By: Eugene Bonthuys | eugene@cfp.ky
5 August 2010
Stay Focused recently played host to its biggest group yet this summer. The organisation, which aims to introduce teens and young adults with disabilities to the wonders of scuba diving, hosted a group of eight divers last week.
The group included five first-time visitors to the programme, as well as two returning participants and local Special Olympian Andrew Smilley.
According to Roger Muller, founder and president of Stay Focused, the organisation started its work in 2003.
“The motivating force was really my older brother Bobby who’s a paraplegic. He’s a Marine Corps combat veteran, so he uses a wheelchair, and has been in a wheelchair a long time. He got certified in Jamaica late in life, so I felt compelled to get certified,” said Mr. Muller.
After he became certified and saw the freedom his brother enjoyed while diving, he decided to start an organisation that would allow teens and young adults in wheelchairs and with other disabilities to experience the same freedom.
“Scuba diving is the one sport where they are really unaware of the disability once they are in the water. For them I think that it is empowering and it gives them a tremendous sense of freedom,” said Mr. Muller.
One of the first-time participants in the programme was US Paralympic gold medallist Amanda McGrory. As winner of a gold medal, a silver medal and two bronze medals at the 2009 Paralympics in Beijing, as well as the winner of the ladies’ wheelchair division in the 2009 London Marathon, Ms McGrory is a highly accomplished athlete. This was her first opportunity to experience scuba diving and Ms McGrory was very excited about the prospect.
“I was excited before I got down here, and I think that everything I’ve done so far has just made me more excited to get in the water today. We did some of our skills in the pool for the past three days and then yesterday we went off the beach near our hotel into the water a little bit, maybe six to eight feet, but I thought it was pretty exciting, so I can’t even imagine what this will be like,” she said before her first dive off Sunset House.
Brian Siemann, another accomplished wheelchair athlete, is a Stay Focused veteran, who has been coming to Cayman since 2006.
“I love coming down to Cayman. It’s beautiful, the diving’s amazing and I have so much fun when I’m down here. The water is crystal clear and it’s so warm that I feel I’m spoilt whenever I come down here. I don’t want to go diving anywhere else because I don’t think anything can compare to it,” he said.
According to Mr. Siemann, the programme has had a very positive impact on his life.
“It’s great for raising awareness on disability and it really helped me and I think it helps a lot of the participants realise their full potential and what they can do. It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do and now that I know that I can do it, it is something that I will never stop doing for the rest of my life,” he said.
As a veteran of the programme, Mr. Siemann is keen to help newcomers to Stay Focused experience the wonders of diving.
“I really enjoy coming back down here, and just being a part of the programme and just helping other first time divers have the same great experience I’ve had with Stay-Focused. It’s such a great programme and I love helping out and just imparting whatever knowledge and wisdom I can on the people who are coming down,” he said.
Since its inception, the programme has certified 46 divers, who each take part in two trips to Cayman. During the first trip they learn the skills they need and get their certification, while the second outing serves as a refresher and allows them to experience more of Cayman’s underwater wonders.
For more information on the programme as well as its fundraising efforts, visit
http://stay-focused.org.
