October 8, 2025 • 30 mins
Lizzie Eastham and Sam Rickard present Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.
On this week’s show
“Ski for Light”
Lizzie talks to the president of “Ski for Light” Julie Coppens and one of the athletes Anthony Nelson about cross country skiing; teamwork and inspiring Vision Impaired and Blind People to inspire others.
Studio 1 welcomes any input from our listeners. If you have any experience or thoughts about issues covered in this episode or believe there is something we should be talking about.
You may also be interested in joining our choir of angels and telling your story.
EMAIL: studio1@visionaustralia.org or leave comment on the station’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork
A special thank you to Julie and Anthony..
You can find out more about Ski For Light Here: https://www.sfl.org/
This program was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at https://cbf.org.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:14):
This is Studio One with Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham
on Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:24):
Hello, I'm Sam and I'm Lizzie and this is Studio One,
your weekly look at life from a low vision and
blind point of view here on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:31):
This week we chat to Julie Coppins, the president of
ski for light, about how it all began. And we
also talk to one of their vision impaired athletes, Anthony Nelson.
S2 (00:42):
As we always say at this point, please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there is something we
should be talking about. You never know. Your story and
insight may help somebody who is dealing with something similar.
And yes, we're talking to you as well, Brad.
S3 (00:58):
You can contact us via email at studio one at Australia. Org,
that's studio number one at org. Or of course you
can drop us a note on our Facebook page by
going to facebook.com Slash Radio Network.
S2 (01:14):
So. Hello, Lizzy. I understand you've got some exciting news
for us.
S3 (01:18):
I did. But, um, things didn't really pan out. I
could have been by this time next month in India
playing blind cricket.
S2 (01:26):
So what happened there?
S3 (01:27):
Well, I have less than four weeks worth of notice,
so getting an express passport and visa is going to
be an added stress that I don't need. Plus, I
don't really think that you would appreciate me taking three
weeks off at just a month's notice.
S2 (01:40):
Well, we could have squeezed something in with with more
notice for sure. And perhaps I literally phoned it in, but, um. Anyway.
And I've got my exciting news as well. And that
is our month has suddenly filled up as far as, uh,
studio one. What we've got in the next couple of
weeks is becoming a lot more secure and interesting because
we've been, frankly, scrabbling for stuff. I mean, what we
had planned for this week's show didn't quite work out.
(02:03):
So thank goodness you came up with something. But, um, no,
we've got got things coming out of our ears now,
as it were. So next week.
S3 (02:10):
You've always got your back.
S2 (02:11):
Oh, yes. Yes. So we'll explain. Um, what's our next
week's show? Um, at the end of the this show,
as we normally do. But, um, Vision Australia has now
appointed a new CEO, David Williamson. So we look forward
to talking to him hopefully by the end of the
month as well. And I've been in conversation with Scamwatch
(02:31):
and all going well. We'll also be having a good, nice,
long conversation about internet and social media scams, uh, with
their CEO. Yeah. So it's, um, it's going to be
a productive month.
S3 (02:43):
Great. Fantastic.
S2 (02:45):
In the meantime, it only remains to throw over to
the interview. So let's ski into it.
S3 (02:52):
Well, I am joined by Julie, who is the president
of Ski Flat, and Anthony, who is vision impaired athlete.
Welcome to you both to studio one. Thanks, Lizzie. Thank you.
It is so good to have you. So, Julie, we'll
start with you. I think for those of our listeners
that don't know, could you give us an intro to
what ski for light is about and how it all
(03:13):
got started.
S4 (03:13):
Sure. Well, this year we're celebrating our 50th anniversary. The
organization started in 1975 by a group of Norwegian Americans
who were into cross-country skiing. There's a long running event
that's similar happening every year in Norway called the Retirin.
And some of their people, uh, got together with some
(03:34):
of the people here in the US and decided that
this is a concept that they wanted to try here.
And the Norwegian person who was really instrumental was a musician,
a blind musician named Erling Stordahl. And he came over
and worked with Olaf Pettersen, who's our founder. They got
support from organizations like Sons of Norway, the Lions Club
(03:55):
Pool to get together a bunch of volunteers to hold
an event in Frisco, Colorado in 75, bringing together, you know,
blind athletes to try cross-country skiing. And they figured out
that the unique nature of the sport where if you've
never cross country skied before, um, just a little, you
kind of need to understand how it works. So the
snow is groomed. They use a machine to create tracks
(04:18):
that are sort of shaped in the snow. So your
skis fit into those tracks so that when you're going
along the trail, you can kind of feel where you're going.
And so the guy, the sighted guide who's skiing alongside you,
is giving you verbal confirmation of where you're going. They
might be coaching you on technique, that kind of thing,
but it's a sport that works really well for the
(04:40):
visually impaired. And over the years, the event has evolved.
We continue to hold a week long event somewhere in
the US in the Snow belt every year. This coming
year will be in Granby, Colorado, first week of February.
That's how it started. It was really born out of
an international friendship between Norway, which is the birthplace of
(05:02):
cross-country Nordic skiing, and a population here in the US
that was really looking for a great way to be
active in the winter time.
S3 (05:09):
And can you share with us how you personally became
involved and then, you know, moved on to become president.
S4 (05:15):
So I was coming out of college in the early
90s and just looking for a way to volunteer. I
really had very little experience with any kind of disability. I'm,
you know, I'm a sighted person myself, but I saw
someone in Cincinnati that wanted someone to be a walking partner.
She was blind. And I thought, well, I can walk.
So I reached out and she connected me immediately with
(05:36):
a group of blind hikers. They needed a guide for
an overnight trip down in the Smoky Mountains of the US. Um,
they asked if I knew how to cross country ski,
and I said, well, no, but I used to downhill
ski and they're like, close enough. We can use you.
So I went to one of the regional events. There's
a bunch of offshoot events that are just like long
weekends in different parts of the US. I went to
(05:57):
the one in Northern Ohio. They taught me how to
cross country ski, taught me how to guide. And then
I went to my first international event in 1997. Absolutely
fell in love with the program, fell in love with
the sport. I had actually had a pretty bad accident
as a downhill skier at age 12, tore up my
knee and had a lot of fear around downhill skiing.
(06:19):
And so cross country was like, really saved me from,
you know, one just really got me back into skiing
in a way that felt a lot more safe. And
then I found the partnership with a blind skier made
the sport so much more fun and enjoyable, and I
really have been attending ever since. So I missed one
(06:39):
year when I was giving birth to my son. That
was my excuse for missing. Otherwise, I've been there every year.
