Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

[brotherjim]

Congarts to Anita and Zander for passing 600K season meters
Congrats to Super Sam for passing 500K
Way to row my friends if only in an online basis.
jim

[brotherjim]

Congrats to Allie for passing 5K
Congrats to Bobbie for passing 400K
We are holding on to 10th place in the challenge but have slipped into 2nd place in meters/rower average. I blame this totally on Super Sam. Pick up the pace buddy
Seriously, awesome numbers to all O. D .rowers. Great sustained effort.

Stats for 1/8

Allie----------------------1111
Benny---------------------7600
Michelle------------------35922
Sarah---------------------30907
Bobbie--------------------8310
Ronnie--------------------32188
Rivka----------------------22821
Elton----------------------30233
Sam-----------------------40001
Anita----------------------25909
Zander--------------------38200
Harold--------------------12850
Andy-----------------------11720
Rosita----------------------35229
Jim-------------------------54233

Team Comments This team is for those who are disabled and know no boundaries. We strive, we achieve, we conquer.
Virtual Team Challenge 2011 Individual Standings
Name Gender Age Total Event Meters
1 Jim Kielma M 57 333,333
2 Samuel Johnson M 74 268,352
3 Zander Fraser M 36 250,615
4 Michelle Donavon F 21 220,058
5 Rosi Delacruz F 35 218,993
6 Ronnie Mills F 43 203,491
7 Anita Holub F 42 200,428
8 Elton Giogri M 55 182,121
9 Rivka Levitt F 41 179,334
10 Sarah Hallbeck F 30 177,852
11 Harold Janusek M 60 105,378
12 Andrew Augenstein M 59 85,315
13 Benny Delacruz M 18 64,794
14 Bobbie Kielma F 58 53,263
15 Allie B F 5 4,353
2,547,680

[brotherjim]

Today's story reprinted from the PVA website
jim


Handcyclist Beimfohr to Compete in Marine Corps Marathon: No Ordinary Joe
Share






When Joe Beimfohr was a kid, his uncle introduced him to competitive cycling. It didn’t stick—not until after the U.S. Army sergeant lost his legs in 2005.

“I still have nerve pain from my injuries, but when I’m riding there’s no pain at all,” this handcyclist said. “I think it’s because I’m enjoying the ride so much, I just don’t feel it.”

Beimfohr is, by many accounts, a world-class handcyclist who could represent the United States at the Paralympics one day.

“He’s an advanced rider,” said Geoff Hopkins, Associate Director of Sports and Recreation for Paralyzed Veterans of America. “He’s going to do well. I started training with him a year ago, and in that time he’s definitely increased his speed.”

Beimfohr also attracted the attention of Stuart Cohen, National Account Manager for Invacare, a committed sponsor of adaptive sports programs, such as the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Beimfohr rides an Invacare Top End Force K cycle.

“He’s one the top handcyclers,” Cohen said. “Just the dedication—what he’s gone through as a person, as a war hero. He’s a world-class handcyclist and has dedicated himself to that sport.”

In 2005, Beimfohr was with the 2nd Battalion 34th Armor Regiment when his unit discovered wires attached to the trademark weapon of the Iraqi insurgency: IEDs, improvised explosive devices. By then, insurgents had started using multiple IEDs to create cascade explosions that covered large areas. After disarming some IEDs, a fellow soldier Spc. Chris Dickinson and Beimfohr were following wires back to the likely hiding place of the insurgents when Dickinson stepped on and discharged an explosive. Dickinson died, and Beimfohr lost his right leg and half of his left.

“I definitely am appreciative and grateful for his sacrifice,” Beimfohr said. “If he hadn’t gone out front, I would have been out front and been on the IED when it went off. I didn’t ask him to go out front; he just did it. That was the kind of soldier he was.”

A chaplain helped Beimfohr put things in perspective. “Basically, 17 guys are alive today because of Chris’s and my sacrifice,” he said. “I’ve got to meet some. Some have kids now.”

During his rehabilitation, Beimfohr spent time in Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he met Mary Bryant, vice president of Achilles International and founder of Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Vets. That program got him involved in handcycling and out to his first major ride—the 2008 New York City Marathon.

“It took me about three hours to do,” he recalled. “It was my first race, and I thought it would never end.”

Bryant was quickly impressed by Beimfohr’s sheer grit and vision.

“I definitely feel Joe is a very driven human being,” she said. “Even after losing his legs, he didn’t just want to participate in races. He wanted to drive on and compete with the best of the best.”

