Another Year Already?
I can’t believe 2024 is coming to an end. It’s been a very busy year, so it’s no wonder it has passed so quickly.  A Big THANK YOU to all the participants, organizations, volunteers, donors, sponsors, performers, and supporters! There is no way we would be able to provide all the activities, services, and opportunities we do without all of you.  

Fall Wrap-up

Miracle Sports Kickball: Thank you to everyone who joined us for a fantastic season of kickball! Despite having to cancel two times due to a very active hurricane season, we had a lot of fun! In October we went “Trick or Treating” around the bases and in November we enjoyed a fantastic Seminole Showdown!  DJ Sam provided the tunes; Jeremy Countryman was an awesome emcee. The FSU Cheerleaders and athletes from FSU’s Women’s Swim Team and Football Teams encouraged and cheered on our athletes. The Seminole Sound performance got us all up on our feet! F-L-O-R-I-D-A  S-T-A-T-E! Florida State, Florida State, Florida State! Whooo!

Thank you also to the volunteers who came out each week; to our fantastic coaches—Cameron, Jamison, Caden and Bruno; to our awesome interns—Natalie and Renata; and the always wonderful Kiwanis Clubs.  We appreciate each and every one of you!

Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna held October 6 at Maclay Gardens was a great success! Thank you to our Big Kahuna Boat Sponsors: 

Wilson Family Medicine
NFC Baseball Team
Tallahassee Killearn Kiwanis
Tallahassee Northside Kiwanis Club
Virtual Kiwanis of the Big Bend
Capital City Kiwanis
Bradfordville Kiwanis Club
Capital City Lumber 

Thank you to the many individuals who came out to row and to volunteer. We could not hold this event without you! A very special thank you to Randy Chestnut for bringing the canoes and running the event; John Beeman and his sons for providing the safety boat; the middle and high school Kiwanis Key Clubs members for Maclay High School and Rickards High School; Boy Scout Troop 10; FSU Sports Management Students; the FSU Circle K International Club; the North Florida Christian High School Baseball Team; and all the family and friends who came out to support this fun event. 

Congratulations to the race winner: North Florida Christian HS Baseball Team!

Get Ready for 2025!

As we ease into the final weeks of 2024, it’s a good time to start looking ahead to next year.  As always, it is going to be a very busy Spring! Take a look at these events:

Baseball at Miracle Field—the first pitch is scheduled for January 23, 2024 at Miracle Field in Tallahassee. Miracle Sports Baseball meets every Thursday night from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm and runs January 23, 2025—April 3, 2025 (no game will be held March 13 due to Spring Break).  Visit the SportsAbility website for more information. Please come join us!

Fitness Fridays—We are pleased to announce that ourFitness Friday workouts will continue throughout 2025.  Our Fitness Friday workout partner--Spirt Club—will offer workouts at 11:00 am Eastern Time on Facebook live through the SportsAbility Alliance Facebook page. Don’t worry if you miss one—the workout is available all week on demand. Workouts include adaptive options so individuals of all ages and abilities can participate.  Check it out! 

SportsAbility 2025 is scheduled for April 25 at Tallahassee State College (formerly Tallahassee Community College) and April 26 at Maclay Gardens State Park.  We will be sending out additional information in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for more details.  

Be sure to Mark Your Calendars with the event dates and visit SportsAbility.org for more information and to register. 

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

Stay well friends!

Fran Gilbert
Executive Director, SportsAbility Alliance

Finally, feeling some nice Fall weather! Time to get outdoors and enjoy the beauty of our great nature-based recreation destinations and opportunities that the Sunshine State has to offer its residents and visitors.

I just spent a splendid day on Cape San Blas beach at the Billy Joe Rish Recreation area with Leadership of the Florida State Parks. I was there to provide them with input on the plans for a new sensory enhanced nature trail on the bay side of the property. Our State Parks have truly embraced the inclusion philosophy and are working to provide better access that includes people of all ages and abilities. The sensory components in their plans are very creative and interesting with its goal of providing a connection and better understanding and respect for the native habitat and wildlife that is so diverse here in Florida. 

I was so surprised to see the new construction on the nature trail that has been in the vision and works for many years now, since the State Parks acquired the responsibility of managing this very old property and the recreation functions for the public to enjoy. This is a totally accessible trail loop through the wooded area that makes a return on a boardwalk along the shoreline with a beautiful view of the St. Joe Bay. Rish Park deserves a more detailed inquiry and a visit to in order to appreciate and enjoy all it has to offer. 

I took a couple of EcoRovers to use on the trail and on the beach, where I was approached by a visitor with a mobility disability. He was very intrigued by the looks of the EcoRovers and I sent him off with one for a “walk” on the beach and he came back so excited you would have thought that it had been a walk on the moon! It truly changes lives! We hope to have them regularly available for use there by reservation in the near future. Watch for progress! 

In the meantime, we are continuing to offer the ALLOUT EcoRover Adventure program to veterans with disabilities in the Tallahassee area, through a renewed grant from Move United and funded by the VA. We will soon have dates and destinations for reservations on our website.

However, the biggest and most exciting news is that we have been awarded a grant from the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida (FWFF) that they acquired and funded through their relationship with Florida Power and Light Energy (FPL). With this generous grant opportunity, we are in the early stages of acquiring two EcoRovers and a trailer to be used in a program to provide their use for people with mobility limitations for the purpose of hunting, shooting sports, and other outdoor recreation activities in the Northwest part of the state. We will be creating and providing opportunities from Panama City to Pensacola.

This is an innovative program with four different but like-minded organizations. SportsAbility Alliance, with our recreation access and inclusion mission, has partnered with the FWFF, FPL and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision (FWC), to provide opportunities for people to better enjoy our nature-based recreation opportunities in the Panhandle area of the state. We are planning to kick off the program on January 31, at our BlackWater Hutton WEA Mobility Impaired deer hunt. Watch for program plans to be developed and shared.

ACTIVE LEISURE for LIFE! 

David Jones
Founder, SportsAbility Alliance

This blog post was written by SportsAbility Alliance Volunteer, Jessi Wynn.

Trischa Zorn is the most successful athlete in Paralympic history, competing in over seven Paralympic Games from 1980 to 2004 and winning 55 medals (41 of them gold). Her extraordinary achievements in the pool have set a standard in sports, especially within the Paralympic community.

Read more about Trischa Zorn and her accomplishments at the link below! 

The article “UF researchers connect with filmmaker’s story of resilience after spinal cord injury,” written by Michelle Jaffee and posted on the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute website begins: “Bridging the arts, sciences, and clinical medicine, a dancer and filmmaker with a spinal cord injury shared her journey Wednesday with a crowd of more than 120 University of Florida researchers, rehabilitation therapists, neurointensivists, and students at a screening of her documentary, “Move Me.”