I absolutely adore the people being able to ski and
hang out with people like Anthony, who you'll meet in
a second, has really been the joy of my life.
It's where so many of my dear lifelong friends are.
We get together every year for a week and it's
(07:00):
like we've never been apart. We have the best time.
And something else that's unique about the program is it is.
We're all volunteers. Even I as president, all of our
organizing committee. We all dedicate the time to make the
event happen because we know how much we love it
and we want to make it available for, you know,
for the future. So that's a big part of it.
(07:21):
And the entire organizational team is evenly divided between people
who have site and people who don't. We have wheelchair
users in our organization group as well. So it's not
like a lot, a lot of some of these early
recreational programs for the disabled where, you know, it's a
bunch of well-meaning, able bodied people putting on something for
the disabled. Now we are an active partnership. It is
(07:43):
hand in hand. Uh, we couldn't do it without each other.
And as a guide, as a volunteer, I am rewarded
a hundredfold by all the time and energy that I
put in. It's a it's really a wonderful and unique program.
S3 (07:57):
How do you see cross country skiing? Helping people who
are blind or low vision to build confidence beyond that
sport itself?
S5 (08:07):
And so what I could say, I'll use an experience
I had when I started skiing first. You know, I
do have vision. So just a little article. I started
out as a runner, you know, a wrestler, a goalball player.
And then after I stopped competitive running, then I wanted
to do something. If by chance I had a supervisor
(08:28):
who was a downhill skier, but I declined on the downhill,
I just wasn't as interested in the downhill. But since
the Munich Olympics, I always wanted to be a cross-country skier.
So I had a friend who used to run with
me back in the days, told me about skiing, and
so I promised it one day I would try it.
It took me like ten years or so because I
(08:50):
was a family guy, you know, single parent raising children.
So I wanted to finish those things before I got
into something different. And so I finally got into cross-country skiing.
Never touched a ski in my life, my state. I'd
only seen snow three times in my life. I'm in
my 50s now by this time, So I joined in
(09:10):
with the ski for light group, and when I joined
in as a sighted person, I needed a minimum amount
of guidance. Go up, down, you know, doing this, doing
the next thing. And so I was in Provo, Utah,
and we were in a session and I heard the skiers,
the blind skiers, total blind skiers talking about the course
(09:33):
and the trouble they having making certain turns, etc., etc.
so that next morning I told my ski guide, I said, listen.
I hear people expressing their concerns, but I have no
idea what they're talking about because I can see today
you're going to have to guide me all the way
because I'm putting on a blindfold and I will ski
(09:56):
completely blindfolded all day. So if someone comes in who've
never had a chance to work with someone as a
team member, that is the best. Skiing is the perfect
opportunity to learn how to work as a team and
cooperate with each other.
S3 (10:12):
It sounds like an amazing leap of courage to just
trust someone so completely that you would put your life
in their hands, so to speak. How did that make
you feel?
S5 (10:22):
With me, I'm a person that probably can roll with
pretty much anything. It made me feel good that I
could accomplish skiing. Rather you had site or not.
S3 (10:35):
And if you could give any advice to anyone that
wanted to try out cross-country skiing, but, you know, maybe
they were a little bit hesitant.
S5 (10:43):
Like I did, I had to face my fear of
someone who never skied, set a goal as a person
who'd never skied, set a goal. And the first goal was,
I want to learn how to ski. That's what I
would say to a person who's never skied. To have
interest in skiing. Come on in and join us because
we are here to support you.
S4 (11:04):
Yeah, Anthony makes such a good point because, yeah, we're
all we're all coming in. We're all stretching ourselves. We're
all doing something you know, we've never necessarily done before.
We really stress communication, safety. One of the first things
that we do. And when Anthony talked about putting on
the blindfold, that is part of our guide training as well.
So we bring all the first and second year guides
(11:25):
in a day early. They go through kind of a
guiding boot camp. They put on a blindfold and practice
guiding each other. So we have the experience of like
what that leap of faith really feels like. And we
the other thing that we do right away at the
beginning is we practice falling because everyone's afraid to fall.
Nobody wants to fall. Like if I'm walking down the
city street, I don't want to fall on the sidewalk.
(11:47):
You know, that hurts. But you know, in the snow
it doesn't hurt so much. It's actually kind of refreshing.
You get you get a nice exfoliating snow facial when
you fall. It's nice. And you realize, okay, I can
get up, I can I can roll over on my back,
lift up my legs like a roach and and get
back on my feet. We try to demystify The that
(12:07):
falling fear right away. Falling is actually can be a
really safe way to avoid a collision. We have a
sit command that we use sometimes and we practice it
right away. If skiers are heading for a bruising, we
will just say sit and they know, okay, I'm just
going to sit right down because I'll be able to
get right back up. And we do find over the
course of the week that's the other ways in the program.
(12:28):
It's a week long. You've got five days, six days
to work with the same guide, work out your communication,
build that trust so that by the day you're doing
the race or the rally, you can really fly and
just really achieve something that you maybe never imagined you
could do. And that is true for the skiers as
well as for the guides.
S5 (12:48):
The good thing about coming to ski for light, if
you've never made anyone cry, you will have about 300
people just crying their eyes out because the joy of
watching a brand new skier come in one week's time,
which is very short and finish a race. It's overwhelming
because you get to see those new skiers. You literally
(13:11):
all of your attention is on those new skiers, and
it is a riot to watch to come across the line.
S3 (13:17):
Since ski is run entirely by volunteers, what are some
of the biggest challenges that you face in hosting this
event each year?
S4 (13:26):
It's not what you would normally expect. I mean, any
nonprofit president is going to say right away fundraising, and
we certainly accept donations. We won't say no to that,
but we have some generous funders, individuals, organizations, grants. We've
really been fortunate. And so the two things that come
to mind right away are climate change, which is really
an existential threat to all winter sports, but cross-country skiing
(13:50):
in particular. It doesn't lend itself well to man made snow.
You know, the downhill areas are able to blow snow
onto the hill. We need multiple kilometers of trails, which
is hard to put snow on. There are ski areas.
We had one last year in Provo that was able
to give us some man made snow to fill in
the gaps. And that was that was great. But it's
(14:10):
not ideal. And we find as the American Snow Belt
kind of shrinks because of climate change, we are left
with fewer viable venues that we can afford. We cannot
afford to go to Vail every year, which is a
very high end ski area. We can't go to Jackson
Hole and ski with all the, you know, the downhill skiers.
