Hockey team is for athletes with developmental disabilities
Jan. 12, 2009



Photo by Sam Yu
Sean Byrd, left, of Frederick escorts his son, Paddy Byrd, 8, onto the ice at Skate Frederick recently where the Montgomery Cheetahs practiced with the Walkersville ice hockey team.

By Stan Goldberg
The Frederick News-Post Staff

THREE YEARS AGO WHEN Paddy Byrd first started going to Rockville to work with ice hockey coaches who taught special needs children, his father, Sean, thought he had made a mistake. It just wasn't working out.
"The first two times he went down all he did was fall on the ice and cry," Sean Byrd said. "I said to my wife, if this keeps happening I'm not going to continue to do it."

But the third trip was different.

"He started to walk on the ice," Sean Byrd said. "He wasn't skating, but he was walking on the ice and didn't fall."

Today eight-year-old Paddy not only walks on the ice, but skates on it. Paddy, who is autistic, is a member of the Cheetah's ice hockey, a team for athletes with developmental disabilities.

Last Sunday, Paddy and other members of the Cheetah's were at Skate Frederick to take part in drills with members of the Walkersville ice hockey team. It was a new experience for both groups.

"It's going to be an eye opener for my players," Walkersville coach Steve Whiting said.

His players agreed.

"I'm a little bit nervous, I don't know what to expect," said team captain Tim Dunford. "We are just going to do some drills, help them out."

"I'm impressed they can play," said player Shawn Umberger. "This is the hardest sport there is."

The idea to have the two groups work together came from Juliana Love, an ice skater who is involved with Special Olympics and coaches Paddy Byrd.

She, more than most people, knows the value of ice skating on someone with a disability.

"Due to a debilitating accident in 1993, I suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury," she said. "I live on constant pain, except when I am on the ice."

She said working with the Special Olympics gives her inspiration.

Her son is a member of the Walkersville team, so she went to Whiting and suggested that the Cheetahs and Walkersville players get together in a clinic. Whiting, whose daughter is involved in Olympics and will compete in the World Winter Games in skiing this February, agreed to it.

"This is something near and dear to me," he said.

Love also spends a lot of her time working with Paddy. She has been at it for about seven months and works with him two days a week every week, usually in five- to 10-minute increments.

"Paddy can learn the same skills as someone that does not have a disability," she said. "He can learn how to stand, get up and fall properly."

She has to have a lot of patience. When he first started, he would hug the wall, which Love said didn't help. But since, he has learned how to skate.

"It gives him a social activity, something to work on," Paddy's mother, Teresa Byrd said. "It teaches him to follow rules, pay attention to the teacher, form relationships with other kids."

n n n

THERE ARE ABOUT 20 special need ice hockey teams in the United States and Canada including four in this area--one in Northern Virginia, one in Washington, another in Baltimore and the Cheetahs. Love would like to start one in Frederick. Byrd is the only member of the Cheetahs living in Frederick.

The sport has been around since 1970 when the Grandravine Tornadoes of Toronto were formed. The teams are not under Special Olympics, but instead Special Hockey International, which was formed in 1996.

The rules are modified. There is no icing, offside or body checking. Mentors are allowed to go onto the ice with the players that have severe disabilities. There are no standings and no champions.

When Byrd went to Rockville three years ago, there was no Cheetahs team. He initially worked with coaches from the Northern Virginia team who came to the area to help start a program in Rockville.

Sean Byrd had played hockey at one time and a friend of his told him about the Northern Virginia team. When he found out the coaches were coming to Rockville, he sent his son there to work with them.

Eventually, more players came out and in October of 2007 the Cheetahs were formed. The club has about 30 players. They have all sorts of developmental disabilities from autism to Down Syndrome.

The players range in age from 6 to 19-years-old and mostly live in Montgomery County. The season begins in October and goes through March.

"Some of these kids when they start to play hockey can't communicate," said David Lucia, who is in his first year as coach of the team. "They are not verbal. But they go on the ice and learn to pass the puck. They get the type of therapy here they can't get in the school system."

"I've been doing this for three years and it's helped me a lot," said Adam Rothstein, a member of the team. "It's fun. You learn strategy and what do to."

The 14-year-old from Germantown said it wasn't even that hard to learn how to skate.

Last week's clinic was a first, but Love hopes it's only the start of such a program in Frederick County. She would like nothing better than to see Frederick form the area's fifth special needs ice hockey team.

The Byrds agree.

"We enjoy going to Rockville every Saturday morning," Sean Byrd said. "But it would be nice to have something that is close by."

Link to the story in the Frederick News Post