Katherine Hayes-Rodriguez
Recreation/Development | 2014
A chance encounter witnessing a lesson given to a disabled skier at Ski Incline in 1976 set the course for Katherine Hayes-Rodriguez to embark on a more than 30 year love affair with adaptive skiing. Later, after being invited to give a lesson to a blind skier, she was hooked. She postponed her pending school year at UC-Berkeley in favor of remaining in Lake Tahoe teaching lessons.
Katharine served as Director of Programs at the Tahoe Adaptive Ski School (TASS), teaching alpine ski lessons. In the summer months, she would turn her attention to teaching water-skiing and other outdoor recreational activities conducive to the Lake Tahoe area. When Katherine joined Achieve Tahoe (then known as National Handicap Sports & Recreation Association), she took the position as Ski School Director.
However, she wasn’t just teaching in the Tahoe area. Katharine was a pioneer in advocating for ski resorts nationwide to teach lessons for people with disabilities. In her five years with NHSRA National Clinic Team, she visited over 50 ski hills where she hosted multi-day clinics for the ski instructors and taught them the ropes of how to give an accessible ski lesson. Before Katharine oversaw the writing of the PSIA manual and devised a training process for adaptive sports, PSIA
only certified instructors in alpine skiing. She strived to gain credibility for the program, and because of her work, adaptive sports grew into a globally recognized PSIA certification.
Over the course of her more than 30 years of teaching lessons, educating ski resorts and advocating for the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in recreational opportunities, Katharine Hayes-Rodriguez has impacted the lives of thousands.