(14:31):
It's just too expensive. The hotels, the food, all that.
So finding affordable ski areas that have reliable snowfall through
the season where we can reliably have our event is
a big one. The other really big issue we have
is continually recruiting newer, younger guides who can keep up
with our really athletic skiers like Anthony. We have also
(14:52):
some young blind skiers coming in every year who really
take to the sport, and they want to go fast.
And like any aging organization, we're now, like I said,
in our 50th year, our volunteer corps has been aging
along with it. And so we've got some wonderful veteran
guides who've got a lot of experience, but they are
getting a little older. 60s 70s. We're slowing down a
(15:14):
little bit. I'm in my 50s. Um, I can't keep
up with those young whippersnappers anymore. But to find sighted
skiers who are good skiers who are in their 20s,
30s 40s who can take a week off of their jobs,
their families, travel to a ski area where we're meeting,
spend a week working with a blind skier. That's a
(15:37):
big ask. That's a big commitment. Um, everyone pays to
attend ski for light. Nobody gets a free ride. We
do use donated funds to make the event as affordable
as we can. We offer stipends for people who have
financial hardship. We want to make it affordable, but it's
still a week off, which for a lot of young
people is tough. So we we are trying to come
(15:59):
up with some new ways to encourage, incentivize young people
to come give us a try. The regional events are
a great way to kind of get introduced to the program,
see if you like it before you make that leap
to come join us for a week at a higher
cost for you. Um, so yeah, finding affordable ski venues
and then keeping our guide Corps refreshed, youthful fit so
(16:23):
that we have, you know, a strong guiding corps for
the next generation is a top of mind concern for
us right now.
S3 (16:30):
So what role does the relationship between the skier and
the guide play in the success of the program, and
how do you recruit new guides?
S4 (16:41):
Anthony, you want to take the first part of that.
S5 (16:43):
I stress over and over and over again that as
a skier, you give your attention to the guide because
the guide will help you through things during that week.
Another thing is the ski for light. We're not the
only one out on the skiing area, so the the
community and other spectators, they're there for us as well.
S4 (17:05):
Yeah. And that's scenario Anthony described where we're out at
the ski area doing our thing. Sometimes we're wearing, you know,
blind athlete bibs. Guide bibs. We're noticeable out at the
ski area and people notice us and are excited. They
love this idea. Like oh wait, hang on. You can't see.
Or you have limited vision and you're doing what you're doing.
You're going down that hill. That's amazing. And we have
(17:27):
had guides come to us because maybe 2 or 3
years ago they were at a ski area and they
saw a ski, a blind skier and a guide working together,
and were really just captivated by that idea. And they've
been thinking about it and wanting to come. And lo
and behold, here they are. Word of mouth, direct exposure.
We have a lot of guides that work very hard
(17:50):
in recruiting their friends, their teammates, their coworkers. We do
some outreach efforts. We have a partnership with the American
Birkebeiner event, which is a huge Nordic event that's been
going on a long time in northern Wisconsin. We always
host a booth at their expo where we do a
lot of recruitment efforts, hand out flyers, talk about the program.
(18:12):
We've had a number of guides now come to us
from attending that event. We have a pretty active Facebook presence,
Instagram and YouTube. I encourage people to check out our
channel and check out our videos. Share them with friends.
If you're listening to this and you have someone who
might want to try this, you know we really ask
everyone who hears about ski for light. Go recruit. Go
(18:35):
find someone who can be a guide, who can be
a participant. That's how we keep our community growing, um,
from year to year. And so, um, yeah, but I
would say guide recruitment is a big emphasis in our organization.
We have a whole committee of people who work on
it year round.
S3 (18:51):
Looking ahead, what are your goals for the next 5
to 10 years? Are you looking at exploring ways to
adapt or make the program bigger? What what's in the
future for ski for life?
S4 (19:02):
I guess I'll address that. And then I want to
hear kind of. Anthony, you've got a five year plan
for yourself because you're unstoppable. You're gonna you're gonna like. Yeah,
but for the organization, um, this is my last year.
I'm wrapping up four years as president. So I have
kind of a personal goal, which is to hand the
baton to some new leaders who have been empowered, elevated,
supported to keep the organization healthy. We have an amazing
(19:26):
team of people who bring great professional skills to the
running of the organization. But those volunteers, you know, they
need to know they're appreciated. They need to know they're supported.
And so I've worked really hard as president to build
a stronger bench of, you know, new, young volunteers who
can step up and, um, carry this program forward. And
(19:47):
we'd like to shore up some of our regional programs.
We get a lot of feedback from people who say,
that's a great way to get involved in the program.
Sometimes those weekends are just easier to fit into your life. Um,
so if we can, you know, get more of those going, Wing,
get them a little more regular and supported. I think
that would help the overall program. Definitely reaching out to
(20:09):
some younger guides. This year we're building on a one
year experiment we had last year with a student intern.
So this year we're inviting two collegiate students to come
join the program, train with the guides, be a part
of our social media outreach, take advantage of their youthful
creativity to try to reach a new audience. So those
(20:29):
are all some goals. I love ski for light. More
ski for light would be better, but we also have
to stay within our capacity. And right now the what
we put on is about what we are capable of
doing on an annual basis. So, you know, no major expansions,
but growing our circle of supporters, of young guides, new
(20:50):
participants and really just spreading the story of ski for light.
A big part of what we're doing, it's it's for
the participants. It's for all of us to have a
great experience, but it's also a beacon to the rest
of the world to say, you know, if you think
you have ideas about what blind people can do, think again.
Come and see what we're doing. And if you think
(21:11):
that we live in a world where everyone's just out
for themselves and, you know, things are just very kind
of tense politically in the US, we're very divided. If
you think that's the reality, like come to our event,
you will see people from all walks of life, all
political stripes, all economic strata, all demographics working together on
one wonderful week of skiing. And it really restores your
(21:33):
faith in just the idea of international fellowship, cooperation, friendship
across boundaries. We just want more people to know about
what we're doing. So right now, Lizzie, you are helping
us with that. And I am hugely grateful to you
and your listeners.
S5 (21:51):
The five year plan is to get myself to the
point where, on an average each year, I can introduce
two new skiers to ski for life. So I would
love it one day that the people that I talked
to can be a big portion of that. Over the
last couple of years, I have been very successful in
talking to individuals and meeting them, some who have skied
(22:11):
and others who've not skied.
