XRtainment Zone Updates

Azure Hills Church hosts Family Fit Zone for Grand Terrace

2009-07-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

7-3-09: Last Tues was the first night of the Family Fit Zone class hosted by the Azure Hills Church as a outreach service to the Grand Terrace community. We had 5 families there, and about 3 or 4 more families to come next week.

Class #1 was our orientation and assessment session. We had a lot of excellent volunteers (thx to Pastor Alex for helping recruit from her class) who came out to help--a big THANKS to the following volunteers:

Jessica (one of our XRTZ staffers--she brought all the testing equipment!)
Long (a Master's nutrition student @ LLU who is also the lead teacher for Sunday's FFZ class)
Abbey (CSUSB intern)
Evelyn (recent LLU graduate in counseling)
Summer (a 4th year LLU med student)
Alina (a PTA)
Mike (a LLU DrPH-Prev Care student)

Joel is in charge of the exergaming room, while Long and will be teaching the class part.

Check out the pictures of Week 1!

Staffer Kristen starts maternity leave!

2009-03-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

3-8-09: Kristen, one of our XRTZ staff, is expecting her first baby girl sometime the end of April. This was her "last" day to work, as we ended a very successful Family Fit Zone class, organized by Kristen and Jessica, and taught by Long and Conchita.

We gave her a little baby shower after class was done. Thanks to Conchita, Long, and Joel for helping to organize this!

This was the start of the presents for their first child. Not pictured is a crib some of us gave her. She now has about 2 months to get ready.

We wish her and Todd the best as they enter the "Parent Club" and look forward to meeting their new baby girl someday soon!

Exergamefitness & XRTZ join forces!

2008-10-15T14:15:00.001-07:00

10-13-08: Check out the press release by Exergamefitness on a new partnership between our two companies. We're looking forward to working with Tommy and Ed to spread exergaming to families who need it!

XRTZ officer lands spot on Oprah

2008-10-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

10-15-08: Sheila Hodgkin, Development Officer, made it in the news this AM with her selection in an Oprah-sponsored women's leadership contest. You can read all about it in the San Bernardino Sun online article.

It mentioned her work with Andre Agassi, and here are some pictures from our recent trip to his gala for his schools.

Here's Sheila, hard at work with Andre, telling him how his school can benefit from having exergaming in it. Notice the XRTZ business card in his hand...great job, Sheila!

Also got to meet some other celebs there, like Dr. Knowlton here with David Foster....
Sheila and Judy Peterson (wife of COO Joel Peterson) with Nick Cannon and Mariah!
Sheryl Crow was very nice...
I was able to get in one picture with Steffi, one of my fave female tennis players...
Coach K was very friendly, shaking our hands and asking our names. I asked him how it was dealing with all of those NBA-sized egos and he said it wasn't hard at all because, "...they really wanted it (the gold)."
This was for Kim's 3 sons, who love watching Emeril on TV.

3rd XRGames Olympics

2008-08-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

We had our own "Michael", who had an impressive haul of medals. Picture with him is Summer, who didn't do to shabbily herself, even though she rarely gets to play any exergames! (Even though she is the daughter of the Exergaming Evangelist.)

8-24-08: As the Olympics were winding down, we had a chance to hold another tournament in celebration of the Olympics, and to also raise some funds for the Redlands Swim Team.

For this tournament, we had some of our usual games such as the Makoto, DDR, and the bouldering wall, and we also tried some new games--Guitar Hero while on the Gamercize and Wii Olympics (track and field, swimming, and fencing), and Wii Fit (ski jumping). Check out the pictures to see the action!

All in all, the kids had a great time playing the exergames, winning medals, and winning cool raffle prizes. Stay tuned for our next tourney!

XRTZ debuts on Telemundo!

2008-07-14T23:20:00.001-07:00

7-14-08: Last night, XRTZ was seen on Telemundo on the weekend show, Al Rojo Vivo. Conchita Portilla, NP, are spanish instructor for our Family Fit Zone class, was the main feature of this segment. She did a great job, even though she was quite nervous. Here we (Conchita, her daughter Natalie, my daughter Summer, and my wife Keri) watching it in the multipurpose room of the XRTZ (neither of us have cable!). And here's a screen shot of Conchita!

Drayson Center Zone now open!

2008-07-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

7-14-08: Last week, XRTZ's first "extension" site opened on the the world-renowned campus of Loma Linda University. With a full schedule of summer day camp activities in the Drayson Center, LLU's fitness center, it is now up and running, even though we're waiting for a few more pieces of hardware to come in. Now, more people can enjoy the benefits of exergaming!

Tim Cruz (center), is the leader of this new Zone.

2008-07-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Airing this Saturday, July 12, 6:30 PM PST...don't miss Teacher Conchita Portilla NP's debut, speaking about her Spanish Family Fit Zone class on Telemundo (Ch.52).

If you miss it, you can see it later on their website: Telemundo

She did a great job!!! Here are some shots of her during her interview...

Freelance producer Vanessa Zuniga and cameraman watch correspondent Guadalupe Vicon interview Conchita
Conchita even does the difficult "walk and talk" for the first time without tripping on anything!
Guadalupe plays the Wii Bowling (she's definitely not a newbie!)...
...then explains about her experience on camera. I have no idea what she's saying as it's in Spanish, but I'm sure it's all good.

XRTZ wins business award!

2008-07-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

7-3-08: Xrtainment Zone Receives 2008 Best of Redlands Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., July 2, 2008 -- Xrtainment Zone has been selected for the 2008 Best of Redlands Award in the Exercise Programs category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)
U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Local Business Association
Email: PublicRelations@USLBA.net
URL: http://www.USLBA.net

XRTZ in the news again!

2008-06-28T19:34:00.001-07:00

6-28-08: This past week, XRTZ was featured on Fox 11 news. Check out the video clip, featuring kids and seniors into exergaming at the Zone!

New equipment; on Fox News again!

2008-06-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

6-24-08: We recently just put in some new games in the Zone. Come in and check it out!

The first thing we recently added was this stepper called the Gamercize Pro Stepper. Richard Coshott, out of the UK, is the founder of Gamercize and definitely "European Exergaming Evangelist"! Here you see one of our senior staffers, Vicky, trying it out. We'll report back in a little bit to see how the response is to it.
Another game that we just got installed yesterday is called "Dogfight", a flight simulator combined with a recumbent bike. Check out their website, Electronic Sports and see a demo video of how it works. It's a blast! I played it this AM against Joel and within a minute or so, he blasted me out of the air and I had to eject and parachute to safety.

Here's a shot of Joel and his daughter, Cassie, putting it though it's paces.
A close of up what Cassie is seeing on this huge screen. You use the handles to turn and bank your plane.

Joe Dean is the creator of this cool game and it's being developed in the beautiful island of Cebu, Philippines. We are fortunate to be the 2nd facility in the US to have a pair, and will give it a good workout here in the Zone. Here, Joe and Joel are doing a dogfight.

The crew, all the way from the Philippines, pose for one final shot before they head to Utah for some R & R.

Both games are connected to the Internet, allowing for online competition with players anywhere in the world. Hopefully, we'll soon have competitions with players from other states and countries!

We'll be utilizing both of these games, along with the Wii Fit and other games, in our upcoming 3rd Annual XRGames in August, so stay tuned!

In other XRTZ news, we are making progress on our first extension location, the Drayson Center, Loma Linda University's fitness center. Here you can see the display we have at the entrance promoting the summer day camp and the July Grand Opening, and the 2nd picture is where this will be located (behind the wall). We're excited about this collaboration, not only to bring exergaming to more people, but to also further research in medicine at LLU. (The Drayson Center is my regular gym where I play r-ball, lift weights, and swim, so I'll be able to check in on this on a regular basis.)

