The Shepherd Center held its 6th Annual Project Rollway event on June 22nd. Shepherd Center is a not-for-profit hospital in Atlanta, GA specializing in the treatment, research, and rehabilitation of individuals with spinal cord injuries and other disabling conditions. Shepherd Center gives “healing and hope” to patients and their families by providing excellent medical care and transitional programs.
The American Wheelchair Bowling Association held its 57th Annual National Tournament June 6-9th in Fort Worth, TX. The nation's best bowlers came from all over the country to compete. According to the AWBA blog about this event, the tournament began on Wednesday, opening with 26 teams in the Doubles Championship and 16 teams in the Pfister/Ramus Team Championship. There were also 12 singles champions who competed in the Al Uttecht Tournament of Champions.
As the plane slowly descended through the clouds towards LAX, I closed my eyes to think of the successful athletes this city has bred for decades. A film strip of many names and faces popped up in my head: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a UCLA track and basketball star and a 4-time Olympian, she was ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlonas as well as long jump, a big role model to young women athletes;"Magic" Johnson, picked in the 1979 draft, he spent all 13 years of his NBA career in Los Angeles leading the Lakers to 5 national titles; Elgin Baylor, an 11-time All-Star and Hall of Famer ranks among the top 25 in points and rebounds in NBA history; Candace Cable, a 9-time Paralympian and the first woman athlete to compete both in winter and summer Paralympic games; and Dave Kiley, a 6-time Paralympian, legendary wheelchair basketball player who has won 13 Paralympic medals, 11 of them gold in 3 different sports, head coach of the 2012 London U.S. Women's Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball team. This dreamy film strip was interrupted when our plane touched the ground. I was brought to reality. I was in Los Angeles and was looking forward to finding out what it had to offer!
June 2-3 was the 15th Annual Dave Kiley DK3 Tournament. An event where players enter as individuals and are sorted into teams of three based on classification, skill level, and experience. It was by far the largest turn out in the history of the event with 54 athletes in attendance. The tournament was organized by NWBA Hall of Famer and U.S. Paralympian Dave “DK” Kiley. It was proudly hosted at the University of Texas at Arlington by head coach of the Movin’ Mavs men’s wheelchair basketball team Doug Garner.
The 15th Annual Dallas DK 3-on-3 is right around the corner. On June 2-3rd, 2018 over 50 athletes are traveling to Dallas, Texas for 2 days of high-level basketball. I thought it might be time to explain the event and how it came to be as DK 3-on-3 and the brand 'DK3.'
15 years ago, my great friend Michael 'Shorty' Powers and his organization Turning Point, asked me to run a basketball event "to be held within the structure of their flagship event, Turning Points, Texas ‘Extravaganza’ (a multi-activity sport participation event)." Some big names we know today were part of the first event: Paul Schulte, Pat Anderson, and Willie Hernandez to name a few. This was the birth place of this annual 3-on-3 event. Thanks Shorty for your vision!
"Shorty" Michael Lewis Powers passed away on June 19th, 2016. You can read Dave Kiley's tribute to "Shorty" here.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men after skin cancer. In fact, every 20 minutes another American man dies from prostate cancer.
ABC Medical, a national provider of medical supplies, redefined their mission and purpose since CEO Keith Jones and a group of seasoned healthcare professionals acquired the company in 2012. “Companies like us typically focus on volume and margins as well as manage through the difficult world of reimbursement. While all of those things are critical for a successful business, to us, it is quite frankly boring, uninspiring, and certainly not a mission to be proud of. After attending a few adaptive sports events with my son, and meeting some of our customers fiercely competing on the basketball court, our mission became obvious – To Do Well by Doing Good“ says ABC Medical’s Keith Jones.
My name is Jonathan Alex Villarreal.
I turned 36 on July 19th. Today is August 24th, 2017. I writing to share my story with you to reflect back on the past 10 years of my life since my tragic accident when I almost didn't survive.
There are a few benchmarks that occur in our lives that are significant or monumental. They can sometimes break our hearts or bring us to our knees. There are always those times though that one will remember for a lifetime for the good it has done, not just for the individual, but more importantly for the masses it effects. In this blog, I will attempt to capture such an occurrence.
