Metro

On The Ice

Special Olympians thrill to competition,
while volunteers gain more than they give.

.

KERI GUTEN COHEN

Story Development Editor

A

bbey Katchke of Southfield
has been skating since she was
a preschooler holding hands
with her parents to keep her balance.
She's now 33 and she's still skating,
although the giant Zamboni ice-resur-
facing machine doesn't scare her any-
more.
Abbey is a Special Olympian, and
she proudly claimed her second-
place ribbon in figure skating Jan.
16 at the annual Special Olympics
competition in the main rink at the
Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield
Hills.
Having minimal brain dysfunction
doesn't stop Abbey, who lives with a
roommate in a JARC apartment in
Southfield and has a job at a grocery

in Troy. During this interview, she was
making hamburgers and talking about
what makes her happy.
"I feel good about me when I skate
or swim," she says. "I've been doing it
for a long, long time. I'm going to
keep doing it. It makes me feel health-
ier. And it's fun. If I fall, I get back up
and finish. And I smile."
Abbey is part of a program run by
the Variety FAR Conservatory of
Therapeutic and Performing Arts, a
nonprofit organization housed in the
First Presbyterian Church in
Birmingham. The program offers cre-
ative arts therapy and recreational
services for developmentally delayed
and otherwise physically handicapped
individuals. Every Sunday afternoon,
you can find her and other FAR
skaters, such as 14-year-old Joslyn
Sessel of Farmington Hills, at the

Jennifer Johnson, 12, right, with Crystal, a young girl she coaches.

2/ 24
2005

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