Finally, XRTZ was featured on Ch. 11 Fox News last night and this AM! Joel Tivo'd it and we'll soon have the segment on our website. They did a great job on the piece in getting our message out there, and if you notice my voice, you're not hearing things--it does sound strange because I was just getting over a head cold! (This was shot shortly after I had returned from my 5th conference in 6 weeks and it finally caught up to me.)

XRTZ & US Dream Academy

2008-05-25T01:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-05-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

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!

Survived the storms!

2008-04-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

4-13-08: Last week, I was at the AAHPERD conf. in Fortworth, TX. Amid all the thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes, we had a good presentation. I was part of a session with several others, speaking on the clinical aspects of exergaming. Here are a few shots from the conf.

These were the other folks I spoke with at our session (click on the picture to enlarge; you can see our listing at 3:15 PM on Wed). L-R: John Foley, PhD (Cortland College) spoke on adapting exergaming for the disabled; Andrea Oh (iTech) spoke on the economics of adding an exergaming area in your facility; Steve Yang, PhD (Cortland College) spoke on some of the exergaming research; and myself, where I spoke on the clinical and practical applications of exergaming for kids, seniors, and disabled.
Unfortunately, Lisa Hansen (PhD candidate) and her faculty advisor from Univ. of South Florida (Tampa) were booked on American Airlines...and due to their flight being canceled, they were unable to make it--watch for her presentation at Games for Health!

In the expo, this was my first time to see Sportwall's new dance game in person. Very nicely done--wireless, and able to handle up to 32 people playing at the same time!

I wasn't sure how that would look on the screen with all those players...till I saw it in person. The 3 columns are easy, normal, and difficult arrows. Players 1-32 can choose which difficulty level they will play at and follow those arrows. Their score and info are at the top black bar. Pretty out-of-the-box thinking! The best handling of true group DDR that I've seen yet. The cost may be a bit prohibitive, but that's what it takes when you are developing a new type of game!

After my 2nd speaking gig this year, I'm here the rest of April. Next stop, the Amer. Osteopathic Sports Medicine conf. in Kansas City the first couple of days in May!

Coming to a RWJF video soon!

2008-04-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

We started off March with an exciting event: being part of a Robert Woods Johnson Foundation video production! Thanks to Serious Games and Digital Mill, we were recommended for this video project. Seth and his crew were great in coming out and doing a day of taping at the Zone. They videod our Senior XRGaming Workout class and our Homeschool Zone. Watch for the URL of this production soon!

Taping a nutrition session in our Homeschool Zone.

They taped several interviews--here they are interviewing Erin Haugh, of the San Bernardino Public Health Dept. who works with seniors. They also taped Christopher Burton, MD, from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, who is involved with rehab and looking to get into exergaming as a treatment modality. And of course, I had to say a few words on exergaming and health! ;-)

Feb. visitors

2008-04-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

During Feb., we were privileged to have some visitors drop by the Zone. These were folks I've been e-mailing with for some time, so it was the first time to meet them in person.

Biray Alsac is a multi-talented fitness professional, educator, and techno expert. She was out doing a seminar on using the Internet for health behavior change. It was great visiting together in person and you can check out her blog at "Be Fit with Biray".
The 2 distinguished gents below are Dr. Miguel Encarnacao (far right) and Paul Puopolo (middle). They are with Humana Inc., a large insurance company that is very progressive. They are also the title sponsor for our upcoming Games for Health conf. in May at the Baltimore Convention Center. It was great to meet them an brainstorm on various initiatives, and I look forward to meeting with them more at G4H.

XRTZ at NASCAR!

2008-04-01T07:19:00.001-07:00

During Feb's NASCAR race at the Fontana Speedway, we were fortunate to have a booth as part of the San Bernardino Business Dev. exhibit. While Jeff Gordon and Kyle Bush didn't try out our exergames, a lot of other folks did.

Updated Homeschool Zone!

2008-04-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

Also in Feb., we had a new addition to our Homeschool Zone: Grace Soeter, a nutritionist from Irvine. She has added a lot to our enhance our nutrition education with lots of hands-on activities for over 40 homeschoolers in our 12-week session.
In addition, Jules, our personal trainer, works them out for their PE. She works them out in a circuit so that they get both exergames and traditional exercises.

AU Alumni gather at the Zone

2008-04-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

Feb. saw alumni from Andrews University gather at the Zone again for food, fun, and updates from AU. Next year, I'll have to get a picture of the prez playing one of the games!
President Andreassan gives an update.

Speaking in Saskatoon!

2008-04-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

My first speaking appointment for the new year was way up in Saskatoon, Canada, at the SaskInteractive Media Summit. This was a gathering of those in the interactive and video game development community. I was there to talk about games for health and the opportunities for game developers in this space.

We were fortunate to get in their local newspaper the 2nd day of the conference, featuring Deborah Black, the president of the Sask Interactive Media Assoc. doing the Xavix Dash! (Read the whole article at this link: Sask Exergaming article)

If the link doesn't work, cut and paste: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=d0e2b64a-0fb9-4f8b-bb39-c847da905ac4

Sacto School Conf.

2008-04-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Jan. 23, 2008: I was invited to bring a demonstration of exergames to a school conf. up in Sacramento. Here are some shots of health educators, nutritionists, teachers, and public health workers trying the games.

End of 2007

2008-04-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

Nov. and Dec. 2007 were a whirl wind of trips and things! Here's a slideshow to catch you up to the end of that year.

Staffer Alicia ties the knot!

2007-11-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

11-3-07: XRtZ staffer Alicia tied the knot with Jon Saturday afternoon. They're now on their honeymoon so we wish them well!

Some young family members at the wedding.

The "Boss man Joel" and the rest of the Peterson family with the happy couple.

Ernie & Keri pose with the newlyweds while the mariachi band playing in the background.

They rode in style to the reception.

Interrupting their meal for another picture opp...their cheeks were sore by the end of the evening...which we heard went till 11 PM! (The wedding started at 12:30 PM).
Kim made their cake, and people were very impressed with the sheet-like frosting on it, especially the guy in the suit. He a cousin of Alicia's and is attending a culinary school in Pomona, and has a special interest in baking!
Kim and Keri pose with her creation. Check out that icing job!

DSHN plays!

2007-09-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

9-14-07 Members of the DSHN (Desert Sierra Health Network) and nutritionists from the Riverside and SB County Public Health Depts. had a field trip to the Zone last Friday. This was over a year ago when they first visited the Zone...and it was still under construction! Most had not visited us since, so this was quite a change for them. And they actually got to PLAY!

So after a quick tour and talk on the programs and services we offer here (like our IEHP-supported Family Fit Zone program), I let them out to play. Check out the photos and if you're part of DSHN and missed this field trip, I'm sure we can schedule another one in the future! ;-)

Thanks to Pam and Melani (and whoever else helped!) for organizing this field trip!

Have you ever seen your colleagues act like little kids at a playground? Well now's your chance! Here they are, scampering all over the bouldering wall, trying to finish the green (easiest) route on it. As far as I know, only a couple of people were able to do that. Something about "long nails" prevented a lot of others from finishing it!

You knew Erin was a serious Wii bowler when she put on her headband to play (she's on a Wii bowling team. Seriously!).

Pam plays soccer on the Trazer. Here she has to go from side-to-side to block a score, and then lunge forward in order to "kick" the ball into the opposite net.

She's played this before, and wanted to race her jet ski on the Gamebike again!

She's tall, but she can kick high! I wouldn't mess with her in a dark alley!

DSHN member thinking: "Wow, she can kick my head off if she wanted to...."

The Makoto machine didn't have a chance when attacked by 3 DSHN members!

These DSHN members have got the beat!Some homeschoolers check out these ladies trying to play DDR.

Famous women's boxer Laila Ali better watch out for this DSHN member!