S4 (22:13):
Yeah. Anthony, you're such a great ambassador, and it's wonderful
to see the connections that you've made. And when people
come to ski for light, it really can be overwhelming.
It's a lot of it's a lot of friends you
haven't met yet. And so to have someone like Anthony,
who's so welcoming and warm and that they know at
least I'll have one buddy there that that I've connected
with and that becomes 250 new friends over the course
(22:37):
of the week. So yeah, absolutely. Keep up those efforts
of bringing in some new folks.
S5 (22:42):
I take it upon me to say, okay, I introduce
this person to skiing, and therefore I'm responsible for making
sure that this person is doing okay during the week,
because that new skier knows that someone is there to
check on them.
S3 (22:57):
Talk us through the structure of a day, because obviously
it's not just all skiing.
S4 (23:01):
Yeah. So we start our day with breakfast. We do
all of our breakfasts and dinners at the venue where
we're being accommodated. So, for instance, this year we'll be
at Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colorado. It's a YMCA
of the Rockies, kind of rustic accommodations, but very comfortable.
They have a commons area where we all gather for
breakfast and dinner. During those meals, we have announcements where
(23:25):
we kind of, you know, give a weather report. We
explain what's going to happen during the day. You meet
up with your assigned skiing partner. Usually Sunday night when
everyone arrives for the beginning of the week, is when
we do the big announcement of who's skiing with whom,
and that's always really exciting. Every year we try to
give people different skiing partners. We mix it up, um,
we try to match experienced skiers with more new guides
(23:49):
and vice versa, so that we don't have two newbies
coming in together and having to work together and learn
the event from scratch. But then, you know, on a
typical day, you'll meet up after breakfast with your skier.
How are you feeling? What kind of distance do you
want to do today? Is there something you want to
work on? You know, we'll go to the ski area,
get out on the trail, or maybe work through some
(24:10):
simple stepping exercises. If they're a beginner, get them comfortable,
balanced on the skis, and so on. Take those baby
steps toward completing A5K. Let's say we do lunch out
at the ski area. Usually we'll have like, you know,
like a hot soup and sandwich type of deal back
out on the trail in the afternoon. And then when
(24:30):
we come back to the hotel in the late afternoon,
sometimes people hit the pool or if there's a hot tub,
we do that. We have what we call special interest
or apres ski sessions, where people in our community who
have a special skill to share, an incredible travel story,
to share a workout they want to demonstrate. People will
meet in small groups to do those special interest sessions
(24:53):
before dinner. Um, we have kind of a banquet style
dinner with announcements. Sometimes we'll have guest musicians, storytellers, comedians,
you know, come in and do a program and then
maybe a sing along in the evening. We've got some
very talented musicians who come in and bring instruments. Uh,
we might have a dance. We will sometimes have other
(25:15):
kinds of gatherings. We often will have a sobriety meeting
for people who are part of Alcoholics Anonymous or recovery program.
They have a chance to get together. We might have
some other special populations meet. And then throughout the week
we'll have, you know, we have a special Norway night
where we celebrate our Norwegian background and friendship. Yeah. And
then come Saturday night, we're celebrating our achievements in the
(25:36):
race rally. We give out awards. We, um, have some
special presentations. Every year we pick out a new skier
and a new guide to share their experience. This last
year it was Lily, your your friend, um, our amazing
Aussie pioneer who came to ski for light this year.
She brought the house down with her recollections of the week.
(25:57):
It was an amazing speech. And then we also have
a special award called the John Hogg Award, named after
one of our early founders. It's a gift of a
ski package, skis, boots and poles for a first time
skier who shows tremendous potential and interest and enthusiasm in
the sport, and that's to encourage that person to keep
going and to come back. And we've had great success
(26:19):
with those folks coming back. So it really the week
has a build a momentum. Come Sunday, we're all exhausted.
We kind of stumble out of the hotel. It's hard
to come down to reality after being in ski for
Light World blind frenzy.
S5 (26:34):
Tell me it's sometimes it's a challenge to get out
there and this is that opportunity, and to get them
to break out of that shell they're in and they're
very appreciative.
S4 (26:43):
Yeah. And if I could just piggyback on that for
a second about the social aspect. One of my favorite
comments from a visually impaired skier. She said something like,
you know, ski for light is the one week a
year where I don't feel blind. We're taught as guides,
you know, just some basic courtesies like when you sit
down at a table, identify yourself by your full name.
When you get up to leave, let the group know. Okay,
(27:06):
I'm going to head to the bathroom now. Or you know, unfortunately,
you know, I know I don't know how it is
in Australia, but for sure in the US we really
don't do a good job of helping children and young
people learn just basic, common courtesies around people with disabilities.
As skipper, like, we really stress these things so that
it creates, we hope, a seamless, easy, welcoming, comfortable social
(27:30):
situation which is just as important as feeling safe on
your skis. You want to feel safe and welcome. So
we really try to go above and beyond to make
it a socially satisfying experience for everybody.
S3 (27:41):
Well, thank you, Julie and Anthony, for joining me on
this week's episode of Studio One about ski for light.
If people want to get involved, whether that be, you know,
to donate or to become a guide or to apply
to become a skier at your next event, how can
they do that? Where can they go?
S4 (27:58):
Yeah. So go to our website. It's. All the lowdown
is there. You can also connect with us through our
ski for Light International Facebook page YouTube channel, Instagram. Drop
me a message. My email is very easy to remember.
It's president at NFL.com. If you have a specific question of,
(28:20):
you know, is this the right program for me or
for my loved one? I'm always happy to hear from people.
So those are the best ways to reach out.
S3 (28:27):
That's a wrap for this week. A big thanks to
Julie Coppins, the president of Ski for light, for being
a guest on this week's show. And also thank you
to Anthony Nelson for chatting with us as well.
S2 (28:38):
And of course, thank you for listening. That includes our
listeners on the Reading Radio Network. You can find the
podcast of the program, including some extra content on Apple, Spotify,
Google or your favorite podcast platform.
S3 (28:51):
Next week, we wind the clock back a whole 25 years.
S2 (28:55):
In the year 2000. And that sounds like the future
and not the past as far as I'm concerned. Anyway,
in the year 2000, the Paralympics came to Australia. We
talked to a few people who were there at the time.
S3 (29:06):
But between now and then, please do get in touch
with the show if you have any experience with the
issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or
if you think there's something we should be talking about,
you never know. Your story and insight may help someone
who is dealing with something similar.
