Adaptive athletes to showcase skills at Frumpfest

By Deborah Rose

A unique display of skateboarding tricks by adaptive athletes will be showcased Aug. 31 in New Milford.

The fourth annual Frumpfest will run from 2 to 8 p.m. at Young’s Field on Young’s Field Road.

“We want people to have a good and to support each other,” said David Coons, an amputee who founded 1Legacy Skateboard Co.

The lifelong skater said after losing a leg, but eventually getting back on a skateboard and competing with fellow adaptive sports athletes across the country, he wanted to do something to help raise funds for athletes like himself.

“I noticed there was a real need” for venues for adaptive sports athletes, said Coons, a New Milford native. “They didn’t have equal sponsorships as non-adaptive athletes.”

“These (athletes) are good…some of them saved up all year to make it to one competition,” Coons said.

Coons connected with Sean Quigg, founder of New Milford’s Wheels for Wheels, a New Milford nonprofit that serves, uplifts and mobilizes the disabled community, and Justin Gotthardt, founder of Be Easy, a Sherman company that specializes in the sale of skateboards and soft goods.

Together, the men decided a special event dedicated to adaptive athletes fit into the mission of Wheels for Wheels.

An event like this “wasn’t something we had really thought about in the beginning at all, but I really love it,” Quigg said. 

“Wheels’ mission is to make people more mobile – to be free and to do stuff – and this demographic of people want to take advantage of that,” Quigg said. “It’s a very active group of adaptive athletes.”

Funds raised from Frumpfest support Wheels’ adaptive athlete’s fund. Since its birth in 2020, around $20,000 has been raised.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Frumpfest is a collaboration between Wheels for Wheels, Be Easy, and 1Legacy, with support from the Town of New Milford.

Adaptative athletes will come from across the country, including Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon, as well as Canada, to participate, Coons said.

Four team riders from Coons’ company, as well as pro-rider Oscar LaReto Jr., 15-year-old Josh Tancos, and others, will be on hand at Frumpfest.

The event is in open format; no registration is required.

It will begin with an Adaptive Jam, where athletes will showcase their skills.

It will be followed by other activities such as Dizzy Death Race, No Arms Gos, Rainbow Rail, and High Dive Cash Bounty.

Wheels for Wheels, Be Easy, 1Legacy, Hive, Trisk8area, Star67, Ril, Nothing Unlimited, The Curb, Nerdyvision, Hardware City, Loo, Lacee Art, and Outdoor Eve will have vendor space at the event.

For those looking to fuel up at Frumpfest, Rice to Meat You, John’s Hot Dogs and Jitter Bus will serve food and beverages.

Musical entertainment will round out the festivities. The lineup includes The Sauce, The Tarry’s, Tallbois, and Burning Hand.

There is no admission to Frumpfest, but a donation of $20 is suggested.

“I didn’t know what to except from the first Frumpfest,” Coons said. “It’s pretty crazy that now it’s an annual event. I’m pretty proud of that.”

Coons credited his friends and associates who help pull it all together. 

“It takes a team,” he said. “I may have come up with the idea, but (there’s a group of us) who go over the different events.”

“Yes, we highlight the disabled skateboarding community, and then after that … we’re just having fun with it, where both able-bodied and adaptive community can compete against each other,” he said. “You don’t really see that across the country.”

COONS’ BACKGROUND

Coons lost a leg in 2017, a result of a motorcycle accident. The lifelong skateboarder fought his way the challenges that accompanied the amputation and found himself back on a skateboard two years later.

“After the accident, I lost my CDL, I lost it all…..a lot people wouldn’t hire me,” Coons related.

However, after competing in his first adaptive sports competition, he knew what he wanted to do moving forward.

Since 2019, he has worked making orthotic and prosthetics, and has been an advocate for the disabled community.

“It’s all networking…. I use social media a lot and whenever I see new amputee, I reach out,” he said. “Some people will post they’re struggling and I’ll try to help them in the beginning stages.”

In the past, the majority of adaptive sports venues have been offered in California and Florida. However, in more recent years, offerings have expanded to other parts of the country, including up the East Coast and into New England.

“It’s beautiful,” Coons said. “And to see new adaptive events pop up, like even wakeboarding, that’s something.” 

Photos courtesy of Wheels for Wheels