Run, Jackie (Chan, that is), run! For those who played the Xavix J-mat, you know why we use this game as one of our fitness assessment tools pre and post in our Famly Fit Zone class.

In the Eye Toy Zone, they see themselves in the game!

Once Pam figurd out you were supposed to crash into the cars for more points, she earned a silver medal!

Monica's fellow DSHNers cheer her on as she tries to make it through the most difficult section on the bouldering wall.Alas, it was not meant to be...at least today.

Here's one of the 2 DSHN members who did make it past that hard spot on the wall, and is finishing up the 2nd hardest part of the wall, at the very end. The DSHN crowd goes wild when she completed the green course without touching the floor!

XRGames crowns new champions!

2007-09-09T21:48:00.001-07:00

9-9-07 On the same day the finals of the US Open (tennis) at Flushing Meadows was being contested, our own local battle was brewing. After our practice tourney back in July, this was the real deal. Titles were to be defended. Revenge was in the air. Check out the pictures to see how the drama in the XRGames unfolded! This was also to benefit the Redlands Rec Dept. as well.

Michael was there early, fueling up to avenge his loss in the Wii tennis finals last July.
Summer and Natalie also fuel up for their first Wii tourney ever.
Conchita checking in the Maury-Holmes family.
Zone Personal Trainer Jules was our tournament co-director. She was a big help in setting up the brackets and seeding, which is what she's doing here.
Jules going over the format with volunteer Lynsie, who was in charge of the Wii Tennis tourney. According to Jules, Lynsie did a great job, picking things up very quickly, especially since this was her first time at the Zone. Good thing she's smart since she's studying nursing!

Wii Tennis Amatuer Division

The Wii Tennis Amatuer division was a round robin format. Here Summer (in red) and Claire watch Natalie and Bianca play their best of 5-set match on Center Court.
Claire demonstrates her 2-handed backhand (or forehand?) in her match. Comes in very handy when she has to battle her older brothers on their Wii at home!
Looks like Summer is demonstrating an inside-out forehand, though in reality, she's just trying to keep the ball in play. (She just started playing the Wii 2 nights ago, thanks to Vicky for letting us borrow her Wii while she was on vacation!)
The "sisters" Natalie and Summer shake hands after doing battle on Center Court.
In the end, Claire wins the top spot and the trophy, with Summer (red) coming in 2nd, Bianca (green) 3rd, and Natalie (white,back) 4th.
Proud papa Pastor Bill (and disc golf player) gives daughter Claire a congratulatory smooch. Maybe this will lead to that tennis scholarship to Standford!

Wii Tennis Pro Division

Lynsie overseeing the Pro division on Courts 1 and 2 where a lot more players had their matches. Their format was a double-elimination format.
Samuel (white t-shirt), the reigning Wii tennis champ, unleashes a wicked left-handed forehand to Michael H.
Anael and Jake battling it out.
Michael C. shakes Samuel's hand before their semi final match. Michael lost to Samuel in Wii tennis last July and had been looking forward to this grudge match all summer long. Up to this point, Michael had already lost his first match to...Samuel, dropping into the bottom bracket, but they meet up again. If Samuel wins one more time, he's the overall champ. (Note the similarities to the real US Open taking place--Federer all dressed in black--Michael dressed in all black. Federer lost lost to Novak just 3 weeks ago--Michael lost to Samuel just over 2 months ago....)
The importance of this match wasn't lost on either of them, who started out a bit crazily. (No, they were just playing around for the camera! Both were excellent sports.)
There match was fast and furious, with great returns and net play, amazing the onlookers.
Amazingly, Samuel (in white) lost his first match, and so, they were both even and had to play one more time. The tension and drama increases as we moved their final game to the Center Court. The two continue their hard-hitting, net smothering game.
And on the final out, all-dressed-in-black-like-US Open '07-Champ Federer Michael C. raises his hands in victory as he wins the top prize.
Not only did Michael dress like Federer today, but he was a good sport and congratulated Samuel on their hard fought game. He knows he'll be seeing him again in the next Wii tennis tournament. No doubt, we'll be seeing a lot more of that young Samuel, just like we'll be seeing a lot more of that 20-year old Novak.
And so your top 4 winners in the Wii Tennis Pro Division are (l-r): 4th-Josh; 3rd-Joel; 2nd-Samuel; & 1st-Michael.

DDR Event - Light and Standard Divisions

After the Wii Tennis events were done, the DDR tournament resumed. Jules confers with Zone staffer Casey on the format and seeding. All the players in the Standard division did a song for score to determine their seeding in the double elimination brackets.
Brothers Joel and Samuel compete against each other in the finals of the DDR Light division.
It's an all Maury-Holmes family sweep in the Light Division, with Samuel taking home the trophy, Joel taking 2nd, and Claire taking 3rd.
After the seeding round in the Pro division, Jules sets up the brackets.
Heather (green) and Anael (black) battle it out in the Pro division.
The two Michaels battle it out in an early round.
As the rounds wind down, the crowd grows as they watch the remaining players left dancing.
And in the finals, it's defending champion Sara competing against Jake. They both put on an amazing show, the arrows were flying fast and furious!
And in the end, Jake is crowned the new DDR Pro champion and receives his hard-earned trophy!
Jake beaming with his trophy, while brother Josh looks on. (Thanks to Summer for taking a lot of these pictures. You probably can't tell which ones are hers and mine, she's getting that good and loved using my big digital SLR. Hint: I didn't get down low to shoot any of my pictures today.)
Here are the winners of the DDR Pro division: 4th-Anael (black); 3rd-Christian (green); 2nd-Sara (blue); and 1st-Jake (lime).
During the tournament, the players had a chance to preview the prizes for the raffle. Tennis racquets, movie passes, XRtZ swag (clothing, bags, pedometers), DS Lite game, and more! The big prize was the iPod Shuffle, which Conchita kept a close eye on.
After all the events were done, we raffled off prizes. Here Summer draws the tickets (she wanted to do that rather than win a prize) and Jules calls out the numbers.
And Claire is the big winner for the iPod Shuffle!

Congrats to all of our tournament participants today! They were all winners and we hope to see all of them at our next XRGames tournament! And a special thanks to all of our volunteers and staff for helping to make this XRGames a success!

Senior Health Fair & Open House

2007-08-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

8-24-07 Today was the day seniors got a taste of health & wellness, the XRtainment Zone way! We hosted our first health fair and open house for seniors, and also introduced them to our soon-to-start Senior Group Exercise program. We not only had local seniors, but a group from Ontario came, so we were happy to have them there. Check out all the exciting things that happened today and if you were a senior and didn't make it, there's always next time!

A big thanks to XRtZ staffers Alicia and Jules for leading out in this event. And thanks to all the other staff who worked hard accomodating all the seniors. We also would like to thank our friends, volunteers, and local agencies who helped and brought their information to pass out. You'll see them in the pictures below.

I talked with many seniors afterwards, and they were all very thankful for this event and looked forward to more in the future!

