independently, always with the presence of an assistant. At each lesson, in the last descent, everyone started from the same point to then get to the Bar Neve, where maestro Massimo Lazzaroni hosted us, to get a chocolate. We also went out, we went to Tonale, Aprica, Chiesa Valmalenco. a ski club in the area with awards for everyone ".
"It was a constructive experience also for the able-bodied: they were excited, curious to see the tools that disabled children use to get off, to see their progressions, they asked many questions. They tried to understand what their needs were, for example during an ascent. Watching children with disabilities being able to do certain things, albeit with more effort, was a stimulus for the able-bodied children. They were motivated. So the benefits were multiple for both parties (able-bodied children and disabled children). to discover that disability only means doing things differently, with another kind of attention. It turns out that the mountains are accessible "explains Mauro Bernardi.
"It is a project that is going well, there is a lot of participation. Now we are preparing for training, we will go to Val Senales to explain how to bring the equipment that disabled people use to ski, there will be volunteers who will learn to use them and assist the disabled on the slopes. We will also be in Cervinia in the last week of November and after that the winter season will begin. Among our activities, we also check that, in the stations where we go skiing, there are the requisites to be able to welcome the disabled. there aren't any, we recommend what changes to make or we provide a wheelchair to put in the shelter. We therefore try to create that service that helps to make the shelters accessible without having to do too much invasive work. In this way we offer a service to the disabled and the shelter we offer the possibility of having another type of clientele because in any case it is difficult to see a disabled person in the mountains. but 'Enjoy the mountains for all' "concludes Mario Bernardi.
"Honoris Causa" ski instructor is Jacopo Petrocco, a thirty year old boy from Scanno (Abruzzo) suffering from spastic tetraparesis since birth.
Jacopo began to become familiar with snow and skiing as a child, a sport that helped him in his growth from various points of view: "Despite the difficulties due to disability, my childhood was still serene, I lived at best my "normality" between family, school, friends. I grew up with the aim of reaching the maximum possible autonomy, either because of what I was taught in the family or because of my innate stubbornness. Then comes the approach to skiing , a passion handed down from my father who was a ski instructor. As a child I started skiing "standing", supported by a person and helped by the rigidity of the boot, but growing up it was no longer possible and so I started using the mono-ski that is the tool designed for those who cannot keep an upright position ".
"Now this tool has been created for paraplegics - continues Jacopo Petrocco - therefore, for those like me who have another pathology, it is not completely usable. Consequently I have personally tried and found a way to make changes that would make it so. , all with the help and support of friends and family. This path went in parallel with a regular course of study, I graduated from the Liceo Socio - Psico - Pedagogico G.B. Vico in Sulmona ".
"The passion and contact with the world of skiing - continues Jacopo Petrocco - has strengthened my determination, smoothed out the corners of my character, made me more aware. I know I have limits, but also my potential and my who, like me, starts from a disadvantage, but still has room for improvement and for this improvement it is still worth working and fighting. So all sport is very important, in my case skiing. In my experience, the presence on the slopes of a person who is skiing or who is learning to ski with a tool other than the conventional one, arouses a positive curiosity, such as to bring people who ask and are interested, they want to understand. breaking down the cultural and mental barriers that are the first obstacle to true integration ".
"This is why I think it is important to bring children and young people who like me have difficulty closer to skiing, to strengthen or find their self-esteem, because it is a sport that allows you to spend different days in nature in a decidedly different context from the usual ones" explains Jacopo Petrocco .
"Through these experiences, a lot of work on me, bitter tears, anger and despair, great satisfactions have come. I received the 'Honoris Causa' ski instructor license thanks to the Abruzzo Regional College of Ski Instructors, and now my next goal is to be able to work by creating heterogeneous groups of children, able-bodied and disabled, who at the first approach on the snow can get to know each other and share a high-profile moment of sport and aggregation, not only for the sporting result as an end in itself, but for a huge step forward in the growth of awareness and the concept of integration "concludes Jacopo Petrocco.
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