Overcoming Disabilties Team Room

[rosita]

Beautiful puppies and dogs Jim. I had to google Canine Companions to look at it.

Great rowing team!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rosi

[brotherjim]

About Camp Quality

We are a volunteer run, community funded non profit organization that provides a free week long camping experience and year round support activities for children with cancer and their family.

Camp Quality is a volunteer driven, volunteer run and community funded non-profit, 501 (C) (3) organization that provides free camping experiences and year-round support programs for children with cancer, and their families. Our programs are focused to care for the emotional needs of children with cancer and their families. As they face the “challenging days” and celebrate the good ones, a support network of peers provides tremendous strength and hope.

Camp is held for one-week during the summer, with additional support programs continuing throughout the year such as reunion and Leadership Weekend.

What we are
We are about making a difference in a child’s life.
The name Camp Quality refers to how we support Kids with Cancer and that “No one can do anything about the quantity of one’s life, but all of us can do something about the quality.”

How do we do it?
• Each camper is paired with an adult companion (18 years or older) who spends the entire week at camp by his/her camper’s side. The companion is the camper’s friend, cheerleader, and mentor even beyond camp. With year-round activities like reunion, special events, and through informal contact, companions, campers, and their families come together to share and support one another.

• By creating stress-free environments that offer exciting activities, foster new friendships, and help give children courage, motivation, and emotional strength.

• We strive to carefully select each of our fun activities at camp to ensure that the activity encourages interaction with other campers and companions, and/or offers a high impact lasting memory.

Contact Information.

Website

http://​ar.campqualityusa.com

[brotherjim]

Sharing an email with all of you

Great to see your team succeed as they have. Please pass along my best wishes to your team. Martin Rossol

[brotherjim]

This is from the DogWish website. I heard about it because of a benefit concert for a young boy at the Malvern Elementary school hoping to receive a service dog.
I also applied for one here and also Canine Companions.

RICKY DAVIS AND CONNIE LOPER





Ricky Davis is a professional glass blower,a real artist,who has a brilliant mind and is a deep thinker. Connie Loper is a Certified Deaf Interpreter working in many different settings including the California Superior court,and quite an impressive person. Her ability to understand Ricky and me through interpreting (voice to sign and vice versa) makes our communication quite accessible. As a culturally deaf persons from a deaf family, Ricky and Connie moved to the Inland Empire area,and live in a decent old world charm home in what seems to be a normal neighborhood. Their own kind have stolen their car,and broken into their garage that triggered anxiety and panic in their lives. There are a lot of things Ricky would like to do,but without support or protection he felt suffocated by some of his challenges. Our first meeting was quite intense because I confronted Ricky with what I saw was his real dilemma about himself. I had to help him face the truth about his own feelings,but “Helen” pulled him through with her love,and ability to reach out to him.

“On Dec 17th we got our very own magnificent 2 year old German Shepherd Dog named ‘Helen’. It was AMAZING! I felt like Bob Taylor could understand vicariously when he realized that I was trapped inside like a “cocoon”. While guiding me to set me free from the ~Web~ of trappings,Bob picked the right German Shepherd Dog that fits me perfectly. “

“However ‘Helen’did change my Life after I got her. Her alert,loving but protective attitude decreased my worries. After having been burglarized,I was dealing with anxiety and hypertension. With Helen,I feel much more Safe &Powerful ~Worry and Stress free.

“From the first day ‘Helen’met me, she knew me already and noticed my disabilities as I walk with a cane and have braces on my calves caused by multi-focal neuropathy on top of my deafness. I was very impressed with ‘Helen’s’immediate obedience especially when I first got her. What a transformation! Instantly Helen became my dog,came to me,listened to me,and chose me. That very moment,I felt something inside me which really actually was the Holy Spirit’s touch from Bobs intertwining energies…it was unexplainable. God indeed has given Bob many gifts,and he used them to help and HEAL me too! ”‘Helen” did save me several times when I accidently fell down by quickly going through between my legs in slow motion in order to keep me in balance. I had to say,“Wow,Helen! Thank you,Helen…very quick &clever!”