Vanna, ya better watch out for XRtZ Staffer Mike here! He's doing a great job showing of the senior special!
Jules welcomes the first group of seniors as we get ready to let them in.
Our studio is converted into a health fair...
Lots of handouts on a wide variety of subjects, including some of the latest articles showing the benefits of exergaming video games for a senior's mental health! (Consumer Reports Health, Sept. 2007).
Local health agencies such as Agewise and Planned Parenthood were there. (Yes, Planned Parenthood! Believe it or not, STD education is a growing need among seniors, what with a disproportionate number of women to men in most senior communities).
Nurse Jon did blood glucose testing. (He also happens to be the fiance of Alicia! We appreciate him coming in on his day off.)
Another one of Alicia's former classmates from CSUSB ran the blood pressure station. We appreciated her help!
LLU Prev Care doctoral intern Ken helps with the body composition analysis station.
Thanks to Hands On Medical Massage School for sending someone out--they loved the free massages! A lady waits patiently for her turn.
COO Joel calls the name of the lucky winner in our first giveaway of the open house.
Alicia was busy taking height measurements and directing traffic while Ken measures another person.
Once done the health fair portion, it was time to play some games! Here Mike shows her how to play the Bubbles game on the Eye Toy.
XRtZ staffer Stephen monitors a lady playing Xavix's Jackie Chan Fitness Studio. She's running in place on the white pad, making Jackie Chan run through the streets of Hong Kong and stomping out ninjas!
XRtZ Personal Trainer Jules explains how to play on the 3-kick.
Mike shows some ladies how to get an isometric working while playing on the ExerStation.
A senior from Ontario tries to pedal his biplane fast enough to avoid crashing.
After crashing his plane, he gives the Wii Golf a try. Here he is helped by Jr. Staffers Jake and Josh (taller guy behind). Fore!!!
"Wow, you wash windows well on the Eye Toy!"!
Who says seniors can't do DDR? Here Stephen conducts a tutorial for 2 first-timers.
Doing a team reaction-hand-eye-coordination drill on the Makoto.
The Wii Bowling was a hit with these group of women!
Jules led them in a relay on the Sportwall. This got them huffing and puffing!
Playing a modified version of Red Light-Green Light on the bouldering wall. They were supposed to stop when Jules said, "Red light!" but the lady at the left end kept right on going up! We need a traffic camera for her it seems.
Jules, who is the personal trainer who will be leading out in the senior T & Th morning group exergaming program, explains how working out at the Zone will not only help them lose fat, but also help them build muscle, something that EVERY senior needs to be focusing on if they want to maintain (or improve) their quality of life.
While enjoying some refreshments, Dr. Knowlton explains more about the benefits of exergaming on reversing the aging process, both physically and mentally.
Several times throughout the morning, Jules led out in a group strength training exercise using these soft shapes.
"Come on people, squeeze that shape, and don't forget to keep breathing!"
Working on that core by passing the shape.
"Wow, these soft blocks are heavier than I thought...or am I just that out of shape and really need her group exercise program?! Where do I sign up!"
XRtZ staffer Alicia, the co-organizer of today's event, led out in the last part of the program--a cooking demonstration.

Doctoral intern Ken helps Alicia with the cooking demo.

Tune Up Tourney

2007-07-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

7-8-07: We held our first summer tournament, and with just over a dozen kids, we trial tested a double-elimination format for our upcoming Wii Open Tennis & DDR Tournament later this summer (probably Sept. 9). This will benefit the Redlands Rec dept. For this pre-tournament, we tested out the double elim format with Wii Tennis, Wii Boxing, and DDR. Check out the pictures and the eventually winners in this tune-up for the big tournament!

Claire (smaller girl in the foreground) had a wicked 2-handed backhand while playing against Rachel.

Samuel and Jake had long rallies during their 3-game Wii tennis match. Samuel eventually makes it to the final match.

Jake and Rachel duke it out on the Wii boxing. Jake eventually makes it to the final match.

Christian (left) made it all the way through the DDR rounds till he finally lost his first match to Sarah, who had dropped to the bottom bracket in an earlier round.

Since they had both lost once, they dueled a 2nd time on the song "Dive" on "Standard". It was very very close, and here, they are waiting for their final scores to see who the overall winner would be.

Moments after, Sarah is declared the overall DDR champ!

Samuel (left) and Michael (red hat) battle it out like Federer and Nadel in the final, 5-game tennis match.

With a rocket of an ace, Samuel captures our first Wii Tennis tourney and congratulates Michael on an excellent match.

Samuel poses with his "racquet" after caputering the XRGames Tennis title.

After his recent win on the grass courts, Samuel has to battle Jake in the semi-finals of the "Thrilla in Redlands". Alas, he is not able to carry his win over to this match as Jake comes out with arms flashing and too much fire power, propelling him to victory and the final match.

"Announcing the maaaaaain event, the final boxing match between Michael and Jake. Let's get ready to ruuummmmmble!" Staffer Mike announces in his best ringside voice.

Jake puts up a valiant fight, but after having just fought a hard battle in the previous match, he may have run out of gas.

Michael raises his arms in victory to win the XRGames Boxing match.

Great job to all of our participants, who will all automatically be entered into the Wii Open Tennis & DDR Tournament Sept. 9. Thanks also to our volunteers for the great job in running each of the events: Devin (DDR), Kevin (Tennis), and Danny & Gabriel (Boxing). Thanks also to staffer Vicky for bringing in her Wii.

The Sept. 9 Wii Open Tennis & DDR Tournament will benefit the Redlands Rec dept. so check our website for the registration form and enter today!

NBC clip on Seniors and Video Games

2007-07-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

7-02-07: Check out the KNBC news clip on our home page, www.xrtainmentzone.com. (Scroll down to the bottom).

Thanks to SB County's Erin Haugh and Paula de Silva for all their help!

NBC features Senior XRGamers!

2007-06-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

6-20-07: NBC picked up on the SBSun's article about seniors and exergaming (http://www.dailybulletin.com/health/ci_6109829) and wanted to do a segment for the health section in "Today in LA" on KNBC so they made the journey out to our neck of the woods. Thanks to Erin Haugh and Paula De Silva for helping to spread the word among their senior network. Linda and a group of seniors from the senior center at the Redlands Rec Center was there, as well as a group from the Joslin Senior Center. Also, a number of my senior patients from Beaver Medical Group were there as well. We really appreciate all of these folks showing up for this shoot. Many were interviewed and we'll see them on the news next week!

The event turned out very well, and it was neat to introduce exergaming to this population who I believe can really benefit from this because exergaming is a social thing, gives them obvious physical benefits, AND it also helps to stimulate the brain--something that is needed if you want to limit your risk of getting Alzheimers, dementia, etc.

Check out the pictures of this first-ever event! As for the taping, I'll post it here as soon as I know when it will air (sometime next week, between 6:20 and 6:40 AM during the health section).

Corey gives a tour to the seniors before the NBC crew arrives.

Paula DeSilva, of the SB Dept of Public Health, speaks with the producers of NBC, Yvonne and Andrew.

Getting a B-roll tight shot of the Wii controller, being held by XRtZ employee Vicky's grandfather.

Nicholas Costas attacks the Makoto for the videographer!

Isometrically strengthening those muscles (and brain) on the Powergird Exerstations.

Cruising on the Gamebikes playing a variety of PS2 games. Who said seniors can't drive?

One of our biggest cheerleaders, Zone members Linda Melzer (owner of Minute Man Press in Colton), hopefully will get her 5 seconds of fame on the AM news!

Having never played tennis before, this lady started to pick up the game pretty quickly.

Mrs. Costas shows good form on the Trazer while scoring goals.

The newbie Wii player recruited another person for doubles tennis!

Protecting herself from the ninjas on the Eye Toy Play 2.

Charter member Aleta (on left) and her 2 friends enjoy some healthy snacks after getting their workout on the exergames.

Hey, who let this senior in and how did he get a shake? Ok, he wasn't there with the senior group, but he is a senior and he came all the way from MI...not to be in the NBC shoot, but because he's our (and Dr. Knowlton's) dad! He's here for the month to rehab from his stroke (we work him out at the Zone and Drayson Center) and was one of our first senior xrgamers, using the Eye Toy at home.

Stay tuned for more info when we find out when it will air!

Senior Bowling League on Wii

2007-06-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

6-7-07: You have to check out this short video clip of a senior bowling league on the Wii!

http://www.erickson.com/ericksonvideogallery/evlPlayerver5.asp?videoname=sportsActivitiesStreaming&var2=7

Peek into the future: Senior XRGames!

