Disability and Progress- December 12, 2024- Courage Kenny Sports and Rec

[00:00:58] Speaker A: Thank you for joining Disability in Progress where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussion on disability topics. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Charlene Dahl is our PR person. Hi Charlene. Erin is our podcaster and Miguel engineers this episode. I want to remind you that if you want to have any suggestions or for people or topics, you can email me at disabilityandprogressamjasmin.com this week we're speaking with Michael Caine and Shannon Newman. They are from Courage Kenny and we're going to be talking about their adaptive sports programs and Courage Kenny. Thanks so much for joining me, guys. [00:01:47] Speaker B: Hey, thanks Sam. Excited to be here. [00:01:51] Speaker A: Can we start out please, by talking about how what you each do and how you came to work for Courage Kenny? [00:02:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll jump in here if that's okay. Again, Michael Caine. I am the manager for Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, Adaptive Sports and Rec, which is a part of the Illinois Health System. I've been the active manager for the last two plus years. Before that, I worked with a series of other nonprofits in advocacy and sports work, one of which was Special Olympics Minnesota. So I've been in doing sports and having fun and playing in the sports genre for at least a couple of decades. Here. I'll kick it over to Shannon. [00:02:41] Speaker C: Hello everyone. I'm Shannon Newman. I have been with Courage Kenny for almost two and a half years. I'm one of the program specialists on the team and some of the sports that I primarily focus on is going to be our adaptive golf program and then our alpine ski and snowboard program as well. I've started out with Courage Kenny as an intern for my degree from school and then afterwards they hired me on as a full time staff member and I've been here since. [00:03:13] Speaker A: Excellent. Well, I know that those intern positions can be pretty valuable. My son is a rec therapist, so they can. There's a lot they learn and do with people. Are there more than one Courage Kenny? [00:03:35] Speaker B: There is just one Courage Kenny. It's an interesting history spanning back to Sister Kenny and Courage Center. But long story short, about 10 years ago those two nonprofits join forces under Allina Health to be a part of their community focused programming, which is a great strategy because it puts Alina at the forefront of community care and broadening their service line of it's not just rehabilitation in the hospital, it's also out in the community. And most of our participants actually aren't even a line of patients. Most of them are community based throughout the Twin Cities. I would say about 80, 80% are just individuals that want to try something out in regards to sports and rec. So there is just one Courage Kenny and it has a rich history spanning back 50 years. So just honored to be a part of that legacy of programming that spans back, you know, multiple decades. [00:04:46] Speaker A: So what's their mission? [00:04:49] Speaker B: So I would summarize it that Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute Adaptive sports and recreation offer a wide variety of recreational and competitive sports programming for youth and adults in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. We really pride ourselves in partnering with people of all ages, of all abilities to pursue their goals. To live, to work, to learn. And most importantly what we get into is to play. And that, you know, by providing those adaptive sports and rec programs, we found that those activities, when we adapt them just right and partner with those individuals, they really enhance participant independence. They enhance their improved self confidence and self esteem and social emotional, making those connections with friends and help encourage an active and healthy lifestyle. And really I think the key is partnering with each individual in their stage of rehabilitation or their interest and what does it mean to have fun out in the community. And ultimately we do that through 17 adaptive sports and rec activities which you can find on our website. And they're year round and they're very diverse. Think about it goes everything from archery to rock climbing to golf in the summer. Shannon runs a wonderful ski program, one of the largest volunteer run programs in the nation and spanning from wheelchair basketball, even things like tri scuba or watch skiing. So it's one of the things we're most proud about is the diversity of our programming because we do really feel like we have something for everybody. [00:06:36] Speaker A: Wow, I want a water ski. [00:06:40] Speaker B: Let's sign you up. [00:06:40] Speaker A: Sammy has the adaptive sports and rec always been a part of this program. [00:06:49] Speaker B: It spans back about 10 years when Alina folded it into their service line offering. So I would say we have added about 10 years and it's evolved in those 10 years despite the, you know, the pandemic. We had a dip in participation. But for the last two years we're really starting to grow our offering. And every year