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This year was a return to form as the Rams reclaimed the Midwest Conference
championship with a conference record of 6-1. We will be participating in
tournaments the next two weekends in a bid to be accepted at an NWBA
regional playoff. The dates are:
Jan 10-11 Lawrence, Kansas
Jan 17-18 Dayton, Ohio
As posted at: www.haacsports.com
Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 4:37 PM - [Men's Tennis] - Viewed 20 times
Carli Bisesi has signed a Letter of Intent to compete as part of the William Jewell College women’s tennis program in the fall of 2009.
Bisesi is a ranked player in the Missouri Valley this year in her age grouping. A native of Wildwood, Mo., Bisesi attends Lafayette High School where she played the number-three singles slot as a senior in 2008. Her team finished undefeated in regular season and was a runner-up in District and Sectional play. She earned awards for Most Singles Wins and Most Overall Wins on her team as a senior in 2008. Bisesi also saw success in the classroom at Lafayette, as she was named a scholar-athlete for four years and a Renaissance Honor Student for four years as well.
“I am extremely excited to have Carli and her family in our program,” said Jewell head coach Paul Worstell. “I was very impressed with her during the recruiting process, and I am looking forward to seeing her game develop further. She will be a welcome addition to the Jewell community, both academically and athletically.”
Bisesi trains at The Miller Tennis Academy in Chesterfield, Mo., which is considered one of the premier tennis academies in the state. Carli also stays very active in the community doing volunteer work for the United States Tennis Association wheelchair tennis championships and participating in Rebuilding St. Louis, an inner-city housing rehab project.
As posted at: www.columbiamissourian.com
WARDSVILLE — Clasping his toddler-sized fingers around his father’s, a high-spirited Luke Pickett giggles while he and his brother play with their dad.
Luke Pickett, now 21 months old, went to China for a donated umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant. In September 2007, Luke’s parents, Clint and Cheryl Pickett, learned he had spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder affecting his muscle tone that causes gross motor delays.
After raising $30,000 and spending Oct. 4 to Nov. 8 at the Chengyang People’s Hospital in Qingdao, which is in northeastern China, Luke and his father are back, hoping for results along with the rest of the family.
“His head control is a lot better,” Clint Pickett said while holding his son on his lap. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s gotten bigger or he’s just getting stronger, but he just feels like a more solid kid.”
While in China, where the nurses always wanted to see Luke’s smiling face and referred to him as “Lukeee,” Luke received two intravenous treatments of cord blood stem cells and five lumbar (spinal) injections.
“The nurses couldn’t get enough of him,” Clint Pickett said. “I couldn’t walk down the hall without them stopping and holding his hands or rubbing his little face.”
The cord blood, which is collected from the umbilical cord and placenta after a woman has given birth, contains stem cells that are being used internationally to attempt to treat various conditions. Autologous transplants use the patient’s own stem cells, while allogeneic transplants use donated stem cells from related or unrelated people. Cord blood stem cell transplants are being done in the United States but are not available for cerebral palsy.
Although the Picketts said the treatment was a blessing, the process at times left Clint a little overwrought. During the two intravenous treatments, he was able to sit with Luke on a couch while the “yellowish-color” stem cells in “a bag about the size of half a sandwich” transferred into his son. During the lumbar injections, however, Luke was separated from his father.
“They’d take him away, which is kind of hard to do,” Clint Pickett said. “Being in a foreign country and having people you can’t really understand sedate your child was pretty rough.”
Despite the few anxious moments, the time Clint and Luke spent together allowed the opportunity to strengthen the bond between father and son.
“I learned so much about Luke,” Clint Pickett said. “Just taking care of him 24 hours a day, him looking to me for all his meals and bottles — I never got to have that much time with him.”
Cheryl Pickett sees that bond now. “He seems closer to Clint to me,” she said, watching her husband play with Luke. “He just seems more attached.”
Although they were missed, Clint and Luke’s month away provided some one-on-one time with Cheryl and Cody, the Picketts’ older son, especially before adding the newest members to their family — twins Ethan and Emily, who were born two minutes apart shortly after noon on Dec. 16. Cheryl and Cody made a paper chain together, ripping off a link each day to signify how many days were left until their boys came home. Cody recognized, as much as a 3-year-old can, where his dad and brother were.
A print of Charles Ebbets’ 1932 photo, “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” hangs in the Picketts’ dining room. The iconic image of workers eating on a beam above New York City was a reminder to Cody that “that’s where Daddy was,” Cheryl Pickett said, “because Daddy was in a big city.”
With the family back together at their home in Wardsville, just south of Jefferson City, Luke and Cody play with “diggers,” Cody’s new collection of miniature plastic trucks. Able to sit up with the comforting hands of his father holding onto his crisscrossed legs, Luke’s beaming smile emerges as Cody laughs uncontrollably while playing with his brother.
According to the Picketts, Luke’s therapists have noted that his head control, sitting and hand movements have improved.
