XRTZ & US Dream Academy

5-21-08: Some of us from XRTZ took a whirlwind trip to Washington, DC, to attend the gala for the US Dream Academy. Dr. Steve and Sheila Hodgkin (far left) and XRTZ were one of the major sponsors. Wintley Phipps (middle man) is the founder of this non-profit org. that helps kids break the cycle of incarceration through an after-school program, giving them the skills and vision necessary to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

XRTZ is looking to collaborate with US Dream Academy to bring in the health and fitness aspect into their centers. We hope to open up a center here in the San Bernardino area.

(L-R) Steve and Sheila Hodgkin (XRTZ Advisory Board Chair & Chief Development Officer), Keyshia Cole, Wintley Phipps, Cynne Simpson (gala co-emcee), Judy & Joel Peterson (XRTX COO/Co-founder)

The XRTZ team!

XRTZ in Senior Centers

5-23-08 Check out the article in the Press Enterprise today on how XRTZ is working with the Dept. of Aging to get exergaming in 35 seniors centers!

On the lecture circuit...

5-18-08: May has been a busy month! I've been flying to various conferences, talking about the clinical work we've been doing at the XRTZ. In May alone, I've spoken at 5 different conferences! The last two was in Kansas City (sports med conf. for DO physicians) and the 4th annual Games for Health conf., in Baltimore. You can read more about it on my exergaming evangelist blog!

Have one more to present at, the Amer. College of Sports Medicine conf., in Indy, where I'll be presenting with our main exergaming researcher from CSUSB, Dr. Bryan Haddock. Stay tuned for a report from there!

Kansas City, Osteopathic Sports Med conf. Dr. Tedd Mitchell (far left), spoke on the medical perspective of pediatric obesity while I spoke on the clinical applications of exergaming. Dr. Tedd is the medical director at the Cooper Aerobic Center in Dallas, TX, and is a columnist in the USA Weekend.
4th Annual Games for Health Conf., Baltimore, MD, sponsored by Humana and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Over 300+ people there this year!!! Awesome!!!

We get a Wii Fit!

5-16-08: There was this big white box in my office at the clinic for the last few days, and I finally took a closer look at it, and it was addressed to the "Wii Research Headquarters". I opened it quickly and it was a Wii Fit!!! These are due to come out May 19, so we were lucky to get one before then. Thanks to Rob Wheat and Golin Harris for making this possible. ;-)



I took it over to the Zone where, yup, it's him again, Dr. Thin!, helped us set it up since it had come out in Europe a few weeks ago.

Here is Alasdair getting us all set on our Wii Fit:

Getting ready for the downhill ski long jump...

Showing some of our Zone members how to head the soccer ball.
Nice Warrior pose there, Dr. Thin!


BTW, after G4H, Alasdair has been on tour of the US, visiting exergaming hotspots. From Baltimore, he visited Lisa's XRKade lab in Tampa, then went on over to visit Biray in Phoenix, then came to CA to visit us and also Belinda and Sheryl at USC, before heading up to speak at a conf. in Banff, Canada. He'll have a lot to report on when he heads back to Scotland!

Newsflash! Alasdair just posted a review on his blog about his visit! Check it out at!