we're seeing about 20 to 30 participant growth that spans across each program. And in some cases we actually have a waiting list because it is so popular. So we're really, we're really in that growth aspect of getting back out there and trying to make sure we can serve everyone that wants to play with us. [00:07:32] Speaker A: So what population does Courage Kenny serve and how does it address their needs? [00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah, great question, Sam. I think I would start with it serves a variety of ability levels. But we really focus in on individuals with physical disabilities first. And that could be. There's a lot of variety within that. That could be a traumatic brain injury that has suffered a stroke and is looking to get back out there and be active, or it could be someone with a spinal cord injury or CP or an amputee individual. So we have a lot of variety of physical disabilities. But as of late, we're also getting into neurodiverse and partnering with families that may have a child with autism because simply there are just not enough programs out there throughout Minnesota. So we have found ourselves opening up our programs to those neurodiverse individuals and adapting our program to meet their needs also. So we really span from physical and cognitive disabilities. Our goal is not to turn anyone away. We always try to figure out whatever you're dealing with, whatever adaption you have, what is a safe way for us to find out and identify what your goals are and then for us to partner and achieve those goals. And it's primarily done through wonderful volunteers. We're a small, mighty team. There's only 10 of us full time staff here at Courage, Kenny Adaptive Sports and Rec and we have well over 600 volunteers. And they're so skilled and so giving. But that's really the heart of the program is leaning on those volunteers to help deliver that mission. [00:09:31] Speaker A: What about visual disabilities? [00:09:34] Speaker B: Yes, that is also in the spectrum of care. So I'll let Shannon actually speak to that because she got a program starting up this winter and she has some participants that have visual disabilities or visual impairments. And I'll kind of let her address how she works with those individuals. [00:09:53] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks, Mike. So we do offer programming for individuals with visual impairments and hard of hearing as well. And it's kind of looped into like more of our leisure based or recreational based activities, which would be like our alpine ski and snowboard program, our nordic program, bowling is one of them that we've had. We've done also with. So a lot more of like the recreational based programs is where we see a lot more of our VI participants. And with we have individuals with that primary disability, we make sure we have those conversations and do assessments with the participants prior to make sure we know what they're comfortable with, what skills they have done with in the past, what they have used for queuing for different sports or different activities that they have participated in. And depending on the sport, we will tailor to whatever their accommodations are needed as well. For vi. [00:10:52] Speaker A: What do you feel are the main goals of the adaptive Recreation program. [00:10:59] Speaker B: I'll jump in here. I think the main goal is really participant first and to really, if we do a good job partnering with the participant in meeting them where they're at and identifying, doing a good assessment of their skills and their goals. We feel very confident that through that recreational program or that sports program that we can make an impact impact on their self esteem, on their independence. Because these skills you learn and the relationships that you build through our programming really have a ripple effect throughout that individual's life, whether that's at home or in the workplace. And I feel like everyone just is looking for again a place to belong. So part of our job is to build those relationships and to build that community so people really have a sense of belonging and engagement. And what we found is friendships flourish out of these programs because when you're playing together, you're having fun and you're having a good time, you want that to continue. So I think one of the best benefits is when we see our program go beyond the typical scheduled activity. Those relationships that are formed, one could say they're lifelong relationships. So that's a big accomplished for our team to see that happen. [00:12:36] Speaker A: I'm curious to know like this is a Minnesota based program. Do you guys connect at all with any other programs in other states or anything like that? [00:12:50] Speaker B: We do have. We're sanctioned through Move United, which is a national entity that brings all sorts of adaptive sports and recreation coming together. And the power of that is they give us guidance, they give us really a series of resources and really it's the most powerful aspect is just networking on improvements and industry standards for the variety of sports we offer. So we're pretty unique in Minnesota. We're one of the only adaptive sports and recreation that has this type of 17 