Eva Niemeijer at a recent meet. Credit: Inken Finnamore
If you want to find out about the world of competitive wheelchair racing, Words is the place to go on Monday night, June 16.
Sure, you can find or order books on the topic at this Maplewood Village bookstore. But on Monday, you can meet two actual racers (one of whom is local) and observe a competitive racing chair up close.
The local racer is Eva Niemeijer, 16, a 10th grader at Columbia High School. Niemeijer will be there with her teammate Stephen Koziel, 17.
Koziel, reports Niemeijer, is “really good.” Although he’s still an 11th grader at Kearney High School, he’s on the road to Rio, training and traveling the country to compete and ultimately place in the U.S. paralympics team for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. (Help him out at his GoFundMe.com page here.)
Both Niemeijer and Koziel came to the sport of wheelchair racing through their doctors’ recommendations at the Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside. Niemeijer started racing when she was 7; Koziel at 11. Both have cerebral palsy. Both use wheelchairs in their “other” non-racing lives, though Koziel mostly uses crutches to get around and resorts to a wheelchair only when he has long distances to cover — or when he’s racing.
On Monday at Words, the duo will explain “para sports in general, our team and how the sport works,” said Niemeijer. She will bring her chair and show people how it works.
“It helps people visualize racing and understand it,” she added.
For Niemeijer, the sport goes beyond “the experience as athletes and what it has done for us as athletes. It does a lot for us outside of sports. It helps with character, perseverance.”
Niemeijer explained that the chairs are very expensive.
“A basic racing chair costs $3,000.”
Most of the racing chairs are provided by the team, Children’s Lightning Wheels, based at the Children’s Specialized Hospital, but fundraising is ongoing.
Inken Finnamore and family came out to support Niemeijer at a recent meet.
The team has 30 members ranging in age from 5 to 22, said Koziel.
“They’re from all over New Jersey. Some kids are coming from Bellmawr in South Jersey. Two or three come from Pennsylvania.” Practices are held at Westfield High School. The racing season runs from the end of February to July.
At Words, Koziel and Niemeijer hope to convey the excitement of their sport and perhaps capture a few new fans.
“It is pretty cool to watch. Watching the races that Stephen and all the really good people are in is really exciting,” said Niemeijer. “It’s really very competitive, the races are neck and neck, and you’re screaming your head off.”
Niemeijer, Koziel and a racing wheelchair will be at Words on Monday, June 16 at 7 p.m. for a presentation.