This is something Helen picked up all by herself. She constantly watches Ricky to make sure he is good,physically,and mentally. She helps Ricky if she sees he is -off balance- by providing stability,and being there if he starts to fall,and cushioning his falls. She has no fear,and is right there,step-by-step to help him. Helen also watches out for Ricky,to make sure he is safe. She is trained to provide passive protection,according to the “letter of the law”,and has never responded in a dangerous manner,but only in defense,as she sees it is needed.

Of course,she watches for communication from Ricky,and obeys his commands. “One thing is very special that I must depend on Helen’s big EARS which I’m Deaf. I get extra help from Helen’s many senses such as eye movement,picking up people’s vibes,and alerting me…Helen knows what my feelings inside are,and I practice speaking very low in whisper in which Helen obeys the most.”

Things are looking up for Ricky and Connie!!

[ronnie1]

That is wonderful Jim, that you applied for a new service dog. I wish for you to get one, good luck.
I want to say to my teammates, awesome rowing, all accolades to each of you.

[Kona2]

Cheers to you !! You have done so very well ! Many thanks for all your inspiration !

[brotherjim]

Thanks from all of us Kona for the cheers. Thanks team for putting in all the time, effort, and pain during the challenge. You are all inspirations and heroes.
I saw a very neat quote as I begin the Idita-walk, thought it very appropriate
"Witness the nature", Accept the circumstances", "Love your life", and Know yourself" It is by Jayesh Patel

[brotherjim]

CNN) -- He already holds the honor of being the only person to complete 20 Iron Man triathlons in a single year, but now Belgian athlete Stefaan Engels has claimed another world record by running 365 marathons in as many days.

Engels completed his year-long mission at the Carretera de les Aigues race in Barcelona on Saturday.

The "Marathon Man" has covered a distance of 9,569 miles (15,401 kilometers) since setting off from his home town of Ghent on February 5, 2010, participating in races in Spain, Portugal, Canada, Mexico, Britain and United States, as well as several in his native country.

The 49-year-old has smashed the previous record of the most marathons run in one year, which according to the Guinness Book of World Records was held by 65-year-old Akinori Kusuda -- who ran 52 consecutive races in 2009.

I don't regard my marathon year as torture. It is more like a regular job
--Stefaan Engels

But in a statement on his official website, the former graphic designer played down his amazing feat.

"I don't regard my marathon year as torture. It is more like a regular job. I am running just as Joe Average goes to work on Monday morning, whether or not he feels like it," he said.

"I don't always feel like running, but when I am done, I take a shower, have some physiotherapy for an hour, and that wraps up my day."

Engels suffered from asthma as a child and was told he would never be able to do exercise. It was then that he decided he would start running the grueling 26.2-mile (42.195 kilometers) discipline.

He said he hopes to inspire others to take up exercise and has encouraged people to run marathons with him in the past.

[brotherjim]

Wounded Warriors amputee flag football team tops NFL Stars
.

By Christopher Nichols

The Taunton Gazette

Posted Feb 03, 2012 @ 09:53 AM

The Wounded Warriors flag football team defeated the NFL Stars team by a score of 65-48 in front of a packed house at the Indianapolis Indoor Sports Park on Wednesday.

Dighton resident and Iraq veteran Greg Reynolds, 27, participated in the festivities.

“It was quite the humbling experience to play against former and current NFL stars,” Reynolds said. “It was a great honor to be a part of this.”

While the event was meant to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team and the game was for fun, Reynolds said he was still glad his team was able to pull off the victory.

“I think my team showed everybody that, despite the perceptions of limitations, life without limbs is limitless,” he said. “We showed everyone (Wednesday) night that, even though we have missing limbs, we can still play with the best of them.”

What brought him here

Reynolds, who served a 15-month tour in Iraq as a motor transport operator with the 4th Infantry Division beginning in April 2003, was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in the United States on June 28, 2008.

As a result of that accident, Reynolds underwent numerous life-saving operations and had his left arm and shoulder amputated, which led to months of rehabilitation.

Beginning in March 2011, Reynolds has played left-centerfield for the Wounded Warriors and developed a technique to catch the softball, toss it up and throw it, all with one hand.

On Wednesday, he played football for the first time in years.

“I haven’t played football since I lost my arm, so in a way, it was a unique challenge,” he said.