to 18 sports coverage. And across the nation really more of the adaptive programs are built for three or four sports. So we are very unique in that aspect. But we lean on those organizations and through Move United on just common practices on and really what are some of the new on upcoming training elements? What are some of the new up and coming adaptive equipment? That's one thing we're really proud of. Through the Alina Found foundation who helps fund Courage Kenny we have one of the nation's largest inventory of adaptive sports equipment that is one of our and it's really ultimately one of our keystone pieces of program implementation. Because if you look across that sports offering I described, a lot of the success measures depends on the type of equipment that we can use to adapt to make that Successful. I'll actually. I think it'd be great if. If Shannon could talk about the inventory of adaptive ski and snowboard equipment, because that's probably our most expensive and most vast inventory of equipment. Shannon, do you have thoughts on the adaptive sports or the ski equipment? [00:14:48] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So with our programming and having serving so many different disabilities within them, we have so much equipment that Mike was talking about so far. Skiing, snowboard equipment, we have probably over like 30 mountain men, which are a form of a sit ski for individuals with higher level injuries that are going to be out skiing over the wintertime. Um, and then we also do have a plethora of mono skiers too, so different styles of mono skiing from beginner levels of like, learning how to ski independently. And those are going to be primarily individuals that have higher level injuries, so, like more like spinal cord or level injuries as well. So they will kind of be more independent and learning how to be more independent on that. And then we also have stuff for standup, which is sliders for help with balance, and then outriggers to help with balance as well. And that's just a few for our ski programs, just with the amount of equipment we have across, like all of our four locations. We also have sports chairs for all of our wheelchair sports activities. So for basketball, I don't even know how many sports chairs we have, Mike, but we've got tons of those. And we have tons that go out every single day. We loan them out to all of our athletes as well. And then we also have enough to store in house for people to try them out and also kind of experience it. [00:16:14] Speaker B: Wow. We view equipment as a piece of access for individuals. And because adaptive equipment is extremely expensive. [00:16:23] Speaker C: Oh, yes. [00:16:24] Speaker B: You know, you're looking at as little as $3,000 to as much as 15, if not $30,000, depending on the rig. And so individuals a lot of times can't afford that. But we're able to partner with the foundation and secure that equipment, and that's included in that small program fee that we charge folks. And then if you're really excited about the piece of equipment you use during program, we'll loan it out to you for the rest of the summer, for the rest of the winter, so can use that. And we keep those costs very, very small. Plus we have scholarship programs that if you can't afford it, we'll find out a way to get you eligible for that scholarship program. So the equipment is such a logistical key element of providing access for individuals, and that leads to so many different opportunities by just getting that piece of equipment so they can get out there and have some fun. Fun. [00:17:24] Speaker A: Just a couple questions on the equipment. Do you have regular skis, too? So somebody with a visual impairment can just go on skis and ski by somebody or something? [00:17:37] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. We've got access to that. We actually have a really good relationship with within the community, which includes all the ski resorts that we work with. So all those four locations, which is like Welch Village, Afton Alps, Trollhagen and Highland Hills, we work with them to lower the rates for rentals participants, so we can include that into our registration fee. So if people are like, hey, I want to come out skiing and there'd be a standup skier, we would make sure that they have rentals available for them so that they would be able to go out and enjoy that sport that everybody loves doing, which is. Would be skiing. Or if they're like, even Nordic, too. Like, we work with the Loppet foundation and stuff like that to help with rentals for people to also be able to have that opportunity to go out and do Nordic skiing as well. [00:18:27] Speaker A: I just was curious, what's a mono ski? One ski, I presume. But how does that work? Or what does it look like? [00:18:35] Speaker C: Absolutely. So the monoski is very similar to a bicycle, Sam, like you just said, it just has one ski at the very bottom, and then it's built for independence. So the best and out, like, the best resource I could like, always say is like, when you watch the Paralympics and you watch downhill skiing, those sit skis that the racers are in, those are some. Those are mono skis. So you'll be. An individual will be strapped in, in a seated