Beimfohr is a member of Paralyzed Veterans’ handcycling team, and trains about 60 miles a week with Hopkins and others. He attributes his athletic dedication to his deceased grandmother, Jerry Shellaberger, who took him in when he was 13.

“I think the biggest factor is the way my grandmother raised me,” he said. “I started off playing baseball, and I didn’t like it at all. I sucked, and I knew I sucked. She said I couldn’t quit. She said, ‘When we start something we finish it’.”

Now 33-years-old, Beimfohr is mentoring athletes with that same stick-to-it attitude.

“I tell them just to try wheelchair sports in general,” he said. “Try them until you find one you like. You should get out and try as many of them as you can. Go to camps; go to races. The more guys we get, the more exposure we’re going to get.”

The next big race for Beimfohr is the 35th Marine Corps Marathon, in Arlington, VA, on October 31.

“For the first year or so, I was definitely riding to enjoy it,” Beimfohr said. “What I’ve learned this year is how to have a focus, a purpose on every ride.”

[michelled]

Thank you Jim, I needed this story today . I am going to make the Army team this year, I mean it.
Love you all.
Michelle

[brotherjim]

We are in 10th place in the challenge, you kiddos are doing some awesome rowing. Super Sam throws down a 70000 meter day. Hoo-Boy, Boy Howdy, Holy Cow, Hey Hey!!!!!! We moved up a place into 32nd in the Aff. standings

Stats for 1/8

Allie--------------------1114
Benny------------------7918
Michelle---------------29008-- 300K
Sarah------------------28035
Bobbie----------------6400
Ronnie----------------29655
Rivka-----------------26850
Elton-----------------29072
Anita-----------------27960
Zander----------------33333
Harold----------------23083 WOW!
Andy------------------7525
Rosita-----------------29121
Jim--------------------38676

Sam-------------------70004
What makes this even more awesome is, Cathie told me after rowing , Pa went out and split 2 cords of wood and took the dogs out on a 7 mile sled run.
jim

[ronnie1]

Cool Samuel!!!!! Way to row!!!!!!
Ronnie

[brotherjim]

Meet Maicon –
Maicon Limeira da Silva Santana of Brazil wows the public with his goals – on and off the field. He excels at football – what Americans call soccer – and hopes to persuade his family to get behind his passion. “Then they could see there could be a future in this for me and for us as a family.”

Born With a Gift
Maicon, from a modest village northwest of Sao Paolo, Brazil, “was born with the talent to play soccer," says his coach. “His ability comes naturally.” When spectators come to watch his Special Olympics Unified Sports football team, they see Maicon’s skill with the ball – not his intellectual disability. Oftentimes, complete strangers are surprised and awed – first, by what Maicon can do, and later, when they find out that he has a disability.

Maicon then surprises them a third time when he shares his goals for the future. “My dream is to be a professional soccer player. Perhaps one day I can help my family financially. I want them to be proud of me. I want nothing more than for them to have a better life.”

[brotherjim]

Congratulations to Andy for passing 100K in the challenge!!!! Way to row
jim

[brotherjim]

Welcome to the team Christa I see you love skiing like Anita. That is great!
Here is an article about a nordic skier.

Kelly Underkofler Home: St. Paul, Minnesota
Birthday: April 10, 1984
At just three years of age, Kelly Underkofler began skiing alongside her father and brothers. Despite being born missing the lower half of her left arm she has excelled in sports. Since she was first introduced to the sport she hasn't slowed down skiing through high school, college, and on the national team since 2002. In 2003, she started biathlon.

Underkofler enjoys the duality of biathlon and says "getting to do one thing that I enjoy is great, but getting to do two in the same race is way more fun and challenging." She credits her number three world ranking during the 2006-2007 season as her biggest accomplishment thus far.

When she's not training or competing, Underkofler enjoys interior design, cooking, and spending time with her friends, family, and dog.

