Henrietta woman brings competitive canoeing to people with disabilities

A marathon canoe racer since 1971, Jan Whitaker, of Henrietta, was teaching outrigger canoe lessons at the Genesee Waterways Center in Rochester in 1997 when she met a 9-year-old girl who had mobility impairment in her legs, requiring her to use leg braces. Whitaker, who had never before taught the sport to a person with disabilities, began showing her the ropes of outrigger canoeing, a type of canoeing that uses a canoe with a stabilizing pontoon, usually affixed to the left side of the canoe, to provide additional stability.

“She was my inspiration,” said Whitaker. “The joy and the success of the experience was really my inspiration to expand the opportunity to people with many disabilities. When I saw (her) success, I thought that there’s no reason it couldn’t be enjoyed by people with any type of disability. ... I realized almost instantly that I wanted to take it to the paralympic level.”

At a meeting in December in Guangzhou, China, her dream was realized.
The International Paralympic Committee voted to add para-canoe as a sport to be featured for the first time in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil.

Para-canoe encompasses both para kayak and para va’a — the Hawaiian term for “outrigger canoe.” What defines an outrigger canoe is the stabilizing pontoon, which provides stability for paddling on both flat water and in the ocean.

The decision was the result of more than a decade of work by Whitaker to make para va’a a sport in the Paralympic Games.

Soon after her first lessons in 1997, Whitaker began training paddlers with disabilities through the Rochester Rehabilitation Center. She researched other programs, but didn’t find any like hers.

But, she said, people were very receptive.

“It was just a pretty natural development,” she said, adding that she worked with engineers to design seats for people with such disabilities as spinal cord injuries, as well as with physical therapists.

The sport can be enjoyed by people with many types of disabilities, from visual impairment to amputations to paraplegia, said Whitaker. The outrigger canoes that people with disabilities use are no different than the ones used by able-bodied people, except for modifications to the seats and paddles, if needed.

“Sometimes people have to see something to believe and understand it,” said Whitaker. “They are an example and an inspiration to a lot of other people. Anyone can have a great idea, but you have to put it in practice and demonstrate that it can happen.”

Level playing field

Sue Beck, of Clarkson, has had paraplegia since sustaining a spinal cord injury in 2001. She turned to para va’a as a way to stay in shape after the injury.

“I’d been a very active person before the accident,” she said. “After ... I was looking for something to be active in an outdoor activity again. I have the ability to paddle and be active. When I’m in a canoe and on the water, I’m really not any different than an able-bodied person.”

In 2001, the United States Canoe Association began holding exhibition para va’a races for people with disabilities. That, said Whitaker, was the first national exposure to the sport. In 2005, the association started having full championship para va’a races.

Whitaker said her paddlers compete both in races that are exclusively for people with disabilities and those that aren’t.

“That’s a great joy,” said Whitaker, “to see how a team measures up.”

Her paddlers, she said, relish the opportunity.

“If you just take a person out of a wheelchair to a boat, their disability disappears,” she said. “People with disabilities enjoy the same benefits from sports as able-bodied people do, but I think they lack the opportunities.”

Vision is reality

In 2005, Whitaker founded Cape Ability Outrigger Ohana, a local chapter of Disabled Sports USA, which provides recreational programs and competitive training in va’a to people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Whitaker trains with her athletes on the water in the warm-weather months, and during the winter, they train at Nazareth College. Students in the physical therapy program provide strength training.

Beck trains at Nazareth and also has her own ergometer machine in her home, which she uses every day.

Though she hasn’t decided yet if she will try out for the Paralympic team, Beck said that either way, she would love to go to Brazil and watch the sport’s inaugural race in the games.

“It’s ideally suited for people with disabilities,” she said. “I’m really glad it was accepted.”

Since 1998, Whitaker has also welcomed people with disabilities to be included in the annual Rochester River Challenge, which she organizes, alongside people without disabilities. Beginning in 2005, she has invited wounded service members to participate, as well, in the 400-meter races.

Last year, 38 seven-person teams participated. Of them, half included a person with either a physical or intellectual disability, said Whitaker.

And at the International Canoe Federation World Championships last year in Poland, there was a 28-country field — from five continents — in para va’a and para kayak.

With the sport’s acceptance into the Paralympic Games, Whitaker, who has coached the United States Canoe/Kayak Para Va’a teams the past two years, hopes even more people will learn about and participate in the sport.

“It’s almost hard to comprehend,” she said, about it being accepted, “that you can make this much difference in the world. ... I immediately started calling all my pioneer paddlers, therapists, friends and supporters who were instrumental in bringing out the decision and thanked them for their involvement and support and for making our vision become a reality.”