2007-06-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

6-5-07: Erin H., from the San Bernardino County Dept. of Public Health, invited me to speak during the last class of her 6 week senior program at the Community Senior Center. Here is Erin giving a nutrition lecture on eating healthier.

When it was my turn to speak, I first started with why it was important to exercise, and then went into the new form of exercise called "exergames". After that, we divided them up into 3 groups so they could play the 3 exergames I brought and set up.

Here they are reading the instructions to Window Washii on the Eye Toy.

Once he figured out how to play bowling on the Wii, this gentleman started knocking down spares and strikes. Check out that great form!

Being a lefty, we adjusted one of the "Mii" characters so he could golf and again, once he figured it out, he could do it without any guidance from us.

We had the seniors sit on a chair while they did the 10-second Dash on the Xavix box. Some of them got into the 80's!

This lady had a difficuly timing the roll and release in the Wii bowling. I told her to follow the movements of the ghost-like character on the screen and she said, "I can't see it!" No wonder! (Maybe Nintendo needs to make a "senior option" where you can darken the character....)

I told her to address the lane like normal (that's why you see her left hand holding her imaginary bowling ball), then take a normal swing and release the trigger to release the ball. She rolled her first strike!

This lady employed a "push" technique to roll the ball. She was able to get some strikes and spares this way!

Once most of the seniors went next door for lunch, the staff from the SB Sun newspaper tried out the games themselves.

Now they want to do a field trip to the Zone so they can try out more exergames. How cool is that? I emphasized how exergames not only benefit their physical health, but also stimulates their mental/cognitive health as well (good for Alzheimer prevention!), so they get a double-benefit. Plus the social benefit--you should've seen them cheering and clapping each other on!

Soon, we'll be hosting the first-ever Senior XRGames. Who said video gaming was just for kids? I can see them challenging their grandkids on these exergames.

Exergaming in New Orleans!

2007-06-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

5-28-07: Right after Memorial Day, I flew to New Orleans for the Amer. College of Sports Medicine's annual conference. Our research collaborator, Dr. Bryan Haddock, had 3 of his students (L-R: Julie, Sarah, Andrea, and Dr. Haddock) from Cal State San Bernardino. The 3 girls presented a poster there on research they did at the Zone. Very nicely done!

Conference attendees stopped by to ask questions about exergaming on their poster. Most had never heard of this form of physical activity intervention!

Besides getting a lot of great info and making neat contacts with quite a few interested folks, I was able to meet a real Olympian--Bruce Jenner, the '76 gold medalist in the Decathalon! He gave a great motivational speech and it was neat to talk to him in person. (He has 10 kids!)
Made lots of great contacts with those who are interested in exergaming so I look forward to increased collaboration and research in exergaming!

Sports-specific XRGaming Workouts

2007-06-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

5-28-07: Julia (aka Jules) is our new personal trainer at the Zone. She has worked on putting together sports-specific (b-ball, v-ball, swimming, baseball, etc.) workout programs using our exergames. Since one of Redlands Swim Team's coaches, Coach Vicky, works for us at the Zone, she helped Jules put together a workout program for swimmers. (Soon, other students wanted to know how they could get in and how thety could change their lifestyle..

Here are two shots of Coach Vicky leading Summer (in black) and one of her best friends, Natalie, going through a couple of the exercises (Summer swims for RST under Coach Vicki).

You'll notice that they're using the Makoto and Sportwall in a way that probably wasn't thought about by by Makoto and Sportswall.

Stay tuned for more sports-specific XRGaming workouts with our personal trainer Jules!

Defending exergaming dissertation

2007-06-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

5-24-07 Tammy Young, a DrPH student at Loma Linda Univ., successfully defended her dissertation on exergaming in an afterschool program.

The room was filled with teachers and fellow students, along with the 3 of us who were in her diss. committee.

After we, her committee, met in private, we soon congratulated her and said she had passed that "last" hurdle. (Not countingn her true last hurdle of getting her manuscript ready for binding and an article submitted for publication!) Here's a shot of Tammy's diss committee. From L - Helen Hopp-Marshak, Tammy, Kiti Frier, and myself (Ernie).

Congrats to Dr. Tammy Young (in just a few days!)! We look forward to more great exergaming things from her in the future!

MPower Zone: Premiere of Fibro movie

2007-06-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

5-12-07 On Saturday afternoons, we will have MPower Zone meetings that are free to the general public. For this MPower Zone, Zone member and good friend, Maria Cruz, organized and presented a premiere showing of a fibromyalgia film. This showing coincided with Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, which also happened to be on May 12.

Here Maria is giving some background and sharing about her own fight with fibro.

The group enjoys a very well done movie, the first of it's kind on fibro.

After the viewing we had some light refreshments (all healthy stuff, of course!) and talked with the attendees. Overall, Maria did a great job organizing and running this program. Thanks Maria!

Wii comes to the Zone!

2007-06-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

5-5-07: The Wii is finally in the Zone! While speaking at the AAHPERD conference last month, someone in the audience heard me lament that I couldn't find a Wii to buy since Dec. She passed it on to the PR Agency of Nintendo, Golin Harris, and next thing you know, we had a Wii sent to us!

They have asked us to do research on the Wii so it can be included in the list of activities in the President's Challenge (www.presidentschallenge.org), a free online program where you can log your exercise and earn points towwards a gold medal. We will be starting that research soon, so stay tuned! Have a doctoral student already lined up for it. ;-)

In the meantime, the Zone members are enjoying the Wii. Here in this picture, Leroy and Josh play tennis while Jake looks on.

Jet lagged!

2007-04-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

4-10-07 Whew! The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of traveling, speaking, and networking. In between, we did a booth at the local Redlands Classic, one of the largets multi-day bicycle races in the country. Check it out!

This first set of pictures were taken in Baltimore, where I spoke at the AAHPERD annual conference (for PE teachers). It was neat to present exergaming to over 120 attendees in my session and meet some of them afterwards who are very interested in pursuing exergaming more. In the Expo, many of our equipment vendors were there, so it was night to meet them in person after all this time of e-mailing.

Ladd is the CEO of Cobalt Flux, the company that makes are DDR pads. They make the best commercial grade pads on the planet! He's a really nice guy, and very tall, too! Here he is standing next to their newest school-version DDR station.

Here are some new skateboard controllers in the iTech booth.

Marion is the CEO of Makoto, a piece of equipment you see in our blog often. She shared some interesting news about games and research being done on the Makoto.

This is a version of the Gamebike that is going in the McDonald's new push to have exergames in their fast food chain. Trying to make it more arcade-like.

I met other vendors like Sportwall, but you'll see some pictures of them in the next set.

After Baltimore, I then went up to San Francisco for the IHRSA expo. I met some of the same vendors there, and other new ones.

3Kick's Mark's son demonstrates their newest product, Heavy Ball. It was quite a workout!

Conant is Brewer's Ledge CEO and founder. They are the makers of our bouldering wall.

There were some new exergames, like this interactive floor, that looks very promising, though the pricetag is pretty steep.

Jerry is a VP at Walk4Life, one of the major pedometer companies around. We've been e-mailing for years (he's helped me get pedometers for Beaver Medical Group) so this was the first time I got to meet him in person.

Lifeguard makes the best Omega 3 supplements on the market. Dr. Michael Gross (facing right) is the founder and medical director, and Michele Bell (behind) works with them. They both came down to the XRtZ last week to do a seminar on the importance of Omega 3, and we now carry their product line in our retail section.

Joe is our Polar rep for our area. He's been a big help in getting us supplied with our heart rate monitors for our Zone Rewards Program. Nice to meet him in person finally!

Cindy (on the left) is our sales rep and Cathi (right) is the CEO of Sportwall. They have been very supportive and helpful in steering interested folks and media are way. Since they are only a few hours away, we've been working together to set up exergaming zones for various events, especially when we aren't able to do it ourselves.

