Texas Thunder Quad Rugby Tournament, February 5-7th Great Results!

We would like to thank all of our volunteers  and sponsors, The Texas Stampede, RISE, C & R Medical,  Lift-Aids, the Hilton Garden Inn, and the City of Irving for helping put on an excellent tournament.  Seven quad rugby teams from across the country came to the city of Irving to compete in this three day event.  The competition was stiff with no teams going undefeated.

CLICK HERE for more photos of the tournament.

Check out the tournament results below…

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RISE Adventures Golf Program is a Dream Come True!

When Kevin Wright was born, his parents never dreamed that he would ever play golf. As a small child growing up, he never had the opportunity to become involved in any sports due to his disabilities, which include visual impairment and cerebral palsy. Now, thanks to RISE Adventures, Kevin is learning to play golf and other recreational sports activities.

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Charity Fundraising Rugby Match is a Huge Success!

On Friday December 18, the Dallas Harlequins played  Team RISE Adventures in a charity fund raising Quad rugby event. This year we gathered to help support two charities over the holidays. The event brought in tons of toys for Toys for Tots and some money for Triggers Toys. Both teams brought out numerous fans to support their team and these wonderful charities. Once again Team Rise dominated the scoreboard 56 – 46!  ON Magazine did a photo shoot with RISE and it will soon be profiled in their magazine.

This event wouldn’t have be possible without these great sponsors!  C & R Medical ,  Lift Aids, and  ON magazine

CLICK HERE to see more photos of the event.

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Lone Star Paralyzed Veterans of America Donates Disability Bus to RISE

Our great friends at the LSPVA donated their bus to RISE Adventures this week. Chris Goad heads the Texas Thunder Event Committee and was desperately looking for accessible transportation with a lift. His task was to be able to transport quad rugby teams flying in from numerous other states to and from the airport and the tournament. He reached a lot of dead ends but was finally blessed. He sought to borrow the PVA bus for the weekend. They really didn’t use the vehicle as much as they would have liked so made a donation to RISE so we could transport groups to and from our programs. From everyone at TEAM RISE, thanks to all of you at the Lone Star Paralyzed Veterans Association for supporting RISE and our very important mission. Special thanks goes to Glendon Bentley and Eric Payton, you guys are the best, THANK YOU!

Lift-Aids and C & R Medical Remain the RISE Corporate Title Sponsor’s for 2010

I am very proud to announce that our two title sponsor have resigned for 2010. For two years these sponsors have been intimately involved in our programs, supported our infrastructure, and provided funding so allow RISE to not charge a fee for any of our programs. Please call these sponsors and support our mission by purchasing your urological needs from C & R Medical and your mobility vehicle needs from Lift-Aids. They are both first class companies that provide excellent service and in turn take their profits and support the RISE mission.

CLICK HERE to see the C & R Medical ad.

CLICK HERE to see the Lift-Aids ad.

RISE is proud to announce our 2010 Program Schedule

A large group of volunteers and committee board members were instrumental in preparing this complex document.  We scheduled over 500 programs dates and will be adding more as we continue to seek collaborative partners and locations for additional programs and events.  You can view this broad spectrum of programs and dates by clicking on this link.  Sign up now!

Kayaying in the Cold 11/21/09

It was a cloudy morning on Saturday, November 21, 2009. A few of us were planning to go hand cycling and kayaking. Since it rained the night before the hand cycling trails were completely under water so we went kayaking that day. It was a good thing we decided to go kayaking it was over cast but it was not to cold or hot it was perfect weather. We enjoyed ourselves exploring new areas that we haven’t been before while we were kayaking. I encourage everyone to go out and experience Kayaking.

Russell J. Amaya

To see more photos CLICK HERE.

RISE is proud to support Dr. Ann Marie Warren, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR), to promote studies that may impact you. Do you have a spinal cord injury?