S2 (29:21):
You can reach us via email. Studio one at Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (29:27):
Org or of course you can find us on all
of the good social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram
by searching for VA Radio Network.
S2 (29:37):
Time to Ski Away by.
S1 (29:39):
Studio One was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio. This show was made possible with the help
of the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at.
This is Studio One with Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham
on Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:24):
Hello, I'm Sam and I'm Lizzie and this is Studio One,
your weekly look at life from a low vision and
blind point of view here on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:31):
This week we chat to Julie Coppins, the president of
ski for light, about how it all began. And we
also talk to one of their vision impaired athletes, Anthony Nelson.
S2 (00:42):
As we always say at this point, please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there is something we
should be talking about. You never know. Your story and
insight may help somebody who is dealing with something similar.
And yes, we're talking to you as well, Brad.
S3 (00:58):
You can contact us via email at studio one at Australia. Org,
that's studio number one at org. Or of course you
can drop us a note on our Facebook page by
going to facebook.com Slash Radio Network.
S2 (01:14):
So. Hello, Lizzy. I understand you've got some exciting news
for us.
S3 (01:18):
I did. But, um, things didn't really pan out. I
could have been by this time next month in India
playing blind cricket.
S2 (01:26):
So what happened there?
S3 (01:27):
Well, I have less than four weeks worth of notice,
so getting an express passport and visa is going to
be an added stress that I don't need. Plus, I
don't really think that you would appreciate me taking three
weeks off at just a month's notice.
S2 (01:40):
Well, we could have squeezed something in with with more
notice for sure. And perhaps I literally phoned it in, but, um. Anyway.
And I've got my exciting news as well. And that
is our month has suddenly filled up as far as, uh,
studio one. What we've got in the next couple of
weeks is becoming a lot more secure and interesting because
we've been, frankly, scrabbling for stuff. I mean, what we
had planned for this week's show didn't quite work out.
(02:03):
So thank goodness you came up with something. But, um, no,
we've got got things coming out of our ears now,
as it were. So next week.
S3 (02:10):
You've always got your back.
S2 (02:11):
Oh, yes. Yes. So we'll explain. Um, what's our next
week's show? Um, at the end of the this show,
as we normally do. But, um, Vision Australia has now
appointed a new CEO, David Williamson. So we look forward
to talking to him hopefully by the end of the
month as well. And I've been in conversation with Scamwatch
(02:31):
and all going well. We'll also be having a good, nice,
long conversation about internet and social media scams, uh, with
their CEO. Yeah. So it's, um, it's going to be
a productive month.
S3 (02:43):
Great. Fantastic.
S2 (02:45):
In the meantime, it only remains to throw over to
the interview. So let's ski into it.
S3 (02:52):
Well, I am joined by Julie, who is the president
of Ski Flat, and Anthony, who is vision impaired athlete.
Welcome to you both to studio one. Thanks, Lizzie. Thank you.
It is so good to have you. So, Julie, we'll
start with you. I think for those of our listeners
that don't know, could you give us an intro to
what ski for light is about and how it all
(03:13):
got started.
S4 (03:13):
Sure. Well, this year we're celebrating our 50th anniversary. The
organization started in 1975 by a group of Norwegian Americans
who were into cross-country skiing. There's a long running event
that's similar happening every year in Norway called the Retirin.
And some of their people, uh, got together with some
(03:34):
of the people here in the US and decided that
this is a concept that they wanted to try here.
And the Norwegian person who was really instrumental was a musician,
a blind musician named Erling Stordahl. And he came over
and worked with Olaf Pettersen, who's our founder. They got
support from organizations like Sons of Norway, the Lions Club
(03:55):
Pool to get together a bunch of volunteers to hold
an event in Frisco, Colorado in 75, bringing together, you know,
blind athletes to try cross-country skiing. And they figured out
that the unique nature of the sport where if you've
never cross country skied before, um, just a little, you
kind of need to understand how it works. So the
snow is groomed. They use a machine to create tracks
(04:18):
that are sort of shaped in the snow. So your
skis fit into those tracks so that when you're going
along the trail, you can kind of feel where you're going.
And so the guy, the sighted guide who's skiing alongside you,
is giving you verbal confirmation of where you're going. They
might be coaching you on technique, that kind of thing,
but it's a sport that works really well for the
(04:40):
visually impaired. And over the years, the event has evolved.
We continue to hold a week long event somewhere in
the US in the Snow belt every year. This coming
year will be in Granby, Colorado, first week of February.
That's how it started. It was really born out of
an international friendship between Norway, which is the birthplace of
(05:02):
cross-country Nordic skiing, and a population here in the US
that was really looking for a great way to be
active in the winter time.
S3 (05:09):
And can you share with us how you personally became
involved and then, you know, moved on to become president.
S4 (05:15):
So I was coming out of college in the early
90s and just looking for a way to volunteer. I
really had very little experience with any kind of disability. I'm,
you know, I'm a sighted person myself, but I saw
someone in Cincinnati that wanted someone to be a walking partner.
She was blind. And I thought, well, I can walk.
So I reached out and she connected me immediately with
(05:36):
a group of blind hikers. They needed a guide for
an overnight trip down in the Smoky Mountains of the US. Um,
they asked if I knew how to cross country ski,
and I said, well, no, but I used to downhill
ski and they're like, close enough. We can use you.
So I went to one of the regional events. There's
a bunch of offshoot events that are just like long
weekends in different parts of the US. I went to
(05:57):
the one in Northern Ohio. They taught me how to
cross country ski, taught me how to guide. And then
I went to my first international event in 1997. Absolutely
fell in love with the program, fell in love with
the sport. I had actually had a pretty bad accident
as a downhill skier at age 12, tore up my
knee and had a lot of fear around downhill skiing.
(06:19):
And so cross country was like, really saved me from,
you know, one just really got me back into skiing
in a way that felt a lot more safe. And
then I found the partnership with a blind skier made
the sport so much more fun and enjoyable, and I
really have been attending ever since. So I missed one
(06:39):
year when I was giving birth to my son. That
was my excuse for missing. Otherwise, I've been there every year.
I absolutely adore the people being able to ski and
hang out with people like Anthony, who you'll meet in
a second, has really been the joy of my life.
It's where so many of my dear lifelong friends are.
We get together every year for a week and it's
(07:00):
like we've never been apart. We have the best time.