This is the man that got me started on this whole exertainment/exergaming journey--Barry French, the inventor of the Trazer. It was his product I saw way back in 1998 at the fitness center in the Celebration Center's medical facility. Of all the vendors, I've known him the longest and he's been familiar with my journey this has taken me. It's been great to see his company get picked up by Cybex, which shot them to the next level.

Andy Grove is the CEO of Cybex/Trazer, and we've been e-mailing for some time now as well. Very energetic guy!

Check out how small the 2nd generation Trazer is! Just hook it up to a TV and you're read to go!

In between my Baltimore and SF trip, we had a both at the Redlands Classic. Here are our 3 volunteers who helped us on Saturday with our health and wellness display: Monica (a RD with the county public health dept), and XRtZ members Norb and his son, Greg. A big thanks to them for their help!

Corey speaks with someone before doing her body fat analysis.

Monica asks how many teaspoons of sugar are in a 20oz bottle of soda.

Do you know the answer?

Jake now teaches others what he's learned.

Monica gives out nutrition advice to those passing by.

Check out logo as the racers go by!

During this time, Xavix's Peter Newman and his sale's manager Mike and director of operations Ed stopped by the Zone to show us their newest cartridge that will be coming out soon. Xavix has been a big supporter with our research and school projects.

Finally, my dad came from MI for some rehab and got to try out the Wii. Here he is playing golf.

Summer and my dad practice bowling. They were getting spares and strikes!

Stay tuned for more trips and events to come! Off to Atlanta next week and New Orleans in May where a student will be presenting our first research on the Xavix.

Future Chefs in Family Fit Zone Class #6!

2007-02-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

2-25-07: Class #6 was about modifying recipes. This allowed the kids to get their hands into the food and we created a healthy recipe that was modified from the original. Earlier that day, I made the original banana bread recipe, along with a very healthy version. In the class, we made a healthy version with the addition of Splenda Brown Sugar.

That's whole grain flour he's holding there.

Thanks to Dr. Olivia Moses for taking these pictures.

Adding the applesauce instead of the oil!

While the kids and parents were doing their exergaming workout, Dr. Moses cut up the finished banana breads, all 3 versions.

Zone Staffers Ricardo and Kelly (back to camera) sets up Version C Banana Bread for the families to taste.

Hmmmm, the kids try out all 3 versions. Which did they prefer?

Table A had the totally healthy version--no sugar, whole grain flour, egg whites, no oil = .4 g. of fat and very low kcal. For those of us used to that, we prefered it. Table B had the original recipe, which was almost 9 g. of fat per serving. Table C was modified just like "A" with the addition of the splenda. As you can guess, many liked the original, but most also said that the splenda version was good, too. Not too many preferred the ultra-healthy one except Ricardo and I!

For our exergaming challenge, we did a 5-min. relay on the 3kick, with contestants doing 30-second bouts each and then changing out. Here the moms went first to set the bar.

The kids were watching closely as the moms set a high score of 840 points in 5 mins. Could the kids beat that?

The kids were motivated, cheering their teammates on.

Look at her move--a blur of speed!

Like a well-oiled NASCAR pit crew, the kids changed teammates efficiently.

With the clock widing down, the kids cheered on the last boy.

The results? Moms = 840; Kids = 800! Guess who had to do 10 jumping jacks...again!

And so ended another fun Family Fit Zone class at the XRtainment Zone.

First presentation of 2007

2007-02-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

2-20-07 This was a sharing forum organized by the Desert Sierra Health Network (DSHN), part of the SB County Public Health Dept. and sponsored by the 5-a-day program. This forum focused on healthcare workers, public health, school nurses, RDs, PE teachers, and those working with kids and health. This was the first of several speaking engagements that I have (March, I'll be speaking in Baltimre and in April, speaking in Atlanta, so stay tuned!)

My topic was on the use of BMI for screening kids, other forms of body composition, and local resources (such as the XRtZ) for helping fight pediatric obesity.

There were close to 200 people at this forum which heard from various speakers throughout the day.

XRtZ also had a booth space there where we set up a video clip of the Zone and our My 13 news clip running and another TV for a Xavix Dash competition.

During the breaks and over the lunch period, various attendees tried to be one of the top scorers on the Dash. Some, like uber-triathlete (i.e. super competitive) Andrea tried it several times, trying to increase her score each time. She got up to her PR of 95 by the end of the day, good enough for 4th place.

It didn't matter if they were all dressed up--they gave the Dash a try!

One of our vendors, Sportwall, had a booth there as well. Run by Cindy, she invited people to try out DDR, many who were doing it for the first time. Then XRtZ Junior Staffer, Jake "the DDR Great" Knowlton showed up and wowed the crowd with his amazing footwork on standard.

Some of the last contendors of the day. From this young group of friends, the eventual winner would emerge.

Dr. Knowlton helped answer questions and run the Dash, which was a big help while I was getting ready for my talk.

Attendee Darryl, with his score of 108 (pointing to his score on the TV screen), was the high score among attendees (Jake got a 112, and I got a 117, but we didn't count! LOL!) and chose a cool XRtZ t-shirt for his prize.

Overall, it was a great start to the presentation circuit and we made a lot of excellent contacts there, and now more people know all about XRtainment Zone as a key resource in famil wellness in our local area.

Family Fit Zone update

2007-02-21T20:20:00.001-08:00

2-18-07 Here's an update from our Family Fit Zone class. This shows the kids (and moms!) doing their "XRGaming Rx" after which, they can do free play the rest of the time. They keep track of their scores for their various exergame stations in their Rx. We're hoping to see an improvement in their scores over the 7 weeks, indicating an increase in their fitness.

Mom watches her daughter as she does a high kick on the 3Kick.

This mom's getting busy on "Raven" in Xavix Power Boxing.

She's approaching a squashed hula hoop obstacle, which she made it through ok!

Another mom keeping an eye on her daughter doing the Makoto.

She's jumping hard (see hair) playing the Trazer.

Mom and daughter play dance on the DDR.

Our only guy, Christian, jumping over the obstacles in the Xavix Jackie Chan run.

Nice lunge, Makoto Warrior!

Competing against each other on the sportwall.

At the end of the session, we held a little competition on the Sportwall between the moms and the kids. The kids really got excited about the chance to beat their moms. You can see they were all getting into it.

The competition was fierce, with the moms taking the first two rounds. The kids had to do 10 jumping jacks each time they were defeated. Then they would request a re-match!

Could the kids pull off an upset? Here, in the last round, you can see the last 4 seconds, with the kids holding a very slight lead. Would it hold?

Hehehehe, the moms are doing the jumping jacks, much to the delight of the kids!

And so ends another fun class at the Family Fit Zone program. Next week, you'll see some of the activities we do inside the classroom!

2007 off to a great start!

2007-02-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

2-15-07 Finally updating our blog here in the new year. A lot has been happening behind the scenes with new classes and programs at the Zone. Check out our Jan. and Feb. '07 newsletters for all the latest at www.xrtainmentzone.com and click on "newsletters" at the bottom.

One of our biggest news in January was the start of our Family Fit Zone class and collaboration with Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP). IEHP is paying for eligible members to attend our 7-week Family Fit Zone class and up to 4 months of membership after the class is finished. Then we can continue following them and working out with them. Here's a shot of me teaching the first class.

We also had some new staff starting. These are students from U of R and we're glad to have the extra help! Welcome Tori, Heather, Stephen, and Conner!

In February I went to a pediatric obesity conference and besides networking with a lot of folks in healthcare and government, I was able to meet some celebs who are doing a lot of good things for kid's health. Jake (of Body by Jake fame) is the current chairman of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness here in CA, so I got to meet him and tell him about the Zone. I was also introduced to his exec. dir., who I also got to fill in on some ideas.

