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DeDecko, Heather

Together we will raise more money for STRIDE Adaptive Sports than we ever could alone!

Want to help?

Support STRIDE Adaptive Sports by making a donation. The process is fast, easy, and secure... and you can be sure that it will benefit a great cause!

Come join the squad!

team-work [teem-wurk] noun
1. A cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interest of a common cause.

Goal $500.00
100% towards our goal
$765.00 raised
HONOR ROLL
$ 75.00
Stephen
$ 200.00
Good luck babe and all the Knights!
Aunt Shertie
$ 50.00
Russo Fam
$ 50.00
Go get 'em, Heather!
Kirtesh
$ 25.00
All the best, Heather :)
Keith
$ 25.00
Good luck! thats alot of skiing!
Allways Logistics
$ 50.00
Good Luck!
Carolyn Criscitiello
$ 30.00
Laura
$ 50.00
Go, Heather and team!
Elizabeth G.
$ 25.00
You’re awesome & im so blessed to know you. Hope we can ski together soon!!!!
Sherry Martinez
$ 25.00
Karen
$ 50.00
Good luck Heather
[Stop]

The Knights of Ni are back!

This year The Knights of Ni are also delighted to welcome James, the father of one of my Race Teammates. Please go say hi! We do read all your comments and love. They are very much appreciated.

For those of you who are on this page for the very first time, I am one of STRIDE's athletes. I ski primarily on the race team at Jiminy Peak. I am one of the people that falls into two categories when I ski, both as a four tracker and visually impaired. What does that mean? It means that when I ski, I have crutches with skis on them instead of poles. It leaves behind 4 tracks in the snow, hence, four tracking. I have a radio in my helmet that allows me to hear my guides. They can guide me down the moutain just by speaking. This day, more than any race, is my favorite day of the year because it's the day I get to give back to STRIDE. They do so much for so many, children and adults and their familes, veterans and civilians alike. If you haven't had a chance to check out their page, please do, and though this is their biggest fundraiser of the year, they accept donations of any amount all year long.

The days I spend on the mountain, on skis anywhere, is infinitely better because of STRIDE. They didn't make me a skier, but they absolutely made me a better skier. They were the first people to want me on a team. They were the first people who told me to stop and admire the view. The first people to share moon set and sun rise from a chairlift, and sunset from the top of a mountain. The first people to take me night skiing. Last week, as ambient air tempuratures were in negative numbers and frostbite was a possibility, they made sure we were all safe, warm, and laughing on a chairlift.

Last week, we went into the glades, yes, tree skiing. Yes, we all came out, no, no one hit a tree. Without them, I might enoy the snow, but I wouldnt have dared to go into the trees. I would never know about the furrows and gullies around the trees. I would never have expected it to be as open as it was. I would have no memories of the exact hue of the light. I wouldn't have had the chance to ski a slalom course. I look at the race courses from the chairlift, the ones set on steeper terrain, and I think this year might be the year I get to try them too. My guides look at Mount Greylock (you can see it from Jiminy Peak, another thing they showed me), and they think this year is the year they should take me to ski the Thunderbolt trail. I never imagined I would hear my name and the Thunderbolt Trail in the same sentence, ever.

I think that's part of the magic of STRIDE, being able to do things, and dream things no one could imagine, even in a year like none of us imagined. I have had the good fortune to have skiied with STRIDE my first time 12 years ago. I'm not afraid of the future holds for me as a skier because of STRIDE, and I want to make sure that legacy, that magic lasts for all of us. Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for being part of it.