RISE is proud to support Dr. Ann Marie Warren, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR), to promote studies that may impact you. Do you have a spinal cord injury? Do these symptoms bother you: poor sleep, low energy, little interest in usual activities, depressed mood, feelings of worthlessness or pain? The Project to Improve Symptoms and Mood after Spinal Cord Injury (PRISM) is the first federally funded clinical trial of an antidepressant for people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).  If you have a SCI, are 18-64 years old, have several of these symptoms, are not taking venlafaxine XR and live within 100 miles of Seattle, WA, Birmingham, AL, Chicago, IL, Ann Arbor, MI or Dallas, TX you may qualify for this trial.

Please contact Ann Marie Warren, Ph.D. at 214-820-9315.

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Hand Cycling continues to add new participants and equipment, Saturday, November 14th!

What a beautiful morning for a nice ride through a beautiful park. Ava brought her kitty cat for a nice ride on her exotic bike. We have added three new hand cycles to the program this month and are purchasing two more high level bikes to keep up with the ever growing demand. This program is for all levels of physical disabilities including but not limited to high level quadriplegics. Starting Saturday, December 5^th the program time changes from 9-12 to our new time 12-3 pm. Please contact Ty Johnson for more information or to participate, bear-tech@msn.com.

CLICK HERE for more photos from the event.

Fitness Center for People with Disabilities Now Open

With an ALL NEW Board of Directors leading the way, the Neuro Fitness Foundation opened the doors to an all new facility on September 24, 2009 and the enthusiasm at the facility has been incredible.  The Neuro Fitness Foundation, lovingly referred to as “NFF” is the only such facility in the country that devotes 100 % of its being to provide a specially equipped work out facility for people with disabilities. Managed by an all volunteer staff of dedicated friends and family members of the membership, NFF is totally dependent on pledges from the membership to keep the facility in operation.   Regardless of ones inability to pledge their financial support, no-one will be turned away.  CLICK HERE to view the Fox4 News Coverage.   CLICK HERE to visit their website.

The NEW center is located at 1361 W. Euless Blvd., #101, Euless, TX  76040

817/571-1323.  Hours of operation:  M/W/F 10:00am-5:00pm  T/TH 2:00pm-7:00pm

Correspondence and donations can be mailed to:  NFF, PO Box 2720, Grapevine, TX  76099.  Pay Pal and credit cards also accepted.

Are you looking forward to seeing old friends; or making new ones?  Then come on out, you will be glad you did.

TEAM RISE participates in the Neuro Fitness Foundation Golf Fundraiser, November 9th.

To say the least none of us that played are avid golfers. I think you are supposed to play with a foursome but we didn’t know the rules so played, well, attempted to play with 6 golfers to support our great friends at NFF. Our group only attempted 7 holes and was finally requested to call it a day on the 18^th hole since we were holding up the rest of the real golfers from completing their rounds. Even though our skills were lacking, I promise you our group had more fun than the rest in support of a great cause.  CLICK HERE for more photos of the event.

RISE First Annual Gala a Huge Success!

I want to personally thank each and every one of you that attended the November 14^th event held at Dave and Busters. The evening started off with a Social Hour listening to McKenzie Seaux performing live on stage. McKenzie just turned 12 years old and entertained with stories on her song writing skills followed by a great rendition of her music by this very talented young lady. The Matekis followed with an assortment of country and folk music that kept the crowd entertained throughout the evening. These artists believe in the RISE mission and also performed at our sixth annual End of Summer Bash back in September. Mike Peters Video Presentation of this year’s program pictures was a nice backdrop to the live entertainment. The Mexican buffet line was always busy. The pool and shuffle board tables stayed active as the player’s competitive energy and enthusiasm showed. The camaraderie between attendees exemplified the evening.

