Fourteen-year-old Jon Litzkow runs track, plays basketball and rugby, has tried water skiing with the Waterhawks, and hopes to snow ski. His goal is one day to compete in the Olympics. Not atypical activities or dreams for a teenager.
Litzkow isn’t typical. Confined to a wheelchair since the age of two following an accident that injured his spinal cord from the T7 to T11, he’s paralyzed from the waist down.
“I see no struggles,” Litzkow said. “I just see things as something to accomplish. I’m trying other sports, seeing if I like them. So far, I’ve liked every sport I’ve played. I’m not afraid of trying new things.”
Litzkow admits growing up was a little difficult. “Playing with the other kids was a problem because my chair was big and bulky and I couldn’t get around too fast. Sometimes I was by myself. But as I got older, and saw more sports I wanted to try, I got out of my power wheelchair and started pushing a manual chair. That’s when I got into sports. I pretty much can get around anywhere now.”
Litzkow’s world opened up to more possibilities with the help of Jack Eherenman, co-director of the UNI Wheelchair Sports Camp and coach of the Iowa Chairiots, the state’s only wheelchair basketball team. Jill Litzkow, Jon’s mother, told Eherenman she was looking for something to steer her son away from just playing video games.
Eherenman is the father of four sons, three of whom have disabilities. His second oldest son, Ryan, 31, was born with a severe mental disability, autism and low muscle tone. He competed in Special Olympics. His third oldest son, Michael, 28, suffers from Ehlers/Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder. His tendons and ligaments are weak and stretchy, much like a rubber band, and don’t hold joints in place. He’s had four shoulder surgeries. Fourth son Sean, 24, was born with Spinal Bifida. When he was a fourth grader, his father enrolled him in a sports camp for disabled youth, one that no longer exists. Sean became a wheelchair athlete at West High School, competing at the state meet four years.
That’s how Eherenman got involved. He and Nancy Hamilton have directed UNI’s camp for three years. “Camp is life-changing for a lot of these kids,” he said. “I’m blessed. If I didn’t have (my three disabled sons), I wouldn’t have this camp.”
Eherenman saw Litzkow powering around the neighborhood one day and got the student involved in track. His first competition was during the summer of his sixth grade. He competed on his Central Middle School track team in seventh and eighth grades. Since no other kids in wheelchairs were participating in the district, Litzkow raced against non-disabled athletes. His specialty is the 100, 200 and 400 distances and throwing the shot put.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “I race with everybody else. I’ve actually passed people before in the meets. I’ve pretty much improved my time every race. I practice a lot, two-to-three times per week, on my own. I go long distances to keep my endurance up. I’ve gone from my house on Black Hawk Road all the way up to College Square Mall and back. Sometimes I have people with me on bikes.”
Litzkow hopes to compete at West High School when he enters the ninth grade this fall. Eherenman explains that track meets for the disabled are more organized than in middle school. Athletes have their own events—the varsity 100, the junior varsity 100 and the wheelchair 100, for example. Athletes compete against other wheelchair athletes and times are posted on the internet. Just like the rest of the athletes, seedings in the state meet are based on times.
“We were down to just one (disabled) kid competing in the state two years ago,” Eherenman said. “That’s one reason why we’re hosting this camp. We want to get the number of competitors up, and not just in track. My ultimate goal is to get a group like a Y or get into the schools for continuous training programs, rather than having the disabled athletes coming to a camp just once a year for three days.
“These kids have to have the equipment to compete, and have to know how to do it. Even if they have all of that, then they have to find someone to play with. There are so many things going against them.” 
“I get real competitive in sports,” Litzkow said. “I like basketball more, but I’ve been doing track longer and am better at it.” He’s already participated in 5k road races. Eherenman says he may be able to complete half marathons in the not too distant future.
Litzkow says the camp has helped him a lot. “I train with a lot of (coaches) from (the camp). They give me other techniques. They’ve been racing longer and if I try something and if it works for me, I keep practicing until I get it down.
“You get to know a lot more people and those people help you with stuff outside of sports. I’m not afraid now to ask someone for help. I broke my axel last summer and someone from the Chairiots knew someone else who got me another axel for free.”
“Jon is a real go-getter,” said Eherenman. “I have seen him doing things most people and adults with a disability haven’t tried to do. We call him the ‘energizer bunny’. He is willing to try anything and never complains. He is a fine young man, very courteous, humble and is going to do well in sports if given the opportunity.
He is changing his outlook on life and setting goals and looking to his future now that he knows he can accomplish things when he puts his mind to it. Life has thrown him many obstacles and challenges and he is meeting them head on and overcoming them, with dignity and respect from others.”
Litzkow says he’s willing to try anything any other person is doing. “If I’m bored, I go and find something to do. I build a lot—with wood, household items. I built a kite out of McDonalds straws, string and newspaper. It flies.”
He says he’s good in math and likes the sciences. A career in architecture, engineering or construction would be “pretty cool”.
Eherenman says the camp is a lot of work but “no more than these athletes face everyday. We give them the opportunity to experience new forms of sports and exercise that they can use to help improve their everyday lives. They grow in strength, confidence and self-esteem.
“Just as our Iowa Chairiots wheelchair basketball team motto says, ‘Just because we have to sit down, doesn’t mean we have to sit still’”.
For more information regarding the UNI Wheelchair Sports Camp, contact Hamilton at the University of Northern Iowa or Eherenman at JEConstruction@hotmail.com. The Iowa Chairiots can be reached at iowachairiots@yahoo.com.
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