2015 Disabled Water Ski World Championships Set for CA

The 12th Disabled Water Ski World Championships will be offered Sept. 21-27, 2015, in Elk Grove, Calif. Accordingly, the Water Skiers with Disabilities Association, a sport discipline organization of USA Water Ski, has announced the selection of the 2015 U.S. Disabled Water Ski Team that will compete in this event.

The selections were announced following the conclusion of the 2014 Disabled Water Ski National Championships, Aug. 29-31, in Talking Rock, GA.

Within each event (slalom, tricks and jumping) at the Disabled Worlds, athletes are grouped into the three categories of seated (paraplegics and quadriplegics), standing (arm and/or leg disabilities with or without prosthesis) and vision impaired (partially or totally blind). At the 2013 Disabled Water Ski World Championships, the U.S. Disabled Water Ski Team won the world team gold medal for an unprecedented third consecutive time (and seventh time in the history of the event) and seven U.S. team members won individual medals.

Athletes selected to the 2015 U.S. Disabled Water Ski Team were: Connor Aguilar-Poggetto (Carmichael, Calif.) – Seated Men; Dave Carter (Dallas, Ga.) – Seated Men; Bill Furbish (Atlanta, Ga.) – Seated Men; Chad Guzman (Gilbert, Ariz.) – Seated Men; Elijah Hager (Alexis, N.C.) – Seated Men; Jeff Hancock (Redmond, Ore.) – Leg Amputee without Prosthesis Men; Jeremy Maddox (Pendergrass, Ga.) – Seated Men; Katie Mawby (Grand Haven, Mich.) – Vision Impaired 2/3 Women; Robbie Parks (Lexington, N.C.) – Seated Men; Joe Ray (Wilsonville, Ala.) – Seated Men; Dan Reed (Indianapolis, Ind.) – Seated Men; Mike Royal (Magnolia, Texas) – Vision Impaired 1/Blind Men; Craig Timm (Center City, Minn.) – Arm Amputee Men; and Chuck Wesson (Charlotte, N.C.) – Seated Men.

Selected as alternates were: Peter Anziano (Atlanta, Ga.) – Seated Men; and Mark Turner (Buda, Texas) – Seated Men. Rhonda Van Dyk (Belding, Mich.) and Jessica Van Dyk (Belding, Mich.) will serve as co-team managers, Denise Bowness (Brandon, Miss.) will serve as coach, and Dr. Keith Barbour (Monroe, Mich.) will be the team physician.

The Water Skiers with Disabilities Association is one of nine sport divisions of USA Water Ski. USA Water Ski was formed in 1939 as a non-profit organization promoting water skiing in the United States. USA Water Ski is affiliated with the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (world governing body) and is recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and Pan-American Sports Organization as the national governing body of organized water skiing and wakeboarding in the United States.