position with their feet kind of a little bit more farther forward with one ski at the very bottom. And then they'll have two handheld outbreakers to engage the turns there. Each ski has usually a different loading mechanism on it. That's easy for the student to go ahead and release that lift mechanism so they can get on and off the chairlift independently. Some of the newer rigs that are more built for racing formats don't actually have a lift mechanism. They actually have a lot higher platform so that they can just hop up using the outriggers on. On and off the chairlift as well, which is super cool. [00:19:36] Speaker A: Much less further to go if you fall, I presume. [00:19:40] Speaker C: Yes, it is. Yep. It takes some time learning the lift and low lift and loading to get on and off a chairlift. But with time, people get better and better with it each time. [00:19:50] Speaker A: So I have always wondered. I have actually walked in when they were doing wheelchair basketball and that feels kind of amazing to me for being able to like move your wheelchair and bounce the ball at the same time. What is the difference between a regular wheelchair that you would use and a wheelchair that you might use during wheelchair basketball? Is there a difference? [00:20:14] Speaker B: Yeah, Sam, there really is. The biggest difference you're going to see is if you think of a typical wheelchair, those wheels are going to go straight up and down and they're going to be narrow, which is important to get in and out of doors just to have that access. Right. So if you hop in a sports chair, you're going to have a much wider base. Each wheel is going to be tilted in, so the bottom of the wheel will have a wider base. And the top of the wheel where you're actually engaging with it is going to be closer to the body. So it's going to give you much more stable, which is important when you're playing basketball in regards because you're bumping and you're grinding. It is a very physical sport. If you ever watch, I'd encourage everyone watch a wheelchair basketball game and you'll know, hey, this is a contact sport. There's also guardrails around that too because of that aspect of the sport. And then there are some safety mechanisms to help prevent some tipping as you lean further out or you're stretching for a ball. But tippage happens. People do definitely fall and they'll self Right. It's just a part of the sport of when you fall over. That's one of the first things you learn when you're playing basketball is how to write your chair and that aspects of that leverage and being able to write your chair. So the chairs are a top end. Matter of fact, they're made by top end. And we have a great partnership with that company out of Florida and they provide multiple chairs for us annually. So big significant differences. My favorite is to watch a person get into a sports chair for the first time and watch their eyes just absolutely light up, especially the children, because it's like jumping into a sports car. They just get absolutely stoked and want and want to play, you know, and want to go as fast as possible. They're very smooth rides. [00:22:09] Speaker A: Wow. You talked a little bit about community involvement and it sounds like community plays a huge involvement in your programs. Can you talk a little bit about their impact and how you find them and what expectations are and things like that? [00:22:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I can jump in here. When I think of a community I also think of partnerships and because we're a small but mighty team, we always are looking for other organizations that have parallel missions or have like minded goals and so and or have a knowledge base that they are the entity that runs, whether it's statewide or nationwide, they run that sport. So for example, Minnesota Golf association, for example usta, which is the governing body that implements tennis throughout the nation, we have for each sport we try to find those partnering organizations or those organizations that have excellent resources and training mechanisms and volunteers and we try to partner with those organizations, those sports organizations, so we don't necessarily have to do adaptive sports in a bubble. On the flip side, as we enter into a community to offer an event or to offer a program or sport, we really try to identify different stakeholders where we can get the word out not only from a recruitment or participant standpoint, but really from a volunteer volunteer standpoint too. So to partner with rotaries, to partner with civic service organizations, to partner with corporations and have their staff and or their families volunteer is such a critical aspect. In order to offer a program for one participant, it typically takes two to three volunteers behind the scene to make that program possible. So we couldn't do it without community members, we couldn't do it without our volunteer organizations. So we're always available, evaluating what are our new potential partners and what are new potential like minded community organizations that we can partner with to make this program not only possible but also sustain the program so we can move on to another community. And that program is forever adaptive. And