“His movement in his hands seem more purposeful,” Cheryl Pickett said. “He can see something, reach out for it and grab it, instead of just whacking at it.”
Clint Pickett said he was told by doctors in China that the treatment for neurological conditions typically shows results three to six months after stem cell transplants, a contrast to some of the more immediate results those with other conditions had in China.
“There were a lot of kids there with optic nerve hypoplasia,” he said of a condition that is usually associated with vision loss. “There was a little boy there from Florida that, after having his first IV treatment, he could see his mom waving her hand in front of his face. Some of those were there, but the other parents there with kids that have cerebral palsy or any other kind of brain injury, we didn’t see as many results right then.”
While in China, Clint collected mementos to bring back to Missouri. Small packets of dried food, a newspaper the day after the presidential election and one keepsake that is a bit more permanent: a tattoo. In Chinese, reading up his forearm, is the symbol for “love” and the names of Cody, Luke, Ethan and Emily — names he and Cheryl kept a secret until they were born.
“It just seemed like a good present to myself, to bring home something that I’ll have forever,” Clint Pickett said. “My kids’ names — I couldn’t think of anything else better to have.”
Girard Press
Wed Dec 17, 2008, 10:12 AM CST
Five professional teams from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas are set to compete in the first-ever Mt. Carmel Medical Equipment Gorilla Invitational Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, to be held Friday through Sunday at the Student Recreation Center and Kansas National Guard Armory at Pittsburg State University.
The tournament will pit the teams against one another in games that are nearly as fast and just as intense as traditional basketball. Intercollegiate rules will be enforced, with just a few modifications, such as allowing players two pushes of their wheelchair before they have to dribble the ball.
The tournament will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Prior to the games, a three-hour referee’s workshop will be held at 7 p.m. Friday in Room 219 of the recreation center. The workshop is open to the public at no cost, but seating is limited and participants must register by Thursday.
Graduate assistant Jason Miori will help train the referees in conjunction with National Wheelchair Basketball Association officials.
“We see the training workshop as part of the education and service mission of the university,” said Dan Ferguson, associate professor in the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation. “We have a therapeutic recreation undergraduate program and a fitness management program and we’re trying to develop an awareness and give people experience with this.”
Workshop attendees will be able to take a test to become NWBA-certified referees.
“We’re hoping some folks in the community will come and some who are in wheelchairs will want to get involved,” Ferguson said. “Ultimately, we would like Pittsburg to become a hub for these activities. We’re right in the middle of where these teams are located.”
Competing teams include the Kansas Wheelhawks from Topeka, the Kansas City Thunder, the St. Louis Rolling Rams, the Mid-America Paralyzed Veterans Association Chargers from Oklahoma and the no. 1-ranked Rollin’ Razorbacks from Arkansas.
Two games will be played simultaneously on Saturday and Sunday, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
The tournament is sponsored by Mt. Carmel Medical Equipment, the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation at PSU and the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The National Sports Center for the Disabled – KC is pleased to announce our upcoming adaptive ski lessons at Snow Creek Ski Area in Weston, MO:
· Session 1 Wed
evenings, 5:30-8:30 pm Jan 7-28
· Session 2 Thurs evenings, 5:30-8:30 pm
Jan 8-29
· Session 3 Sat mornings, 9:30-12:30
Jan 10, 24 & Feb 7,21
· Session 4 Sun mornings, 9:30-12:30
Jan 11, 25 & Feb 8 &22
· Session 5 Wed evenings, 5:30-8:30 pm
Feb 4-25
· Session 6 Thurs evenings, 5:30-8:30 pm
Feb 5 – 26
Cost for the program is $185 for all equipment, instruction & lift ticket. Limited scholarships are available.
In addition, we will be hosting a Midwest Skiing Symposium, December 18 – 20 at Snow Creek for those who wish to expand knowledge and experience in the area of adaptive snow sports.
To register or for more information, see the attached flyers or visit our website - https://nscd.org/programs/kc_winterprograms.htm. For more information, please contact Tom Sanders at tsanders@nscd.org or call our Kansas City office at 816.513.7571.
United States Power Soccer Association Announces
USPSA NOW PROVIDING MEMBERSHIP INSURANCE
Carmel, IN - December 2, 2008 - USPSA is now offering accidental insurance coverage as well as liability insurance to all teams. All rostered athletes and coaches will be covered for one fee. Referees will also have the option of purchasing individual coverage.
The new insurance will be available to each USPSA registered team at a cost of $135.00 per team and will cover teams for one year. This coverage includes up to twelve athletes and four staff members per team. This coverage in most cases will be a cost savings compared to the per person cost previously offered.
Coverage will cover all team practices, local games, tournaments, fundraising events related to power soccer, and clinics performed by your athletes/coaches to promote the sport of power soccer.
If coverage is needed for your practice and tournament facilities you will be able to obtain a Certificate of Insurance Form on our website. It will then be submitted to the secretary at USPSA.secretary@yahoo.com.