And something else that's unique about the program is it is.
We're all volunteers. Even I as president, all of our
organizing committee. We all dedicate the time to make the
event happen because we know how much we love it
and we want to make it available for, you know,
for the future. So that's a big part of it.
(07:21):
And the entire organizational team is evenly divided between people
who have site and people who don't. We have wheelchair
users in our organization group as well. So it's not
like a lot, a lot of some of these early
recreational programs for the disabled where, you know, it's a
bunch of well-meaning, able bodied people putting on something for
the disabled. Now we are an active partnership. It is
(07:43):
hand in hand. Uh, we couldn't do it without each other.
And as a guide, as a volunteer, I am rewarded
a hundredfold by all the time and energy that I
put in. It's a it's really a wonderful and unique program.
S3 (07:57):
How do you see cross country skiing? Helping people who
are blind or low vision to build confidence beyond that
sport itself?
S5 (08:07):
And so what I could say, I'll use an experience
I had when I started skiing first. You know, I
do have vision. So just a little article. I started
out as a runner, you know, a wrestler, a goalball player.
And then after I stopped competitive running, then I wanted
to do something. If by chance I had a supervisor
(08:28):
who was a downhill skier, but I declined on the downhill,
I just wasn't as interested in the downhill. But since
the Munich Olympics, I always wanted to be a cross-country skier.
So I had a friend who used to run with
me back in the days, told me about skiing, and
so I promised it one day I would try it.
It took me like ten years or so because I
(08:50):
was a family guy, you know, single parent raising children.
So I wanted to finish those things before I got
into something different. And so I finally got into cross-country skiing.
Never touched a ski in my life, my state. I'd
only seen snow three times in my life. I'm in
my 50s now by this time, So I joined in
(09:10):
with the ski for light group, and when I joined
in as a sighted person, I needed a minimum amount
of guidance. Go up, down, you know, doing this, doing
the next thing. And so I was in Provo, Utah,
and we were in a session and I heard the skiers,
the blind skiers, total blind skiers talking about the course
(09:33):
and the trouble they having making certain turns, etc., etc.
so that next morning I told my ski guide, I said, listen.
I hear people expressing their concerns, but I have no
idea what they're talking about because I can see today
you're going to have to guide me all the way
because I'm putting on a blindfold and I will ski
(09:56):
completely blindfolded all day. So if someone comes in who've
never had a chance to work with someone as a
team member, that is the best. Skiing is the perfect
opportunity to learn how to work as a team and
cooperate with each other.
S3 (10:12):
It sounds like an amazing leap of courage to just
trust someone so completely that you would put your life
in their hands, so to speak. How did that make
you feel?
S5 (10:22):
With me, I'm a person that probably can roll with
pretty much anything. It made me feel good that I
could accomplish skiing. Rather you had site or not.
S3 (10:35):
And if you could give any advice to anyone that
wanted to try out cross-country skiing, but, you know, maybe
they were a little bit hesitant.
S5 (10:43):
Like I did, I had to face my fear of
someone who never skied, set a goal as a person
who'd never skied, set a goal. And the first goal was,
I want to learn how to ski. That's what I
would say to a person who's never skied. To have
interest in skiing. Come on in and join us because
we are here to support you.
S4 (11:04):
Yeah, Anthony makes such a good point because, yeah, we're
all we're all coming in. We're all stretching ourselves. We're
all doing something you know, we've never necessarily done before.
We really stress communication, safety. One of the first things
that we do. And when Anthony talked about putting on
the blindfold, that is part of our guide training as well.
So we bring all the first and second year guides
(11:25):
in a day early. They go through kind of a
guiding boot camp. They put on a blindfold and practice
guiding each other. So we have the experience of like
what that leap of faith really feels like. And we
the other thing that we do right away at the
beginning is we practice falling because everyone's afraid to fall.
Nobody wants to fall. Like if I'm walking down the
city street, I don't want to fall on the sidewalk.
(11:47):
You know, that hurts. But you know, in the snow
it doesn't hurt so much. It's actually kind of refreshing.
You get you get a nice exfoliating snow facial when
you fall. It's nice. And you realize, okay, I can
get up, I can I can roll over on my back,
lift up my legs like a roach and and get
back on my feet. We try to demystify The that
(12:07):
falling fear right away. Falling is actually can be a
really safe way to avoid a collision. We have a
sit command that we use sometimes and we practice it
right away. If skiers are heading for a bruising, we
will just say sit and they know, okay, I'm just
going to sit right down because I'll be able to
get right back up. And we do find over the
course of the week that's the other ways in the program.
(12:28):
It's a week long. You've got five days, six days
to work with the same guide, work out your communication,
build that trust so that by the day you're doing
the race or the rally, you can really fly and
just really achieve something that you maybe never imagined you
could do. And that is true for the skiers as
well as for the guides.
S5 (12:48):
The good thing about coming to ski for light, if
you've never made anyone cry, you will have about 300
people just crying their eyes out because the joy of
watching a brand new skier come in one week's time,
which is very short and finish a race. It's overwhelming
because you get to see those new skiers. You literally
(13:11):
all of your attention is on those new skiers, and
it is a riot to watch to come across the line.
S3 (13:17):
Since ski is run entirely by volunteers, what are some
of the biggest challenges that you face in hosting this
event each year?
S4 (13:26):
It's not what you would normally expect. I mean, any
nonprofit president is going to say right away fundraising, and
we certainly accept donations. We won't say no to that,
but we have some generous funders, individuals, organizations, grants. We've
really been fortunate. And so the two things that come
to mind right away are climate change, which is really
an existential threat to all winter sports, but cross-country skiing
(13:50):
in particular. It doesn't lend itself well to man made snow.
You know, the downhill areas are able to blow snow
onto the hill. We need multiple kilometers of trails, which
is hard to put snow on. There are ski areas.
We had one last year in Provo that was able
to give us some man made snow to fill in
the gaps. And that was that was great. But it's
(14:10):
not ideal. And we find as the American Snow Belt
kind of shrinks because of climate change, we are left
with fewer viable venues that we can afford. We cannot
afford to go to Vail every year, which is a
very high end ski area. We can't go to Jackson
Hole and ski with all the, you know, the downhill skiers.
(14:31):
It's just too expensive. The hotels, the food, all that.
So finding affordable ski areas that have reliable snowfall through
the season where we can reliably have our event is
a big one. The other really big issue we have
is continually recruiting newer, younger guides who can keep up
with our really athletic skiers like Anthony. We have also
(14:52):
some young blind skiers coming in every year who really
take to the sport, and they want to go fast.