they've learned skills to continue, whether that's parks and recreation or community ed, they can, or a school district that they can continue to take those adaptive lessons and integrate them and have those fingerprints on their offering so they can be inclusive and provide full access to their constituents in their community. [00:24:58] Speaker A: How do you feel like the sports and recreation programs have adapted, have impacted participants lives? [00:25:10] Speaker B: That's a great question. I think in talking to family members I know it's impactful. I think first and foremost there are some benefits from the physical side and being active. And there's actually research that one can find. But what I like to highlight is that social emotional benefit of our programs and those relationships because having a disability can, and not having access and a network to be active can lead to isolation. And that isolation can have all kinds of mental health issues that pop up. Right. So creating that opportunity to meet someone that may be going through something or has gone through something that is similar that like mindedness and learning from that peer that hey it's going to be okay. And, hey, this is a safe place for you to grow and to try and to take a risk, I think is probably the most impactful, because those individuals will then take those risks, those safe risks, and push themselves and push their goals and in other aspects of their lives. So I think that sense of community and that emotional social benefit is such an impactful element of adaptive sports that often goes unseen. And many times our volunteers that may not have a physical disability actually say they get more out of our program because they see that impact, and that really has filled their bucket, and they're creating lifelong relationships with individuals. They may not have had exposure, too. So I really focus in on that social, emotional element. Shannon, you've seen some impact stories. Any specifics for you? [00:27:15] Speaker C: Yeah, so something that. What I hear a lot with from participants, especially with some of our recreational activities and even some of our competitive sports, is that most of our programs is that we focus on their abilities and not so much of their disability. So. So with that, we make sure that we provide those resources for those participants to just get out of. Get out into the community and enjoy the things that they want to try or that they're wanting. They've been wanting to do, and they just didn't know how to do it. So some of my favorite stories is like, when I come back when skiers come off the hill, and they're like, I never thought I could ever do that in my life. And I just went out skied for the very first time time. And they are beaming with joy and happiness. And also, same with our competitive programs. They're like, I didn't think I could be in basketball and play basketball for our high for a team or travel and be able to have these opportunities. And then they walk into, like, the gym and they get into, like, a sports chair, and they're like, oh, my gosh, I was able to be a part of a team. I just made lifelong friends that we're going to college with and that they just have those overall joys and they have a place and that they. They can do the things that they love to do. [00:28:36] Speaker A: Does your wheelchair basketball team travel? [00:28:40] Speaker C: They do, yes. They travel actually all over the nation, going to different basketball tournaments. We actually host one of our own. Mike probably can talk a little bit more about this. In November. We usually host the Courage Kenny Classic, where we actually bring in a bunch of teams from the nation as well, and they come at one of our tournaments. [00:29:02] Speaker B: Yeah, Sam, that's a good question, because there is A competitive element to adapt to sports and rec. And that's. It's in both individual sports and team sports that can culminate at the highest level, the paralympics. But at our Courage Kenny level, yes, our basketball teams, our softball teams, our rugby team, our lacrosse teams, they travel throughout the nation. And that's typically due to fine competition because there just aren't that many wheelchair basket. Think about how many high school varsity teams there are in Minnesota. You know, there's hundreds, if not thousands. Well, there's one varsity and prep team in Minnesota. So they have to seek out that competition. And they'll typically go to four or five large scale tournaments in which if they win some of those tournaments and establish a record, they'll qualify for nationals. And Courage county has won multiple nationals in the past decade or two decades. So it is a very competitive program. And that's another benefit of our offering is there are individuals that want to compete at that high level. Matter of fact, our adult wheelchair softball team just took home the world Series this past summer. And they're called the Rolling Twins. They're part of the Twins foundation and Courage Kenny. So they. They went as high as you could go and took home the gold ring basically and got that world Series championship. So there is a big piece to that. But all those programs are trav throughout the