WHEEL MEN SPORTS MAY BE DIFFICULT IN A WHEELCHAIR, BUT THESE ATHLETES MEET THE CHALLENGE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

There aren't many surfaces a wheelchair can't conquer.

Asphalt, wood and hard tile are no problem. Dirt is tamed with special tires, as mountain bike chairs demonstrate. Snow? Get out of your chair and onto a sit-ski and away you go.

Ice?

``Our hockey team captain just invented an ice chair,'' Jerry Newman tells his friend, Bill Miller, as the two men - both in wheelchairs - wait for a tennis court to open up. ``He put stubby, nobbed tires and two ice blades where the front wheels are and a skate blade where the wheelie bar is, and he took it out on the ice.''

Newman's verdict: He's encouraged, but a few kinks need to be worked out.

``He's got to figure out a way to make the push rims easier for pushing, because that thing will eat up your arms if you smack them on the tires,'' says Newman, who has attempted every wheelchair sport he can find. ``Interesting concept if it could actually work out.''

Some 15 to 20 years ago, before the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, many rehabilitation therapists said the same thing about the idea of disabled people playing sports: interesting concept. No longer. Today, many disabled athletes don't let their imaginations limit them any more than their bodies. Granted, a paraplegic can't run or jump. But many people confined to a wheelchair can swing, turn, check, pass, move, cut, throw and catch.

Consequently, they can compete. Newman, a high-resolution window washer who became a paraplegic 2 1/2 years ago when he fell from a building, says he got hurt ``at the right time'' considering the proliferation of wheelchair sports. Immediately out of rehab, he took up hockey, then tennis. An avid skier before his accident, he is just as fanatical now. ``I like the speed,'' he explains.

Miller, a wheelchair tennis player for nearly 10 years, plays six sports during the year and also coaches quad rugby. He has given up hockey, however. ``Too abusive,'' he claims. ``I've got too many shoulder problems.''

Of course, people who have suffered debilitating injuries don't go through rehabilitation simply to be flying down the black diamond runs, smashing into other wheelchairs or scaling mountain peaks.

``I have a patient who is a double amputee who is talking about getting back into golf once his prostheses are in place and he's able to ambulate well,'' says Leslie Shirakawa, therapeutic recreation specialist with Northridge Hospital Medical Center. ``We're more open to providing opportunities and programs. There are all kinds of adaptations that can be made so people can play. Pretty much the sky is the limit.''

Actually, it isn't. Wheelchair athletes have been known to parasail and hang glide too.

`If I can do it, you can do it'

On Day 1 of California State University, Northridge's week-long Wheelchair Sports Camp, campers may barely be able to hold a tennis racket or position a bow and arrow. By the end of the five-day session, some might be hitting the ball and getting an arrow in the vicinity of the target. Or even nearing a bull's-eye.

Progress may be less visible, but the campers may emerge having spent the week having fun and sharing experiences with their peers. In some cases, they find an activity they would like to pursue outside a camp setting - such as soccer or swimming. The partnership between CSUN's adaptive sports and recreation program and Northridge Hospital often enables budding wheelchair athletes to find opportunities and places to play. The older campers may also use the program as a summer introduction to campus life at CSUN.

``It makes the transition from living in their homes to living in dorms so much easier because they've got mentors that are right here,'' said camp co-founder Ingrid Cleffi. ``Parents don't go through the trauma of being very afraid of a child going on campus because they're disabled. We have the network already started for them.''

Now in its 16th year, CSUN's camp (which concluded at the end of June) is not designed to transform its campers into jocks, although there will invariably be some athletes who turn up. Many of the counselors were counselors-in-training or campers themselves for many years before they started. This year, Newman was called in to teach archery, while 16- year-old Joel Spunt of Saugus - a nine-year camper - is a tennis instructor in training. He also bowls in a league in which he is the only disabled member.

``I never really had people instruct me how to do it. I do it on my own,'' says Spunt. ``I follow how able bodies do it, arm motion in my chair, and roll the ball where it needs to go. I'm not exactly good, but I'm OK, and I try my best.''

``All of our teachers and counselors are people with a disability themselves,'' says Dr. Nick Breit, professor of kinesiology at CSUN who runs the camp with Cleffi. ``They can say, 'Don't feel sorry for yourself. I had to cope with that and overcome challenges. If I can do it, you can do it.' ''

Casa Colina's Centers for Rehabilitation in Pomona schedules more than 150 day trips a year through its Outdoor Program, from kayaking and horse back riding to a week-long dog sledding expedition in Minnesota. The Centers' annual Land Meets Sea Sports Camp, which meets Aug. 14-17 in Long Beach, gathers more than 100 campers for basketball, quad rugby, water skiing and deep sea fishing.

Anne Johnson, the Outdoor Program's founder and director, considers access to recreation more than a privilege. For the disabled - as much as for the able-bodied athlete - recreation is a basic human right, says Johnson.

``A lot of countries are where we used to be,'' Johnson says by phone, a day before she heads off on a three-day horse pack trip to the High Sierras. ``The United States is more progressive. Before the Americans With Disabilities Act, people felt we had to protect people with disabilities: 'We can't have them engaging in physical activity, for their own good,' which is not the case at all.

``It's a person's right to pick and choose his or her activity of choice, and nobody has the right to make those choices for you.''

Certainly, wheelchair sports will look and be paced differently, sometimes with rule modifications (tennis players get two bounces). Quad rugby is one of the few sports that can be played in a power chair. Wheelchair baseball more closely resembles the all batting game over-the-line. Athletic chairs, modified for the particular activity, may come equipped with extra padding for contact sports like hockey or radically flared-out wheels for easier turning capability. For tennis players, the wheelchair spokes are also a good place to store extra tennis balls.

Basketball, one of the oldest wheelchair sports, is still among the most popular and abundant activities, although hockey, played in a roller rink, has developed a huge following. Tennis remains popular because it is one of the few sports still played outdoors.

``If you go in with the right frame of mind, that this is not going to be the same thing as it was, but it's still going to be fun, then it really makes a difference in your whole outlook on everything,'' says Newman. ``You're always around people who are in the same situation as you, and you can identify with them.''

GET ROLLING 

Information on wheelchair sports:

--CSUN Wheelchair Sports Camp: [phone] or [phone].

--Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation: [phone], Ext. 2207.

--Northridge Hospital Medical Center: [phone], Ext. 3610.

CAPTION(S):

11 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- cover -- color) SPIN CITY

As new sports opportunities are rolled out, the playing field for wheelchair athletes is being leveled

(4 -- color) Disabled but determined hockey players discuss strategy during a recent practice in Van Nuys.

(5 -- 6 -- color) Above, keeping his eye on the ball, Sal Alaimo, 17, of Northridge practices his tennis game at CSUN's Wheelchair Sports Camp. At right, Archery instructor Geoff Swidler, right, of Simi Valley gets a high five from Ashlee Bahr, 9, of Santa Clarita after a practice at CSUN.

(7 -- color) Jerry Newman, left, and Bill Miller shakes hands after a tennis match in Santa Clarita.

(8 -- 9 -- color) Above, campers in wheelchairs compete in a tug-of-war match at CSUN. At left, Joe Tusia prepares to take a shot on goal during a wheelchair hockey scrimmage in Van Nuys.

(10 -- color) Archer Eddie Baker, 15, of Los Angeles gets an assist from volunteer Kim Lavere, 17, of Chatsworth before taking a shot on the CSUN range.

(11) Cody Kupfer, 14, of Oxnard gets a pointer from tennis instructor Jim Notheis during CSUN Wheelchair Camp.

Photos by Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Box: GET ROLLING (see text)