And like any aging organization, we're now, like I said,
in our 50th year, our volunteer corps has been aging
along with it. And so we've got some wonderful veteran
guides who've got a lot of experience, but they are
getting a little older. 60s 70s. We're slowing down a
(15:14):
little bit. I'm in my 50s. Um, I can't keep
up with those young whippersnappers anymore. But to find sighted
skiers who are good skiers who are in their 20s,
30s 40s who can take a week off of their jobs,
their families, travel to a ski area where we're meeting,
spend a week working with a blind skier. That's a
(15:37):
big ask. That's a big commitment. Um, everyone pays to
attend ski for light. Nobody gets a free ride. We
do use donated funds to make the event as affordable
as we can. We offer stipends for people who have
financial hardship. We want to make it affordable, but it's
still a week off, which for a lot of young
people is tough. So we we are trying to come
(15:59):
up with some new ways to encourage, incentivize young people
to come give us a try. The regional events are
a great way to kind of get introduced to the program,
see if you like it before you make that leap
to come join us for a week at a higher
cost for you. Um, so yeah, finding affordable ski venues
and then keeping our guide Corps refreshed, youthful fit so
(16:23):
that we have, you know, a strong guiding corps for
the next generation is a top of mind concern for
us right now.
S3 (16:30):
So what role does the relationship between the skier and
the guide play in the success of the program, and
how do you recruit new guides?
S4 (16:41):
Anthony, you want to take the first part of that.
S5 (16:43):
I stress over and over and over again that as
a skier, you give your attention to the guide because
the guide will help you through things during that week.
Another thing is the ski for light. We're not the
only one out on the skiing area, so the the
community and other spectators, they're there for us as well.
S4 (17:05):
Yeah. And that's scenario Anthony described where we're out at
the ski area doing our thing. Sometimes we're wearing, you know,
blind athlete bibs. Guide bibs. We're noticeable out at the
ski area and people notice us and are excited. They
love this idea. Like oh wait, hang on. You can't see.
Or you have limited vision and you're doing what you're doing.
You're going down that hill. That's amazing. And we have
(17:27):
had guides come to us because maybe 2 or 3
years ago they were at a ski area and they
saw a ski, a blind skier and a guide working together,
and were really just captivated by that idea. And they've
been thinking about it and wanting to come. And lo
and behold, here they are. Word of mouth, direct exposure.
We have a lot of guides that work very hard
(17:50):
in recruiting their friends, their teammates, their coworkers. We do
some outreach efforts. We have a partnership with the American
Birkebeiner event, which is a huge Nordic event that's been
going on a long time in northern Wisconsin. We always
host a booth at their expo where we do a
lot of recruitment efforts, hand out flyers, talk about the program.
(18:12):
We've had a number of guides now come to us
from attending that event. We have a pretty active Facebook presence,
Instagram and YouTube. I encourage people to check out our
channel and check out our videos. Share them with friends.
If you're listening to this and you have someone who
might want to try this, you know we really ask
everyone who hears about ski for light. Go recruit. Go
(18:35):
find someone who can be a guide, who can be
a participant. That's how we keep our community growing, um,
from year to year. And so, um, yeah, but I
would say guide recruitment is a big emphasis in our organization.
We have a whole committee of people who work on
it year round.
S3 (18:51):
Looking ahead, what are your goals for the next 5
to 10 years? Are you looking at exploring ways to
adapt or make the program bigger? What what's in the
future for ski for life?
S4 (19:02):
I guess I'll address that. And then I want to
hear kind of. Anthony, you've got a five year plan
for yourself because you're unstoppable. You're gonna you're gonna like. Yeah,
but for the organization, um, this is my last year.
I'm wrapping up four years as president. So I have
kind of a personal goal, which is to hand the
baton to some new leaders who have been empowered, elevated,
supported to keep the organization healthy. We have an amazing
(19:26):
team of people who bring great professional skills to the
running of the organization. But those volunteers, you know, they
need to know they're appreciated. They need to know they're supported.
And so I've worked really hard as president to build
a stronger bench of, you know, new, young volunteers who
can step up and, um, carry this program forward. And
(19:47):
we'd like to shore up some of our regional programs.
We get a lot of feedback from people who say,
that's a great way to get involved in the program.
Sometimes those weekends are just easier to fit into your life. Um,
so if we can, you know, get more of those going, Wing,
get them a little more regular and supported. I think
that would help the overall program. Definitely reaching out to
(20:09):
some younger guides. This year we're building on a one
year experiment we had last year with a student intern.
So this year we're inviting two collegiate students to come
join the program, train with the guides, be a part
of our social media outreach, take advantage of their youthful
creativity to try to reach a new audience. So those
(20:29):
are all some goals. I love ski for light. More
ski for light would be better, but we also have
to stay within our capacity. And right now the what
we put on is about what we are capable of
doing on an annual basis. So, you know, no major expansions,
but growing our circle of supporters, of young guides, new
(20:50):
participants and really just spreading the story of ski for light.
A big part of what we're doing, it's it's for
the participants. It's for all of us to have a
great experience, but it's also a beacon to the rest
of the world to say, you know, if you think
you have ideas about what blind people can do, think again.
Come and see what we're doing. And if you think
(21:11):
that we live in a world where everyone's just out
for themselves and, you know, things are just very kind
of tense politically in the US, we're very divided. If
you think that's the reality, like come to our event,
you will see people from all walks of life, all
political stripes, all economic strata, all demographics working together on
one wonderful week of skiing. And it really restores your
(21:33):
faith in just the idea of international fellowship, cooperation, friendship
across boundaries. We just want more people to know about
what we're doing. So right now, Lizzie, you are helping
us with that. And I am hugely grateful to you
and your listeners.
S5 (21:51):
The five year plan is to get myself to the
point where, on an average each year, I can introduce
two new skiers to ski for life. So I would
love it one day that the people that I talked
to can be a big portion of that. Over the
last couple of years, I have been very successful in
talking to individuals and meeting them, some who have skied
(22:11):
and others who've not skied.
S4 (22:13):
Yeah. Anthony, you're such a great ambassador, and it's wonderful
to see the connections that you've made. And when people
come to ski for light, it really can be overwhelming.