nation, which Courage Kenney helps out supporting those by bringing equipment, by providing a staff, by recruiting trained volunteers and coaches and sending those folks around to different tournaments throughout the nation. [00:30:51] Speaker A: What kind of training do your staff and volunteers go through to support the participants? [00:31:02] Speaker B: Shannon just completed a great training and I'll set her up by saying there is extensive training because safety really does have to come first. A lot of these sports, if you look at them, you're like, how water skiing, rock climate, there's an element, or scuba diving, there's an element of risk there. And how do you do this safely? So it really does start with training and making sure that those training standards and even just the maintenance and assessment of equipment is constant. So. But a great example is the exhaustive training we do for our ski program. And I'll let Shannon address because she's fresh off of doing that training this past weekend. [00:31:46] Speaker C: Yeah, so it kind of. Our training depends on the type of sport that we do. So for our adaptive ski program, there is a little bit more of intensive training that we do with our volunteers. [00:31:57] Speaker A: Right? [00:31:58] Speaker C: Yep. Just to make sure that they're prepared when they go out for lessons and when they're with students and how to do Assessments like what Mike was talking about. So for skiing, what we end up doing is that we invite at least 60 trainers for our ski program. Most of these trainers have been in the program for quite some time and have been identified as leaders within the program. And then they go and help train the rest of our volunteers within the ski program, which is about almost 300 volunteers that we have that come and help us with the program. And they and every instructor goes at least through one to two days worth of training on the snow and getting their hands on the equipment so that they know what type of equipment they're going to be working with over the season, what adjustments that they need to make, making sure everything works, and then also just kind of refreshing some of their brains on what techniques and tools that they need to make sure that the participant is safe out there, that they're safe out there, and that everyone just has a really good experience out on the snow. So that would be kind of more of like our training for like volunteers for skiing or like one of our higher level risk programs. But like for our basketball program we do like a volunteer training with all the instructors, usually like a few weeks before the program starts, which one of our specialists will go ahead and chat with them a little bit more about the different adaptations with the sports chairs and if there needs to be any adjustments, going over disability awareness and kind of go over like the population etiquette around sports chairs. And then we always have staff on site too, like Mike mentioned. So all of us staff are trained on the different equipment and our safety policies and procedures too for each sport so that we can are there to help support any participant or volunteer that needs additional assistance with any of that. [00:33:53] Speaker A: What do you feel, Meeks Courage, Kenny's team, so unique in delivering these services. [00:33:59] Speaker B: That's a great question, Sam. I think the team is very proud. I know the team is very proud about person first and that yes, we are trying to ensure that we are having a safe and effective program. But again, meeting that individual and hearing those testimonies from our participant that how grateful they are to have even just that opportunity and that care provided. And so really drilling down and pushing ourselves to put that person, that individual first and to again adapt around their circumstance, their scenario is something I think we are unique in that aspect of putting that participant first and then fitting that into the general offering and that program and doing so with a very prescriptive volunteer pushed focus in the aspect of we have to share the workload with our community and not doing it in A bubble. And providing that opportunity for engagement through volunteer engagement is, is probably the special sauce that we have. And giving those volunteers an opportunity to share in that accomplishment with our participants, I think keeps our volunteers coming back season after season. And that's pretty unique. [00:35:41] Speaker A: I'm wondering how can volunteers get involved? What do they need to do? [00:35:52] Speaker B: Thanks, Sam. Yeah, the importance of volunteers I've stated is so, so important for us. So there are a couple types of volunteers that we're always looking for and that is one, someone that is willing to or has an interest in one of the sports that we've talked about and or is passionate about that sport or has some knowledge about that sport is to reach out to us. One, you can go old school and call us, which is 600. We have two volunteer coordinators that can give an overview of the offerings and the opportunities. And there's we're doing something every season, every month. Or people can reach out to our general email, which is ckrisportsrecreationlina.com