The other celeb was Allen Rossum, who has an org. of pro athletes who do things for kids. Allen is a returner on the Atlanta Falcons, and one of the most feared punt returners in the game. He was a very nice guy and said that he got all messed up on DDR!

Also this month, Tammy, a doctoral student from Loma Linda Univ., has started her dissertation research on an afterschool program utilizing exergames. Here she is setting up the room.
Here's she's explaining to a teacher how the Xavix j-mat works.

We host many parties and events here. One that was special to myself (Ernie) and Kim (Dr. Knowlton) was hosting our alma mater, Andrews University's, alumni gathering at the Zone. Here is President Andreason talking with an alumnus and Tami Condon, the Alumni Director (in black t-shirt).

Here's VP David Faehner talking with some alumni.

After a yummy meal of gourmet pizza, salad, and other goodies (here being served by alum Corey), Prez Andreason gave an update on AU, including a detailed report on the dairy.

It wasn't all meeting, the alumni got to try out our delicious smoothies, compliments of the Alumni Assoc. and try out the games.

Finally, most recently last Sunday (Feb. 11), our youngest sister, Lesley Taylor, had her baby shower at the Zone. She lives in Phoenix, and had friends from all over the country come in just for her. Here's Matt, bowing after contesting in the 3kick.

See if you can name all the people Lesley grew up in Berrien Springs with in this picture. The middle guy is a toughie!

We got to meet "Dan the Man" and his sister Sabrina, our brother-in-law Robbie's niece and nephew. The last time these 3 were together was at Lesley and Rob's wedding, back 5 or so years ago. They've grown!

Some other news: we'll be starting more Family Fit Zone tracks, and a Spanish version of it as well. We're also getting ready to start up 2 tracks for our Homeschool Zone, a 12-week nutrition and exercise program, complete with Fitnessgram testing. Stay tuned and thanks for your support!

Ernie

2006-12-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Dec. 18, 2006 - Another first was held in Redlands, CA: the XRGames Toy Drive which benefitted the Boys and Girls Club of Redlands. Above are just some of over 60 kids and teens worked up a sweat playing videogames in this unique tournament format. There were 2 Divisions: The Super XRGamer, where participants had to play 5 different games for a total score (pentathlon). The Individual Division allowed players to compete in individual games such as DDR and 3kick. Many of the SuperXRGamers also did other games that were not part of their 5 required games, resulting in playing up to 8 different games!

Check out the pictures below to see all the action for these REAL video game athletes (compared to traditional sedentary videogame players who compete in tournaments and call themselves "cyberathletes" or "e-athletes", as reported in a recent Reilly column in Sports Illus.)

Thanks to our sponsors who supported us: Beaver Medical Group (sponsored the Wii), JAM Sportswear for the cool t-shirts, J & M Trophies for the ribbons and medals, and Xavix, Makoto, and Brewer's Ledge for prizes.

(Click on the pictures to view them more closely.)

Without our awesome volunteers, these XRGames would never have happened. They did a great job keeping the games going. A special thanks to Devin G. and Kevin F. for coming in early and helping to get things set up and organized while I was taking care of last minute details.

"Love is Orange" was the game used for the DDR station.

3Kick was a popular Individual game.

Bailey, a swimmer on the Redlands Swim Team, shows she can kick on dry land as well.

The Makoto was both an Individual and SuperXRGamer event, so it had a lot of participants trying to master the accelerated game.

Gabby M, an intense competitor, cracks a smile as she whacks the lit target.

Kathy Dunn, Program Dir. at the Boys and Girls Club of Redlands, instructs Natalie P. and Summer M. (on right of picture) what to do on the Sportwall game. The Sportwall was only for SuperXRGamer competitors.

Noelle C. dashes to get her beanbag. She collected quite a few ribbons and medals at this XRGames.

Darce Peter runs on the Jackie Chan Run (Intermediate level), another event that was both an Indiv. and SuperXRGamer event. He was also the winner of the raffle for the Wii.

Even our younger competitors could compete on the Xavix game.

At the Intermediate Level on the Xavix Run, you have to "duck" below a barrier by touching all for squares as this XRGamer is doing or lose points.

Our one non-videogame event was the challenging obstacle hula hoop course on the bouldering wall. Here, Jenny M. strategizes her path through the hoop. Players rec'd a 5-sec. penalty for knocking down a hoop or touching the floor. This was both a SuperXRGamer and Individual event.

One of the Nichol kids shows excellent form going through the hoop.

Notice the intensity of on this player's face as he competes in ATV Fury 3's Tag game against 3 other competitors.

Michael C. (in baseball cap) was the overall winner in the Individual Gamebike event with a very high score compared to the rest of the field.

4 players competed at the same time.

Nick C., concentrates as he races to capture the colored balls.

The Trazer Fusion game was a SuperXRGamer-only event. It tested a variety of skills--lunging, jumping, side-to-side movement. Here Kent gets some air as he goes for the dropping balls.

Gaby M. concentrates as she plays the Trazer.

Two of the hardest working volunteers were Thomas "R" and Keri who tabulated and calculated all the scores for the various divisions, ages, and events so we could award the ribbons (3 deep per age and sex in each event) and medals for the overall winners in each event. Great job, guys!

Refreshments were provided to keep fueling the participants and volunteers.

In between competing in events, friends got to hang out. Thanks to JAMSportswear for the cool-looking t-shirts!

Amand and Kayla B. show of their t-shirts, too.

After the ribbons and medals were given out, the raffle for the prizes were started. Kids rec'd tickets for each event, and additional tickets if the placed in the top 3 of their division and events. Here, they are examing their tickets as the number is read.

Ok, here's a picture of me (Ernie) calling out the raffle numbers for cool awards we had.

Here's Darce P., the lucky winner of the Wii!

Here are the winners of the DS Light and the iPod Shuffle. You can tell they're pretty happy campers!

Natalie and Summer pose with the pile of presents raised for the Boys and Girls Club of Redlands.

The next morning, Kathy Dunn and another staff person from the Boys and Girls Club of Redlands came by to pick up the toys. Here they pose with COO Joel (middle) one last time before loading up the toys for the kids.

Congratulations to all the XRGamers, parents, and volunteers for all their support of this first-ever event! Look for more tournaments like it in 2007!

On My13 News!!!

2006-11-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

11-15-06 On the evening news tonight on Ch. 13, MyNetworkTV Fox News, the Zone was featured! Kevin Brummond, a FOX 11/MY 13 News Producer, did a great job putting this together. It was very exciting to see our clip--it was longer than I expected and gave a great overview of the place. If you're in the Zone, you can see it playing on one of our TVs! For now, enjoy some of the clips that I shot off the screen.

Here is Lauren Sanchez, introducing our piece and giving us some nice compliments. Thanks Lauren!

Joel's looking and sounding good on the tube!

Ok, so we don't look too energetic in this segment. They were just shooting some B-roll and we didn't really know what to do! LOL!

One of our members working up a sweat! This is not Peter, whose mom is in the next shot. I missed getting a picture of Peter.

Here's Peter's mom, getting some nice screen time!

Here's Lauren closing out our segment and saying some very nice comments about the Zone like "excellent idea" and that her son would get into the boxing. Hey Lauren, if you're ever in Redlands, we'd love to have you and your family as our special guests!

Interns at Teen Jam

2006-11-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

11-12-06 Back a few weeks ago, two doctoral students from LLU helped us out by running a booth at the Teen Jam, a health fair for teens in San Bernardino, hosted by La Salle Medical and sponsored by IEHP. A BIG thanks to Tammy and Mara for taking care of this for us. Unfortunately, Tammy took ALL the pictures so she's not in any of them (against my instructions! LOL!). You'll see Mara doing all the work. ;-) They did a great job--a first for both them--and helped introduce exertainment to a lot of kids. Most are IEHP members, so they were sure to tell them about our new agreement with IEHP, starting in Jan. Way to go, Tammy and Mara!

