2027

Joel Zeisler “Making water skiing accessible to everyone”

Joel’s waterskiing career spans over six decades, marked by record-breaking performances, championship titles, and enduring dedication. Beginning his journey in 1959, Joel quickly rose through the ranks of competitive waterskiing, but his most enduring impact lies in his extraordinary work as a coach, mentor, and advocate for adaptive waterskiing, which continues to this day.

As founder of Leaps of Faith Adaptive Water Skiers in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, Joel has spent more than 30 years volunteering his time teaching waterskiing to people with disabilities—never charging a fee. He has opened the sport to hundreds of people with physical and cognitive disabilities, offering not only instruction, but empowerment, joy, and community.

Joel says being honored by a lifetime achievement award was unexpected.

“It’s a surprise when you are just doing your thing, running the largest adaptive program in the country, and all of a sudden you’re being honored. I never thought about that,” says Joel.

Joel says his biggest accomplishment is coaching adaptive athletes Mark Hieftje and Allan Golabek.  Joel began coaching Mark, a totally blind athlete, in 1991. Within a year, Mark won gold in jump at the 1992 National Championships. His meteoric rise continued with a national record in 1993, followed by world records in adaptive jump.  

Allan Golabek started training with Joel in 1995, and joined Mark at the top of the sport. Allan's breakout came in 1997, with a bronze in tricks and silver in jump. He went on to win golds in jump at subsequent nationals and set world records.

Joel’s nomination included this statement, which summarizes his impact on water skiing:

“As a coach, he developed world champions. As a mentor and advocate, he transformed lives. His legacy is a more inclusive sport and a generation of athletes who believed they could do anything.”

I may have done a lot for water skiing, but I’m not done yet,” says Joel.