and or they can visit us at alinahealth.org adaptivesportsrec but back to the types of volunteers. There is event volunteers which a commitment could be as less as four hours to eight hours one day a year. And then there's program volunteers where you're actually getting specific training in the sports offering and that you're working more long term and that's for a season which is typically eight to 10 weeks long. And think of it as a, an assistant. For example, you could sign up for a golf and you're going to be paired with a participant and you're going to act as their caddy and their assistant as they go out and golf and try to work on their skills, whether that's on the range or on the putting green or actually taking in three to nine holes of golf. So and then there's a little bit a level above that and that's being one of our coaches where as we spoke about earlier, you're taking on a little bit more of a responsibility, which is a longer season, anywhere from three to four months and you're getting more extensive training in one of our sports like basketball, lacrosse, rugby, softball. And you're actually traveling with the team and representing Courage Kenny. And that's a little bit longer of a time commitment and deeper of a training aspect. So there's really three levels to volunteering with Courage Kenny, adaptive sports and rec. [00:38:22] Speaker A: Are there any new innovative activities that you have recently added? [00:38:29] Speaker B: Sam so we just took on. I love that you asked that question. Because, yes, one of the two sports that we took on in 2024 and will continue to 2025 is pickleball, which, gosh, yeah, pickleball is just growing across the nation. You see these centers popping up everywhere. And so, you know, we felt that interest level from our participants. We have a newsletter, and we send out the newsletter, and people are writing us back saying, hey, could you try out pickleball? So, yes, we offered a couple pickleball clinics, and then we also did a summer league and partnered with one of the pickleball centers out in Bloomington, Minnesota. And it was a great success. Very minor adaptions to pickleball. So it was an easy sport for us to bring on and a sport that spans all ability levels. So we had a lot of fun with pickleball. And you'll see that continue, I think, to grow throughout our Twin Cities offering. And then a couple other programs that we took on in partnership with is Triscuba, which is actually, we offer it right here in Golden Valley at our CKRI Hospital here Rehabilitation institute. We have a nice therapy pool. And so we partner with Midwest Diving. These gentlemen that do just a great job of traveling the world and doing scuba, well, they helped us out with adaptive scuba. And we're seeing. We had to grow the program. We're launching it once every other month, so that continues to fill up. But one other sport that we took on was archery. We partnered with Bloomington Parks and Recreation, and it's interesting that they had an interest in saying, hey, we offer archery. We're just not seeing folks sign up that we've marketed adaptive. We're just not seeing folks sign up. So we put the Courage Kenny name on it, and we reached out to our constituents and our community and had a very successful archery program this past summer. And, yeah, I think we'll be bringing that back forward. So just sprinkling in new sports depending on, you know, the interest of our. Of our participants and the interest of our community. [00:40:52] Speaker A: I know you're running late, but I don't know if Shannon can describe it or what, but I'm just curious. The Triskuba TRI3. But what does that mean? And also, how do you decide, as maybe one of your final questions, what activities you're going to offer? Offer. [00:41:08] Speaker B: I'll jump into trying to decide what activities we're going to offer. It's funny because we're having those conversations as it's December and we're closing out the year. And really what it boils down to, Sam, is popularity is because every sport's a little different. It takes a little bit different level of commitment, whether that's staffing, resources or budget. But really it does boil down to. To is there a waiting list and how popular is that? So for many of our sports, there is a waiting list. So we're looking at creative ways to innovate and create more access so we don't. So we can drill down on that waiting list. So that's part of the strategy also is before we add a sport, have we taken care of our waiting list and making sure that everyone who wants to gets to try out a sport or a couple sports. So it's always a difficult decision. And we also have to look at what sports are maybe not as popular, and we need to maybe adjust and make room for not putting as many resources into those sports so we can try new things like scuba or archery or pickleball. But does that make sense? Does that answer the question? [00:42:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you coming on. Where can people go to find out more about courage? Kenny? [00:42:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I gotta point people to our website. And that again is alina health.org adaptive sports and rec. And thanks for everyone for tuning