Collaboration between two action sports nonprofits provides Denver resident a new ski
This is the first Empowerment Fund Grant awarded to Brad Baugh from the High Fives Foundation
(Truckee, California, November 3, 2016) — California’s High Fives Foundation is awarding Denver resident Brad Baugh an Empowerment Grant for a high performance monoski to enable him to progress in adaptive skiing. Baugh is in recovery from a life-altering injury he received in 2005. This grant is in collaboration with the Kelly Brush Foundation that provides adaptive equipment to injured athletes.
Baugh’s injury occurred in July 2005, the summer going into he junior year of high school. He was involved in an automobile accident on a winding Texas road. As a young adrenaline filled teenager, Baugh foolishly tested how fast he could take the corners in his top heavy SUV. The result was an accident in which he was ejected through the front windshield. The crash left him with a spinal cord injury affecting his T-12 vertebra.
After being in a wheelchair for a decade, nothing has proven to slow Baugh down. He received a scholarship to play basketball at the University of Alabama and has recently graduated. Now his goal is skiing.
“When he put’s his mind to something, he accomplishes it,” said Roy Tuscany executive director of the High Fives Foundation. “He has plans to live in Colorado and train in Winter Park in hopes of making the US Ski Team.”
“I expect a lot out of myself, and I really dig that I’m now associated with an organization that expects their recipients to take action, set goals and achieve those goals,” said Baugh “I’m looking forward to getting plugged into the culture that High Fives has created.”
Half of the purchase of the monoski was made by the Kelly Brush Foundation based in Vermont.