Reynolds also said he spent Wednesday morning practicing with his teammates trying to develop a catching method for football.

Halftime show

Since it has become a Wounded Warriors tradition, Reynolds faced off against a two-armed opponent in a push-up contest at halftime. At this game, he faced off against former Indianapolis Colts linebacker Devon McDonald.

And he won.

“At halftime, they had me go up against (McDonald) in push-ups, and I pushed down 77 for the win. And then he paraded me around,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said that prior to the contest, he and McDonald had an agreement that “whoever loses has to give a piggyback ride around the stadium.”

With 77 push-ups, Reynolds topped his previous best of 70 and moved to 14-0 in push-up contests.

[brotherjim]

I love the new photo Christa, that is a beautiful dog.

[brotherjim]

Thanks to Steve from Corning Family YMCA for this
" During the month of January, the Corning Family YMCA competitive rowing team participated in the annual Virtual Team Challenge sponsored by Concept2, maker of the C2 indoor rowing machine. Steve Schwarz, Nick Iven, and Mark Hogan made up our team from the Corning YMCA. Many, many hours were dedicated to rowing as many meters as possible. When the effort, sweat and meters were tallied, our young team, young meaning new, not our ages, performed so far beyond what we had thought we could do.
Individual totals are as follows:
Nick-567,704 meters
Mark-565,024 meters
Steve-430,000 meters
Our most impressive result was in the Average Meters per rower category. This category is the “great equalizer” just as the “Biggest Loser” uses % of weight loss instead of total pounds. Our final rank within this category was 2nd overall in the world. There were a total of 330 teams representing many nations of the world. And, because this was a virtual challenge, meaning not all team members came from a specific, physical location, many of the rowers came together from different affiliations for a purpose or a cause to compete. We, as a team, were fortunate to have contacted some of the teams and rowers we competed against. A truly inspiring and competitive group of teams. Looking at the statistics below, you will see the team at the top, “Overcoming Disabilities” was a 20 person team made up of individuals with disabilities. From wounded veterans to lifetime disabilities, these truly inspiring rowers deserved to win this category and are a true inspiration to all of the other teams. One other team to congratulate “The Erging Will Continue Until Morale Improves” consisted of 5 rowers, one of which had a very serious accident and was not, really, able to contribute very much to the total. This team kept him on the team for the challenge, even though his total meters were very small. If they had taken him off, they would have won the AVG meters category. Kudos to respect. Sometimes this means more than winning!! The ANCIENTS were a team made up of rowers between the ages of 62-81!! Very inspiring and ALL but one member of this team rowed at least 100,000 meters for the challenge. "

We at the O.D. team appreciate this very much and congrats to your team also.
jim

[rosita]

Thank you Steve and Corning Family YMCA
Rosi

[brotherjim]

Tap, tap, tap

by Philip Scholz / October 11, 2010

When I got back in the water after going blind, the most common question I have heard was: "How do you keep from crashing into the wall?" While I am on my own for practice, relying on a stroke count that has generally kept me safe but somewhat slow. For races, things are entirely different.



In a race, my heart is racing, my brain is going a mile a minute, and my arms and legs are moving as fast as they can. My adrenaline is at an all-time high and all I am thinking about is what I have to do to finish. That kind of makes it hard to keep a correct stroke count. And, in a sport where a missed count could mean the difference between walking away from the pool or being wheeled away on a stretcher with a cracked skull, an incorrect count doesn't fit in well.

In light of this, an alternative solution was implemented long before I even went blind. For a race, I have a tapper on each end of the pool. For the few minutes of the race, two people stand with a five-foot pole with a tennis ball on the end, solely focused on me.

When I get close to the wall, they reach out and hit me with the tennis ball-tipped stick, telling me that the wall is there so I should act accordingly. In the end, it is still up to me to execute the turn or the finish correctly, but now I know that the wall is there and I can do just that.

Once I've pushed off, the tapper remains there until the next turn or until the race is over. Then, since they are normally coaches in their normal lives, they go back to what they were doing earlier.

Some have witnessed this happening and viewed it as borderline abuse, but I disagree. As I always say, "I'd rather be hit by that tennis ball than by that wall." Having hit my fair share of walls, I do know what I am talking about. I can see why people are confused because I always tell my tappers to hit me hard, sometimes purposely insulting them before a race to "get them pumped" so they'll take their anger out on me.

