Portraits of Adventure / 3 Trackers / Boba
Boba
Brandywine Ski Resort, Ohio
February 2026
Boba Key grew up in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the Balkans. She skied as a kid in a country where the sport was a major part of life - Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, and the skiing was woven into how people lived. She learned to ski as a child and never stopped. After moving to Ohio, she skied Brandywine through the early 90’s, later spent years at Snow Trails, and now three dances later, she’s back at Brandywine. “It’s where I belong,” she says. “More at home on snow than at the beach.”
Boba’s son is on the autism spectrum, he isn’t a candidate for skiing. This weighs on her, but she’s bound and determined to help those who are interested and have the ability to get on the hill. When a child gets a special needs diagnosis, she says, it takes a toll on the parents. Navigating new scenarios. Figuring out what the future looks like. Activities that used to feel ordinary stop being ordinary. Summertime is manageable, parks, museums, environments friendly to disabled people. In the winter, kids like hers are stuck inside without room to move, she wants to be the person who changes that for others.
She started volunteering with Adaptive Sports Connection in Mansfield a couple of seasons ago, teaching skiing across the full range, and all ages from stand-up, to mono ski, to bi-ski, and sliders. This is her first season with 3 Trackers, brought in by Dan Lipka. She says the two programs share the same philosophy: meet people at their ability, not their inability. Don't tell someone they can't do something without first finding out what they can. She's always recruiting people to these programs as well, someone mentions neuropathy, she tells them about it, and they show up.
We all want to feel visible and belong to a community, this is what keeps Boba coming back. Families with disabled children often feel pushed back, she says, forgotten… Their kids are invisible to others. A program like this makes them visible, it puts them on the same mountain as everyone else, gives them a community where they've been seen. That's what she volunteers for. This spring, I learned Boba won Volunteer of the Year from Adaptive Sports Connection (ASC). Something she truly deserves.
There is a lot under the surface for people like Boba. She shows up strong with a heart warm enough to melt the snow we ski. On the chairlift towards the end of our conversation, her cadence in conversation changed, eyes wallowed up and then she caught herself. “We hide it well” she says. As a tear rolled down her face she says lightly, “it’s a happy tear”. She’s a mother who’s found a way to give other families something she can't fully give her own son. She comes out every Sunday and does it anyway.
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