in. We really appreciate the time. And if I have one request is just come out and meet us. Log onto the website or give us a call at 612-775-2277. If you have any interest in volunteering or participant, we'd love to hear from you and we'd love to partner with your goals and get you out there and have some fun, not only this winter, but into the summer, spring and fall. [00:43:06] Speaker A: Shannon, are you still with me? [00:43:08] Speaker C: Yes, I am. [00:43:09] Speaker A: If. If somebody wants to be in these sports, do they have to be responsible for their own transportation with the winter sports, especially going to the ski places, or do you guys rent a bus or anything? [00:43:21] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great question, Sam. So, unfortunately, we do not provide any transportation for any athletes. They are required to figure out their transportation to get to and from the locations. But a lot of our participants end up using Metro Mobility, which is a great resource and we are very fortunate to have it throughout the Twin Cities. They actually just added something called move, which kind of expands their reach out of, like, where their general circle is for Metro. So. And we do have some locations and some programming that where Metro does go to so that they would be able. So for those individuals that are like, I can't drive myself, um, they're able to go to those locations that Metro can go to. So for skiing, Highland Hills is usually the One that we kind of ensure people to go to for that and then. But like for our Nordic program, I. Metro also, I believe, goes to the trailhead, which is down by the lapitt foundation, right next to Golden Valley Courage. Kenny. So most of like the inner city activities and stuff like that Metro will be able to go to. So those participants can also participate. Participate in. [00:44:26] Speaker A: Is there anything else you'd like to leave us with, being the person that is right there in the midst of all the recreation stuff? [00:44:34] Speaker C: Absolutely. Kind of like leaning on what Mike just said, like, come out if you guys are. If anyone's interested in sports, please feel free to reach out to us. We are happy to chat with anybody on their goals and what they're wanting to look for within, like adaptive recreation activities, competitive sports. If something we don't run it. So out of the 17 sports we don't, we run. And there's something that you are interested in running in. We have a lot of connections within the community. So if you're like interested in, let's say like kayaking and we've got a whole resource guide on our website for individuals to go check out those different organizations as well within the Twin Cities. [00:45:14] Speaker A: And presumably they're there as well. For what when you're hosting what activities? [00:45:20] Speaker C: Activities are you talking about? All the community. [00:45:25] Speaker A: Like the list? [00:45:28] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So that's a running list that we've kind of accumulated over the years. We also used to run in 2024, we ran a huge event called the Expo where we invited a bunch of community partners with adaptive sports and recreational activities to come and just have and chat with everybody and stuff like that. So we ran a huge expo at the University of Minnesota and that list is based on around that. So that was organization. We are kind of still in discussion and we're still trying to figure that out right now. The last one we ran was in 2024. We're still figuring out if. When we would be potentially doing another one. [00:46:08] Speaker A: Great. Well, thank you so much for coming on, Shannon. I appreciate it. And maybe we'll see you on the slopes. [00:46:17] Speaker C: Sounds great. Thank you, Sam, for having us. We really appreciate it. [00:46:23] Speaker A: Oh, I almost forgot. You guys do downhill skiing or do you do cross country as well? [00:46:28] Speaker C: We do both. So yeah, so we offer both in our winter months. We offer both alpine and cross country skiing. So we do go ahead. So those are pretty much more of like our outdoor activities. And then we also do offer indoor activities. So that's where like we do usually like our bowling activities, our wheelchair basketball program, power soccer are all throughout the kind of our winter months slash, kind of like fall to spring time frame. [00:46:56] Speaker A: Thank you so much. [00:46:58] Speaker C: You're very welcome. [00:46:59] Speaker A: This has been Disability and Progress. The views expressed on the show are not necessarily those of KFC or its board of directors. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Charlene Dahl is my PR research person. Aaron is my podcaster. Miguel engineered this episode. We've been speaking with Michael Caine and Shannon Newman. They were talking about Courage Kenny and their adaptive sports and recreation program. If you want to be involved and know and have a choice of woods played on Disability in Progress, you can email [email protected] that's disabilityandprogressamjasmin.com it also allows you to be on our email list so we can send that out to you of what's coming up on the program each week. Thanks for joining me. Goodbye.