Wheel to Surf provides an opportunity to enjoy a day surfing for people with any type of disability (physical, cognitive, emotional).
Wheel to Surf started as a way for Brock Johnson, founder and Coastal Adaptive Sports Para-Olympic Club President, to get back into the water. After a diving accident in May of 2011 left him a quadriplegic, Brock was more distressed about not being able to surf than he was about losing the ability to walk.
After being home for a few months, Brock attended an event by Life Rolls On and Ocean Cure (in Wilmington, NC) and immediately asked CAS to please consider hosting one of these events back in Myrtle Beach.
Fast forward one year…local Cherry Grove residents Luke Sharp and Brandon Bellegarde, along with their wives, volunteered at the first WtS Event held by CAS. Luke and Brandon are both crazy about surfing, and as luck would have it, they were assigned to help Brock surf that day. As they say, the rest is history.
Immediately after their day volunteering, the men, along with their wives, Erin and Cara, knew they wanted to do something to help Brock and others get back in the water regularly instead of just at these special events. They contacted Brock about starting the Adaptive Surf Project and the two groups have been working in tandem to provide the ‘muscle and surf knowledge’ needed to get the surfers in the water and onto some awesome waves for the last 5 years!!!
“In our 6th year of Wheel to Surf, we not only have four major events planned, from North Myrtle to Folly Beach in Charleston but also traveled to Colombia to start an ASP Chapter. Thanks to the donation of a beach wheelchair and adaptive surfboard, the group has committed to holding monthly Wheel to Surf events. ASP also holds a ‘mini’ WtS each month from June to November in Cherry Grove to ensure folks experience the stoke monthly.”
“ASP also raises funds to build custom adaptive surfboards for participants and travels with our surfers to compete in local, regional, and national competitions.”
Please see a few of the news features about the most recent Wheel to Surf as well as Brock’s individual Facebook posts about some of the competitions ASP has helped him (and other surfers) to enter.
http://wpde.com/news/local/surfers-help-adaptive-surfers-ride-the-wave
https://www.myhorrynews.com/videos/wheel-to-surf-in-surfside-beach/video_3d537978-50ca-11e8-94f5-0f508c923103.html
“We use the Reminderband wristbands as business cards.”
Brock, founder of Wheel to Surf, had been wanting to purchase bands.
“But as a non-profit, we never seemed to have enough extra money to buy them to just ‘give away’.”
Enter Stephanie Parsons, Brock’s sister-in-law, who decided to fund the first 100 Reminderband wristbands for Wheel to Surf.
“We are now on order #3 and getting 300 this time!!! Not only does Brock love using the silicone bands to spread the stoke, but it also allows us to always have a ‘card’ with us to share.”
“We originally were selling the wristbands to try to make enough to purchase more. But after being asked repeatedly for our contact info and not having anything with us while out surfing, we decided to make the investment and use them as our business cards. Board members, surfers, and volunteers put a wristband on each day and hope by the end of the day we have not only given it away but maybe one or two more. I’ve been known to take them off everyone in the group so we have enough to share :-)”
Like this:
Like Loading...
@caninesnkids (FB) @CNKFoundation (Twitter)