Major Achievements:

2010: Eighth place, 15k Free; tenth place, 5k Classic – Paralympic Games, Vancouver, Canada
2008: Fifth place, 7.5K, Mt. Washington, BC Canada
2008: Third place, 12.5K, Mt. Washington, BC Canada
2007: Fourth place, 12.5K, Vuokatti, Finland
2007: Fifth place, 7.5K, Vuokatti, Finland
2007: Eighth place, 12.5K, Sollefteå, Sweden
2007: Seventh place, 7.5K, Sollefteå, Sweden
2007: Third place, sprint, Mt. Washington, BC Canada
2007: Second place, 12.5K, Mt. Washington, BC Canada
2007: Third place Overall World Cup
2007: Second place, 12.5K, Mt. Washington, BC Canada
2007: Third place Overall World Cup
2003-2007: US Cross Country Nationals-Standing Women’s Champion

[brotherjim]

Welcome to the team Aidan W. I am so happy to have you on our team
2 new team members in 1 day! Awesome
Aidan, we would love to have you join our affiliation and row with us all year too.

We are hanging on to 10th place in the challenge and 30th place in the Aff. standings.

Congrats to Elton for passing 500K and Sam 600K

Stats for 1/10
Aidan----------------51
Allie-----------------1810
Benny----------------6171
Christa---------------263332 brought to boat
Michelle--------------30000
Bobbie----------------6550
Sarah------------------24117
Rivka------------------24861
Ronnie-----------------31533
Elton-------------------30666
Sam--------------------21000
Anita-------------------28951
Zander-----------------45311 Yay, first full marathon!!!!!!
Harold------------------12000
Andy---------------------10095 less than 3K from 1 MILLION meters
Rosita--------------------34969
Jim-----------------------46444

Great rowing to one and all. My son Jay says that our boat has the most beautiful rowers. I know he means Sam and me, but it might be true. Any team with my beautiful wife on it, has a pretty good head start.
jim

[anitah]

Welcome to the team Aidan from Anita and Christa. We are very happy you joined us You will like this team.

Jim, tell Jay thanks from me and Christa. He is HOT!!! Is he single?
Anita and Christa

[rosita]

Welcome Aidan and Christa So nice to have new team members. We are growing!
Jim, I have first chance with Jay, please?
Rosi

[brotherjim]

This is an email from ocean rower Roz Savage. She will be attempting another solo ocean row this year.
jim

Looping the Loop: Route Planning

Posted: 09 Jan 2011 08:20 PM PST

There will be many decisions to be made over the coming months, but possibly the most important one is exactly when and from where I depart to row across the Indian Ocean. I am extremely grateful to Sarah Outen for most kindly checking out the territory in advance.




In particular, Sarah discovered the hard way just how tough an adversary the Leeuwin Current can be. A strong, south-flowing current that parallels the coast of Western Australia, it swept Sarah too far south. She ended up doing what she calls her “warm-up lap”, an 11-day loop from Fremantle back to Fremantle.

Warmups are all very well, but I will be at sea for around 5 months as it is, taking the significantly longer route northwest to Mumbai in India, so I’d really just as soon skip the warmup and get on with the real thing.




It looks as if my best strategy will be to hug the coast as I head north towards Geraldton, then peel away and out into the Indian Ocean. I’ll just need to make sure that my hug doesn’t become TOO intimate and I end up shipwrecked. This had better be one of those kind of arms-length kind of hugs at a safe distance of several miles, rather than a hello-you’re-my-best-friend-ever kind of a hug. According to my weatherman, Lee Bruce, “It looks like the shoaling is good 20nm wide at the narrowest point, so you should be able to work within that 20nm corridor.”


Downwind to Mumbai!

The good news is that then the winds should in theory be really helpful, whizzing me northwest and India-wards. Look at all those lovely wind arrows. Having had to crab my way across the Pacific Ocean for the last 3 years, always trying to push south, it would be exhilarating to point my bows straight downwind for a change.

Other Stuff:

I’ve just finished reading a couple of contrasting ocean rowing books – both darned good reads:

A Little Goes A Long Way: James “Tiny” Little’s blog from his mid-Atlantic crossing, told in Tiny’s inimitable, understated style.

A Pearl In A Storm: Tori Murden was the first woman to row solo across an ocean. Favourite line: “Let’s face it: normal, well-adjusted women don’t row alone across oceans.”

Unlike me, Tori looks like a proper ocean rower – six foot tall and most definitely a tough lady. This is why I make sure to correct anyone who mistakenly introduces me as the first solo woman to row the Atlantic. I would not want to get on the wrong side of her.

On her first attempt, in the North Atlantic, her boat capsized 15 or 16 times in 72 hours during Hurricane Danielle. She sustained extensive injuries, and eventually pressed the emergency button on her EPIRB beacon to request rescue. To her great credit, she went back for more, and successfully crossed the Atlantic by the equatorial route.