It's a lot of it's a lot of friends you
haven't met yet. And so to have someone like Anthony,
who's so welcoming and warm and that they know at
least I'll have one buddy there that that I've connected
with and that becomes 250 new friends over the course
(22:37):
of the week. So yeah, absolutely. Keep up those efforts
of bringing in some new folks.
S5 (22:42):
I take it upon me to say, okay, I introduce
this person to skiing, and therefore I'm responsible for making
sure that this person is doing okay during the week,
because that new skier knows that someone is there to
check on them.
S3 (22:57):
Talk us through the structure of a day, because obviously
it's not just all skiing.
S4 (23:01):
Yeah. So we start our day with breakfast. We do
all of our breakfasts and dinners at the venue where
we're being accommodated. So, for instance, this year we'll be
at Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colorado. It's a YMCA
of the Rockies, kind of rustic accommodations, but very comfortable.
They have a commons area where we all gather for
breakfast and dinner. During those meals, we have announcements where
(23:25):
we kind of, you know, give a weather report. We
explain what's going to happen during the day. You meet
up with your assigned skiing partner. Usually Sunday night when
everyone arrives for the beginning of the week, is when
we do the big announcement of who's skiing with whom,
and that's always really exciting. Every year we try to
give people different skiing partners. We mix it up, um,
we try to match experienced skiers with more new guides
(23:49):
and vice versa, so that we don't have two newbies
coming in together and having to work together and learn
the event from scratch. But then, you know, on a
typical day, you'll meet up after breakfast with your skier.
How are you feeling? What kind of distance do you
want to do today? Is there something you want to
work on? You know, we'll go to the ski area,
get out on the trail, or maybe work through some
(24:10):
simple stepping exercises. If they're a beginner, get them comfortable,
balanced on the skis, and so on. Take those baby
steps toward completing A5K. Let's say we do lunch out
at the ski area. Usually we'll have like, you know,
like a hot soup and sandwich type of deal back
out on the trail in the afternoon. And then when
(24:30):
we come back to the hotel in the late afternoon,
sometimes people hit the pool or if there's a hot tub,
we do that. We have what we call special interest
or apres ski sessions, where people in our community who
have a special skill to share, an incredible travel story,
to share a workout they want to demonstrate. People will
meet in small groups to do those special interest sessions
(24:53):
before dinner. Um, we have kind of a banquet style
dinner with announcements. Sometimes we'll have guest musicians, storytellers, comedians,
you know, come in and do a program and then
maybe a sing along in the evening. We've got some
very talented musicians who come in and bring instruments. Uh,
we might have a dance. We will sometimes have other
(25:15):
kinds of gatherings. We often will have a sobriety meeting
for people who are part of Alcoholics Anonymous or recovery program.
They have a chance to get together. We might have
some other special populations meet. And then throughout the week
we'll have, you know, we have a special Norway night
where we celebrate our Norwegian background and friendship. Yeah. And
then come Saturday night, we're celebrating our achievements in the
(25:36):
race rally. We give out awards. We, um, have some
special presentations. Every year we pick out a new skier
and a new guide to share their experience. This last
year it was Lily, your your friend, um, our amazing
Aussie pioneer who came to ski for light this year.
She brought the house down with her recollections of the week.
(25:57):
It was an amazing speech. And then we also have
a special award called the John Hogg Award, named after
one of our early founders. It's a gift of a
ski package, skis, boots and poles for a first time
skier who shows tremendous potential and interest and enthusiasm in
the sport, and that's to encourage that person to keep
going and to come back. And we've had great success
(26:19):
with those folks coming back. So it really the week
has a build a momentum. Come Sunday, we're all exhausted.
We kind of stumble out of the hotel. It's hard
to come down to reality after being in ski for
Light World blind frenzy.
S5 (26:34):
Tell me it's sometimes it's a challenge to get out
there and this is that opportunity, and to get them
to break out of that shell they're in and they're
very appreciative.
S4 (26:43):
Yeah. And if I could just piggyback on that for
a second about the social aspect. One of my favorite
comments from a visually impaired skier. She said something like,
you know, ski for light is the one week a
year where I don't feel blind. We're taught as guides,
you know, just some basic courtesies like when you sit
down at a table, identify yourself by your full name.
When you get up to leave, let the group know. Okay,
(27:06):
I'm going to head to the bathroom now. Or you know, unfortunately,
you know, I know I don't know how it is
in Australia, but for sure in the US we really
don't do a good job of helping children and young
people learn just basic, common courtesies around people with disabilities.
As skipper, like, we really stress these things so that
it creates, we hope, a seamless, easy, welcoming, comfortable social
(27:30):
situation which is just as important as feeling safe on
your skis. You want to feel safe and welcome. So
we really try to go above and beyond to make
it a socially satisfying experience for everybody.
S3 (27:41):
Well, thank you, Julie and Anthony, for joining me on
this week's episode of Studio One about ski for light.
If people want to get involved, whether that be, you know,
to donate or to become a guide or to apply
to become a skier at your next event, how can
they do that? Where can they go?
S4 (27:58):
Yeah. So go to our website. It's. All the lowdown
is there. You can also connect with us through our
ski for Light International Facebook page YouTube channel, Instagram. Drop
me a message. My email is very easy to remember.
It's president at NFL.com. If you have a specific question of,
(28:20):
you know, is this the right program for me or
for my loved one? I'm always happy to hear from people.
So those are the best ways to reach out.
S3 (28:27):
That's a wrap for this week. A big thanks to
Julie Coppins, the president of Ski for light, for being
a guest on this week's show. And also thank you
to Anthony Nelson for chatting with us as well.
S2 (28:38):
And of course, thank you for listening. That includes our
listeners on the Reading Radio Network. You can find the
podcast of the program, including some extra content on Apple, Spotify,
Google or your favorite podcast platform.
S3 (28:51):
Next week, we wind the clock back a whole 25 years.
S2 (28:55):
In the year 2000. And that sounds like the future
and not the past as far as I'm concerned. Anyway,
in the year 2000, the Paralympics came to Australia. We
talked to a few people who were there at the time.
S3 (29:06):
But between now and then, please do get in touch
with the show if you have any experience with the
issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or
if you think there's something we should be talking about,
you never know. Your story and insight may help someone
who is dealing with something similar.
S2 (29:21):
You can reach us via email. Studio one at Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (29:27):
Org or of course you can find us on all
of the good social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram
by searching for VA Radio Network.
S2 (29:37):
Time to Ski Away by.
S1 (29:39):
Studio One was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio. This show was made possible with the help
of the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at.
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