Having raced with tappers for the past six or seven years, I have come to like particular people for particular events and pick them accordingly when given the opportunity. In the end, it has always been my call on who gets the job because there is a mutual sense of trust that I see nowhere else.

While tapping sounds like a system that has worked for me, it has come with its share of problems and dark times. Several years ago, I discovered one coach who I get along well with cannot get a hang of tapping me when I am swimming backstroke. However, she is excellent at tapping during a butterfly race and I therefore reserve her for one of those posts. Another coach had a rough start when practicing with me but has improved with time and help from others who have done it, as it is quite a different prospective for them than it is for me. Obviously, she needs the former more.

The moment that sticks out as the biggest "tapping mishap" happened near the end of the college swimming season this past winter. A misunderstanding led to me not being tapped on my finish of a 1,000-yard freestyle race. Me, believing that the tapper was still there like she had been for every turn, put all my energy into completing that last lap, going as fast as I could when my hand accidentally went into the pool's gutter and my head hit the wall. The resulting cracking sound and the screams that followed could only be compared to the sound of a gun going off in the crowd.

Today, I just consider myself lucky to have walked away from that mishap. One teammate of mine had been in the locker room at the time and heard the noise but didn't make anything of it at the time. When he came out and saw me holding an ice pack to my head, he had trouble believing that I had caused the noise, not buying that a human being could cause such a sound. But that was exactly what had happened.

But, despite all this, I am still in the pool. I've got many more stories to share, ranging from mistakes with paperwork to a tapper forgetting to show up for a race, but I do hope this answers that age-old question. Finally, I'll give a shout-out to my first tappers... my parents.
Tags: Philip Scholz , Swimming

[brotherjim]

Road to London 2012
Iraq War Veteran Josh Olson Earns 2012 U.S. Paralympic Team Nomination

Katie Yergensen, USA Shooting January 18, 2012



LAS VEGAS, Nev. - USA Shooting is proud to announce the nomination of Sergeant First Class Josh Olson (Spokane, Wash.) to the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Team. Olson qualified for the team based on the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) two-part qualification system for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. On Jan. 15, the IPC announced that the U.S. earned a second participation slot per the minimum qualifying score (MQS) Allocations.

At the 2011 IPC World Cup in Sydney, Australia, Olson finished sixth in R3 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1). Earlier that year, he finished seventh in R6 (Mixed 50m Rifle Prone) at the IPC World Cup Alicante and eighth in R6 at the IPC World Cup USA.

While on patrol with his unit (101st Airborne division third brigade 1/187) in Iraq in 2003, Olson was struck with a rocket-propelled grenade resulting in the loss of his right leg from the hip down. After spending 18 months at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Olson received his assignment to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Ga. This is Olson's first Paralympic Games nomination-he just missed the threshold in 2008, but has been a member of the National Paralympic Team for five years. Josh is also involved in the TROOPS F1RST Foundation and has participated in "Operation Proper Exit" where he aided other vets recovering from injuries sustained during combat by visiting their place of injury in Iraq. In honor of his service and dedication to the country, Olson was awarded the Purple Heart from former President George W. Bush

Upon notice of his nomination, an elated Olson recognized those who have helped him on his journey: "I want to thank my family and friends for all the support, understanding and sacrifice; my coaches for the instruction and worldclass mentorship; and finally, the U.S. Army for providing the opportunity to continue to serve and represent the USA on the world stage."

National Paralympic Coach Bob Foth is anxious to now lead two talented athletes into competition in London. USA Shooting previously announced in December 2011 the nomination of Eric Hollen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) to the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Shooting Team.

"Olson has worked hard and overcome so many obstacles on this journey and will be a great teammate," Foth said with enthusiasm and pride Josh lost his leg while serving his country and now has a chance to represent all of us in the highest level of international competition. His story of sacrifice and determination is so motivating for anyone who has met him."

[Kona2]

Jim asked me to help post this photo! What an amazing lady - especially when you look at what I am sure is just a partial list of her accomplishments. Her website is http://www.rowoflife.com/