MONTGOMERY RELAY

 

RELAY

May 2007       Page 3

 

RELAY

My Kayaking Experience

By SOMO Kayak athlete Ramon M. De Paula

      I always liked to be and to play in the water. When I grew up I played in my bath tub, in the sprinklers, went to water parks, did a lot of  swimming, We went to Rehoboth Beach,  Cape Henlopen, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, and to Brazil on vacations, to my grandparent's home. I also did some surfing with my brother for fun.  Then I joined the Boy Scouts. I went to Goshen and had more swimming and canoeing.

      I learned to kayak with Caleva School, when I was at Walt Whitman High School. One day I went to the Florida Keys with the Boy Scouts on a kayaking trip that lasted three hours just to get to the Scouts' island! It was fun.

Now, every year, I have another adventure with kayaking at the Special Olympics. I am part of a team of 12 athletes representing Montgomery County. They are a good group of friends, there. We help each other learn and we cheer for each other. Last year we had John Dillencourt, Andy Eisenhaur, Alexander Fekete, Lucas Houk, Aaron Hyndman, Michael Lautenberger, Al Richardson, Darren Seifert, Carla Shipp, Ashley Thompson, Neil Young, and I in the team. The          Coach says almost everyone will continue in the team, this year. All coaches want athletes to be focused. I know that because I used to be an assistant head coach for my High School football team.  It is a good

skill to have in life and for my work. Kayaking is also a good exercise - a lot of work - and it makes me strong.

Mr. Alan Seifert is my coach. Lisa Soda, Mr. Richardson, Joanne Garlow help us practice staying in line, doing slalom, building speed, making turns, and they make games like "Who is the leader?" to make our practices fun.

We practice every weekend when it does not rain, at the Black Hill Park. It is a beautiful place and it has a lot of space for us to practice. We compete at St. Mary's College. Mrs. Barbara Selbst takes all the kayaks to the competition in her van. I like the food at the College and the water is fun.  The Regatta is usually at the last weekend of July and anyone can come to watch. This year the Regatta is July 28-29th.

I am getting better and better in kayaking and I am, again, looking forward to a gold medal and a lot of fun!

◄Ramon in his kayak

                           2006 Kayak Team ►

missing Head Coach Alan Seifert—he must have been taking the photo!

The first session with The Georgetown University Sailing Team will be held in May, to be followed by the program with the Sailing Club of Washington, and the Racing Team practices in June and July. Most sessions are full, but you are welcome to come to the Washington Sailing Marina any Monday evening from 6:30-8:00 to watch the practice races, and to learn more about the program.

SOMO athletes Megan Cooper and World Games Alternate Joe Wu have attended the first training program for the World Games with their Unified Partners David Dalbec and Yates Dowell. They will be attending a Team USA training in Nashville in July in preparation for the World Games Sailing Competition in Shanghai ,China. Congratulations and best wishes to them from their sailing coaches and team-mates and from the SOMO family!

For more information call Coach Ben Ackerman at 301 881-7168                  or email: benackerman@aol.com.           Joe and Yates ready to sail! ►