The book was a sobering reminder of just how different a creature the North Atlantic is from the mid-Atlantic. Rougher, colder, stormier, altogether more dangerous. I certainly don’t under-estimate the challenge that I will be tackling in 2012. My mother gave me this book for Christmas. I wonder if she’s trying to tell me something?

[brotherjim]

Paralyzed Veterans of America: Testimonials
Operation Enduring Freedom Veteran, Aubrey Youngs



Five-year-old Aubrey Youngs dreamed that she would become a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. “I found out my eyesight wasn’t quite good enough at the time, which just completely ruined my hopes and dreams.” But she said she continued to have dreams of joining the military.

It wasn’t until shortly after 9/11, at the age of 20, when she went to her local Army National Guard and signed a contract as an 88 Mike, a motor transport operator, and started her military career. “I joined because I’ve had this urge to be a military officer most of my life, not just because of 9/11.”

In 2004, Aubrey was deployed to Afghanistan where she worked in a warehouse doing inventory control and supply measures. Six-months into her year-long tour, while on a forklift stocking shelves, Aubrey slipped and was tossed over the edge of the shelf and sustained a paralyzing injury. “The forklift driver thought I was ready, my foot slipped as he started to move and it tossed me over the edge of the shelf and completely separated my spinal column at the T-10, T-11 level, and I’ve been paralyzed from the waist down ever since,” she said.

After her injury, Aubrey was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, for surgery. While there she had a spinal cord fusion operation where two rods were inserted to run the length of her back. After a month and a half she was transferred to Jefferson Barracks VA in St. Louis for continued recovery and rehabilitation.

There she was introduced to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. “The PVA representation was with me from the get go at the St. Louis VA center. Fred Bradley would come in every Thursday and speak with me; I learned what PVA was, who it was, who was involved and became a member of the local Paralyzed Veterans, the Gateway Chapter.”

Because of Paralyzed Veterans, Aubrey was able to discover life after paralysis. “Immediately I was involved with the PVA,” she said. “They started talking to me about what I could do as far as the sporting events and other events that PVA does.” Aubrey credits PVA with being “a big part” of making sure veterans recovering from spinal cord injury have opportunities. “I really appreciated that and couldn’t believe that they do all that they do.”

Aubrey participated in her first wheelchair sporting event at the 26th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, copresented annually by Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Department of Veterans Affairs. She began by competing in table tennis, archery and nine ball. At the 2009 Games year she added basketball and bowling. “I wanted to venture out this year and become a lot more independent and a lot more athletic.”

Currently, Aubrey is in graduate school at DePaul University in Chicago. “I’m getting a master’s in game development where I really hope I can use my game developing knowledge and the concepts behind it to develop simulations for people who need to undergo rehab in various disabilities.”

[brotherjim]

Congrats to Aidan for passing 100 meters
Congrats to Rivka and Ronnie for passing 500K
Congrats to Harold for passing 900K
Congrats to Andy for passing 1 MILLION meters
Great rowing my teammates!
We rowed 320080 meters since last update. We are in 10th place in the challenge and have moved up to 29th in the Affiliation standings.

Stats for 1/11/11

Aidan------------------65
Allie-------------------700
Benny-----------------6370 almost at 100K
Christa----------------22500
Michelle--------------32045
Bobbie----------------9045
Sarah------------------24222
Rivka------------------25907
Ronnie----------------24624
Elton-----------------15888
Sam-------------------34111
Anita------------------20771
Zander----------------21999
Harold----------------15555
Andy------------------11735
Rosi-------------------26491
Jim--------------------28052

Virtual Team Challenge 2011 Individual Standings
Name Gender Age Total Event Meters
1 Jim Kielma M 57 446,505
2 Samuel Johnson M 74 393,467
3 Zander Fraser M 36 351,258
4 Michelle Donavon F 21 311,111
5 Rosi Delacruz F 35 309,574
6 Ronnie Mills F 43 289,303
7 Christa Krause F 31 285,554
8 Anita Holub F 42 278,110
9 Elton Giogri M 55 257,747
10 Rivka Levitt F 41 256,952
11 Sarah Hallbeck F 30 254,226
12 Harold Janusek M 60 156,016
13 Andrew Augenstein M 59 114,670
14 Benny Delacruz M 18 85,253
15 Bobbie Kielma F 58 75,258
16 Allie B F 5 7,977
17 Aidan W M 4 116
3,873,097

Awesome rowing team!
jim