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RISE Quad Rugby Keeps Growing (New Video)

The RISE Adventures Quad Rugby program is getting bigger and better.  There are new players showing up every week.  This week we had 18 players.   The competition is getting fierce!  Five of our consistent players now have their own chairs and RISE Adventures provides 13 more chairs!  So come on out and bash it up with us!   No reservations are required for this weekly program.  We play every Friday from 6 pm till 9 pm at the Georgia Farrow Recreation Center.

Georgia Farrow Recreation Center
530 Davis Dr
Irving, TX 75061    click here for map.

Click here for more photos

Hand Cycling Continues to Roll for the Month of October.

Kathi Eteaki was our newest rider Saturday. She came to the EOSB V and tried the hand cycles and got hooked. She rode for about an hour and even got to enjoy being part of the Ghandi Peace Walk which was being held at the same time.

We ride every Saturday from 9am until NOON at Campions Trail in Irving. Anyone interested in hand cycling should make reservations and come on out for a good time.

Contact me at bear-tech@msn.com or 817.637.4518.
Ty “Bear” Johnson.

RISE Sailing by Rick Brauer

Fall is upon us and soon winters ill wind. Four more dates left for this year, if we can catch a break.

Last Sunday was a wash out but hey, we tried!   Hopefully we shall have a few good days, especially those days we want to go sailing.  An eye on weather conditions is something we always must have, so for those who would like to give it a shot, let me know!

Just imagine, a nice sunshiny day, the cool breeze fills the sails. That’s what I’m imagining.  It can happen. We can possibly schedule additional dates.

For more information or to reserve your spot contact Captain Rick Brauer at rbrauer@riseadventures.org.

RISE End of Summer Bash V Smashes Attendance Record!

This year’s attendance more than doubled last years with 918 total persons in attendance; Disabilities 237, Family Members 344, Volunteers  220, and Vendors/Sponsors 117.  Thanks to everyone that attended and supported this year’s event. We would like to ask everyone to send us your stories, pictures, and comments about the event. We are also open to any constructive criticism to make improvements. Send pictures to slarimore@riseadventures.org.  Comments can be made online click here. To view the pictures already posted click here.

Wanted.. to get out of the house!

Been having health issues for the past 3 months.  In and out of hospitals on a couple occasions.  It feels like I missed the summer.  For the first time I felt back to my usual self and went Sailing this past Sunday.   It was great!  The weather was great, the wind was fine, the day started out cool temperature wise.  The winds seemed
to stay between 8 and 10 mph which gets these J24 sailboats racing along.  What a great way to get back into the swing of things.

Oh.. no conflicts with pirates but did see a vessel with a couple skull
and crossbones proudly displayed.

Thanks!  Rick Brauer

NBC 5 Sports “Out of Bounds” highlights RISE Golf Program

Tee it Up Anytime!

RISE golfers take advantage of “flex scheduling” and Tee it Up on Wednesday, August 5th at the North Texas Golf Center.  If the regularly scheduled RISE golf event just doesn’t fit your schedule, get your buddies together and let’s go play when it’s convenient….for you!  RISE provides everything:  single rider cart, golf clubs, instruction, an accessible facility with golf course, driving range, short game area…all just waiting to be used and centrally located at I35 and Walnut Hill in Dallas.  So, give yourself a midweek break….plan ahead and schedule some golf for yourself next week.  By phone or email, gary@garypickle.com or 817.684.1128.  CLICK HERE to see more photos of RISE Golf.

Fishing with Andy

I want to thank Andy for all of his devotion to RISE programs! It’s amazing to see how the quad rugby Friday nights are the hot spot to be! Now I have to try and show up on time since everyone knows it’s a must! Thanks for taking a group of us night fishing the following day. We each caught 4-5 fish! Thank goodness since I was skunked the prior week when I attempted to fish 3 times in Alaska. Andy knows where to find success on Lake Ray Hubbard. He even brought adaptive equipment for a quadriplegic that he made personally. Thanks to all the volunteers that run RISE programs like Andy!!! I always look forward to a RISE activity on a weekly basis!!!

-Lea