Colin DeWitt doesn’t break his own records.

Not since a car accident left him with a serious spinal chord injury and bound to a wheelchair 11 years ago.

He doesn’t break his record of seven water skiing laps around West Frankfort Lake or his five consecutive hours of holding a wheelie in his wheel chair – not any of them.

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Records, he says, are meant to be broken by competitors.

So when a group of people with disabilities met Saturday with the Gateway Confluence Wheelchair Sports Foundation – a group dedicated to identifying people with disabilities and providing them with coaching and training that will continue their rehabilitation and socialization – for a water skiing program at West Frankfort Lake, DeWitt’s competitive nature got the best of him.

‘It’s fun to be out here. You get to meet new people and see all the action,’ he said. ‘I’m going all out.’

DeWitt, a high school student from Benton, was one of roughly 20 participants in the Confluence’s Adaptive Water Skiing program, which was held in conjunction with SIUC’s Adaptive & Inclusive Recreation program and has helped more than 60 people with disabilities learn to water ski over the course of 15 years.

Cami Horn, a director at-large with the Confluence, said the organization started in 1991 with wheelchair basketball and softball, but has since grown to rugby, tennis and water skiing among other sports.

‘Skiing has always been one of the most fun events we do,’ she said. ‘We see new people each year and it is open to anyone around the region.’

The water skiing program is designed to provide adaptive means for skiers of all abilities. Each participant uses a sit-ski – an adaptive technology that uses a ski with a raised seat on it to allow users to sit while skiing.

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Beginners are given a ski with wings on either side to provide better balance while advanced skis are without wings to provide for better mobility.

‘All the boards are individually fit for each athlete,’ said Samantha Cooke, a graduate student in recreation who helps coordinate the university’s AIR program. ‘Once they come for the first time, they know what ski is theirs. It pretty much depends on their disability and what they can do.’

Participants spent a majority of the morning waiting out thunderstorms that threatened the day’s fun.

Once the sky cleared up, though, it was open season.

Jos’eacute; Hernandez, a senior from Naperville studying business management, waited nearly four hours for his turn to get in the water.

And after falling off the ski during his first go around, Hernandez successfully completed two laps around the lake on his second trip.

Hernandez said falling off was probably the most fun part of the experience.

‘It was hard the first time,’ he said. ‘The second time was a lot easier because of the backrest that they gave me.’ Without the backrest it was hard to just keep centered.’