Insurance sign-up forms and Certificate of Insurance requests for events and facilities are available on the USPSA website under downloads. Please allow 14 days for Certificates of Insurance. Only teams who have purchased their insurance through USPSA are eligible for certificates of insurance.
COVERAGE UNDER THIS PROGRAM INCLUDES:
Commercial General Liability: coverage which protects the uninsured against liability claims for bodily injury and property damage arising out of premise, operations, products and completed operations, and personal and advertising injury. No deductible applies to liability claims.
Legal Liability to participants- coverage which offers protection against bodily injury liability claims brought by persons participating in covered sports activities.
Professional Liability: provides protection against claims that arise out of the rendering , or the failure to render; instruction, demonstration, direction and/or advice related to the sports activity.
Medical Payments for participants: coverage which pays the medical and dental expenses incurred by participant when an accidental injury occurs while participating in a covered sports activity. The coverage is provided on an excess basis, responding after all other medical coverage available to participant has been exhausted. If no other medical coverage exists, the coverage becomes the primary. A $250.00 deductible applies to each claim, and the benefit period is two years from the date of the accident.
COVERAGE EXCLUDES;
Abuse or molestation, amusement devices, asbestos, baby-sitting. child care services, carnivals and festivals, climbing walls, concerts, 24 hour premise liability, dunk tanks, employment-related practices, events involving gambling, (ie bingo, casino nights, poker, Texas Hold’em Tournament), events where alcohol is furnished or served, fireworks, fungo or bacteria, haunted attractions, lead, nuclear energy, Operation or ownership of a sports facility, outside vendors/concessionaires in conjunction with your organization, pollution, sports events/activities involving participants in sports other than those reported and for whom a premium has been paid, transportation of athletes or participants.
COVERAGE AND LIMITS;
Each Occurrence $1,000,000
General Aggregate $2,000,000
Products-completed operations aggregate $1,000,000
Personal & Advertising Injury $1,000,000
Damage to premise rented to you $300,000
Medical Expenses, other than participants $5,000
Professional Liability $1,000,000
Legal Liability to participants $1000,000
Medical Payments for participants(excess) $250 ded. $25,000
TEAMS CAN NOW UMBRELLA UNDER USPSA for 501(C) 3 STATUS
USPSA is now offering members in good standing who do not have non-profit status to raise funds for their team or power soccer program through USPSA.
This service will allow teams to solicite donations and sponsorship requests to corporations and other large donors who require the 501 (c) 3 status.
Donations can be made to USPSA and earmarked to the specific team. All funds will be deposited to the USPSA account and will be dispersed upon request with appropriate check request or reinbursement forms.
The USPSA will manage each individual team account,generate the donor thank you letter, monthly team statements, end of year report and the tax filings.This service will be available for a 5% fee.
Participation, check reimbursement and check request forms can all be found on our website under downloads.
We hope you will take avantage of this valuable service. It will allow you to raise funds for your team and at the same time offer your donors all the tax benefits!
This Saturday, December 6 at 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) will tune into NBC as Bob Costas will narrate a 90-minute broadcast covering the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. The NBC highlight show will go in-depth with top U.S. Paralympic athletes as they trained for and competed in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. *this was originally aired on November 9, 2008.
For more info go to the following link: http://www.nwba.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1412&topic=&newlang=
The Championship Division (formally known as D1 & D2) Top Twenty was announced today. Below are the top Men’s wheelchair basketball teams (as of 12/2/08)
1) Arkansas Rollin’ Razorbacks
2) Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks
3) L.A. Fast Breakin Lakers
4) Utah Wheelin’ Jazz
5) Orlando Magic Wheels
6) Golden State Road Warriors
7) Magee Sixers Spokesmen
Grand Rapids Pacers
9) Charlotte Rollin’ Bobcats
10) Milwaukee Wheelchair Bucks
11) Champaign Fire
12) Charlottesville Cardinals
13) Rockford Chariots
14) Houston Rollin Rockets
15) Chicago Wheelchair Bulls
16) Denver Rolling Nuggets
17) Rancho Renegades
18) L.A. Clippers Chairmen
19) N.Y. Rollin’ Knicks
20) Shepherd Stealers
As posted at:new.cheapflights.com
It may not seem a big deal unless you’re in a wheelchair. In that case you know it can be a challenge sometimes to operate the devices on certain kinds of carpeting.
To that end (and because it just plain needs it) Lambert-St. Louis International (STL) is replacing the carpeting in its East Terminal, home to discount airline Southwest at STL.
Officials there say the move marks the first major finishing upgrade to the East Terminal since it opened for business ten years ago. In all, crews are working to replace some 9,000 square-yards of carpeting from Gate E-2 through E-33. All passenger waiting areas will get the makeover.
The new material is ADA compliant and will, according to the airport, “make it easier to operate wheelchairs than the previous flooring.”
An interesting touch is that the carpeting’s design mimics the patchwork of crops and fields you might see were you looking down on the Midwest from 35,000 feet up.
Officials say the new flooring should be ready for the coming Thanksgiving crush.
