The Adaptive Casting Challenge

Springfield, MO - In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 20th, fifteen very special people met at the ponds outside the Bass Pro Shops Corporate Headquarters. These fly anglers gave up a day off...days typically spent with family and friends or spent fly fishing...to improve their casting and teaching skills in order to better equip themselves for their roles as volunteers with Project Healing Waters. The volunteers drove in from Oklahoma, Arkansas, various locations in Missouri, and from as far away as Memphis and Colorado. Several paid for overnight lodging out of their own pockets in addition to the gas money due to the distances they traveled. Within the Ozarks Region of Project Healing Waters, there are several new programs starting up this winter in places like Memphis, Little Rock, Fayetteville, St. Louis, Muskogee, and Fort Leonard Wood. And at least one of these fifteen people represented each of these locations.

From here in Springfield were Russ Doughty, Larry Wegmann, Kevin Smith, certified casting instructor Kim Schultz, Wilma Morrow, and Ken Morrow. Master Casting Instructor Brian Ellis came down from St. Louis. Greg "Max" Maxwell drove in from Waynesville, Missouri. Mike Davis drove up from the Little Rock area. And Wayne Patton of Bella Vista brought Kevin Calhoun from Fayeteville. Certified Casting Instructor Gene Holland and professional fishing guide Greg Dodds drove over from Oklahoma. Ken Swinburne drove up from Memphis, Tennessee. And Char Bloom drove all the way from Keystone, Colorado, to serve as one of the seminar's instructors.

Project Healing Waters is a non-profit, grassroots volunteer program that teaches fly tying and fly fishing classes at Veterans Administration hospitals and retirement homes and at military hospitals around the country. The program also takes the wounded warriors and disabled veterans on fishing trips. But the classes are considered therapy by the medical staffs of these facilities. It's about getting better. It isn't just fun and games. Thus, Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing's motto: Healing Those Who Served. And PHW is an official program of the Federation of Fly Fishers, a 501(c)(3) fly fishing service organization whose two main focuses are education and conservation.

What brought these Project Healing Waters volunteers to Bass Pro Shops Headquarters was an event called The Adaptive Casting Challenge. And the goal was to improve the casting and coaching skills of program volunteers with special emphasis on adaptive techniques for the wounded and/or disabled. This was the first such event of its kind, and was the brain-child of Project Healing Waters Ozarks Regional Coordinator Ken Morrow and Certified Casting Instructor and Regional Advisory Committee member Kim Schultz.

In the ten minute video at the top of this article, you can see examples of the kinds of things covered in the workshop. Participants practiced fly casting from a wheelchair, blindfolded, and with their off-hand. In the afternoon, there was a game in which volunteers raced to reel in a full water bottle tied to the end of their line with one hand in their pocket or behind their backs to simulate the loss or paralysis of one arm. And the instructors spent the morning helping the participants to perfect their fundamental casting skills.

"I had so much fun and learned so much on Saturday! I only started fly fishing in June, but after The Adaptive Casting Challenge I can't wait to actually work with the wounded soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood. And I know now that I can do it," said Wilma Morrow.

Special thanks go out to Bass Pro Shops' Larry Whiteley and Constance Whiston, Price Cutter grocery stores, Sysco Foods' Mark Trusty, and Fly Fishing Benefactors for their contributions to making the first-ever Adaptive Casting Challenge such a great success!