Our 1st Fall Fest!

2006-10-31T15:50:00.000-08:00

10-31-06: Last night, we had our first annual Fall Fest, organized and led out by COO Joel and staff. This was a FREE event for members, and a small charge for non-members. The kids and parents had a fun time dressing up, playing games, and doing a pumpkin carving contest. Thanks to all those who helped and participated in our first Fall Fest! Also, thanks to Corey Knowlton and intern John Cuyugan for the pictures.

"Eh mon, don't worry, this is suuuugaaaar freeee candy mon!"

Our fearless staff dressed up for the occassion!

Challenged CyberAthletes!

2006-10-26T22:02:00.001-07:00

10-26-06 We had a booth at the 1st Annual Disability Expo, sponsored by IEHP and Possabilites, and held at the Drayson Center in Loma Linda. Possabilities is a program that helps support and empower challenged athletes. XRtZ is a proud sponsor of Team Possabilities and our logo is on the front upper right corner of the team clothing. (We just learned that if you watch the Ironman telecast later in Nov., look closely at one of the top wheel chair participants and you'll see our logo on NBC!)

This was our first chance to introduce exertainment to the diabled and special needs population, and as you can see from the pictures, we had some enthusiatic players! Take a good look at these faces; who knows, maybe one of these folks will enter our XRGames in Dec. and be our first Challenge CyberAthlete champion!

Most of them played using the Eye Toy, since this was a game that you could do sitting down.

Overall, it was an excellent conference for us. We were able to network with a lot of different people, and the Possabilities and Drayson Center staff were excellent in meeting our needs.

Now that's teamwork! Thanks to Junior Staffer Jake Knowlton for being a huge help at the expo.

Since this Drayson Center staffer could only use one hand to play the Eye Toy Kung Fu game, Jake helped him out.

This is Jared and his mom. I met Jared at one of Possabilities' Kid's Triathlons that I helped organize and run a couple of years ago. He's done every kid's triathlon since we've had them the last 4 or 5 years now. Now he's ready to add Challenged Cyberathlete to his resume and plans to come down and check out the Zone!

Once this guy picked it up, he didn't want to leave! His forehead was covered in sweat by the time he was done. Another future Challenged CyberAthlete!

Challenged CyberAthletes come in all ages. Here is LLU staffer Don Gaede with his mom, playing the game, Window Washi, on the Eye Toy, and doing very well!

This young man has a lot of challenges, and it took him a few tries to get the hang of kung fu, but once he did, he did very well, setting a high score. He kept playing it for over 15 minutes because he kept trying to break his PR!

Check out these Challenged Cyberathletes and more at our Dec. 17 XRGames!

Another Sunday at the Zone!

2006-10-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

10-22-06 Just reporting some interesting things that happened today at the Zone, besides the 3 b-day parties today.

Javan tests out our demo Gamecycle, a handbike attached to a Nintendo Gamecube. This is designed for those who can't use their legs but want a fun workout while playing video games.

My dad, Ernie Sr., gives the Gamecycle is all! (He's here for a special PT rehab for stroke patients.)

One of our non-b-day visitors happened to be one of our Beaver Medical Group docs, Dr. Rae, with her kids. Here she is trying out the DDR with her hands full!

As we were closing, one mom plays ATV tag with her 3 daughters, all charter members. They seemed to enjoy beating up on her!

So ends another Sunday at the Zone!

LLA rewards magazine drive winners!

2006-10-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

10-12-06: Are these celebs coming to the Zone in these 2 stretch Hummer limos? No! It's students who did the best in their recent magazine drive at Loma Linda Academy. They were coming over for lunch and to play as their reward!

Here the kids coming out of their limo, all excited to come to the Zone!

Working up an appetite on the Eye Toy.

Chowing on the pizza for lunch. Ok, maybe not the healthiest stuff but that's what they ordered or they would've gone to Chuck E Cheese again! LOL!

Congrats to all the winners in this year's magazine campaign!

Fox comes to the Zone!

2006-10-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

10-10-06 We had our first TV crew come to the Zone. Here are some of them taking video clips and talking to staff and members. It will air sometime in the next couple of weeks on Ch. 13 and Ch. 11, both Fox affiliates.

Here's Joel speaking with Kevin Brummond, a producer for Fox.

They interviewed one of our charter members who has done very well since joining us. His mom also was interviewed, talking about what they liked about the Zone and how well her son was doing.

It'll be interesting to see how they edit the various video clips into the final news piece!

First staff inservice!

2006-10-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

10-8-06: After the fair at Loma Linda Academy, we had our first staff inservice--CPR and AED certification!

This picture of the class was taken by Junior Staffer Summer Medina.

Practicing their ABC's on the dummies!

Comedian Mike gets his dummy to wave at the camera.

Now are staff is ready to provide the life-saving procedures should the need arise. We also were AED certified and will soon be getting one of those in our facility. It is becoming law for all health and fitness clubs to have one starting July 2007.

At the Loma Linda Fair

2006-10-12T23:20:00.000-07:00

10-8-06 The Loma Linda Academy hosted the Loma Linda Fair last Sunday, and we were asked to have a booth there to display our games and help raise funds for Cassie's 3rd class and Cam's 6th grade class.

Here's the front of our booth on a fine sunny day!

Doug Herman, the former principal at LLA, gave the Xavis Jackie Chan a try. Look at him go! They paid a$1 and got 2 tries. Some kids kept coming back to improve their score!

For $.50, you could race on the gamebikes.The girl here, Holly, kept doing the Dash over and over because someone bested her score and she kept trying to regain her top ranking!

Here's one of our student winners in the Xavix Jackie Chan Dash. He won this cool t-shirt and a day pass to the Zone!

Here's our oldest winner, Verne, from the 50+ category in the Dash. You can see his score on the whiteboard to his right.

The Trazer is in the house!!!

2006-10-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

10-5-06: Ah, finally, THE game that got me started on this exertainment path back in 1998 when I first saw it demonstrated at the Celebration Center Medical Center near Orlanda, FL. The Cybex Trazer!!! Ironically, it's the last game to be installed in our Zone. I got my first chance to play on it yesterday at lunch and man, it's fun and you work up a sweat! Besides the games, there are a LOT of features and biometrics that it can track, especially if you create a profile with your own details, which we encourage our members to do. Come in and check it out!

Cleanse those toxins out!

2006-10-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

10-5-06 Last night, we hosted the first Isagenix meeting in our room. They have a unique product that focuses on cleansing the toxins from our cellular material (this isn't colon cleansing). We had a packed house and a very informative meeting last night. We also sold the Isalean meal replacement shake at our smoothie bar for those who wanted to try it out (the chocolate is my favorite).

It was a full room last night! Kris and Craig Horton, along with Loren Middag, led out in the meeting. Thanks to the Sabangans for lending us their chairs while we wait for our ordered chairs.

Loren Middag, a PT, personal trainer, and top ranked body builder, gave a very informative talk on the need for cleansing in this day and age of toxins in just about everything we eat, drink, or breathe in. It has inspired me to get back on track and re-start my own cleansing program! I've also had patients who have had dramatic improvements once they've cleansed.

Meetings are being held weekly this month (Oct) on Thursdays 7:15 PM and starting in Nov., will switch to Wed. 7:15 PM. Everyone is welcome--just let them know Dr. Medina recommended you to attend. It's free!

Games for Health conference

2006-10-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

10-3-06 Last week, I flew out early Wed. AM across the country to Baltimore to speak at the Games for Health Conference, held at the Univ. of Maryland's School of Medicine. I was speaking on Thurs. AM on exertainment/exergaming, and then returning to CA that afternoon for a camping trip I was helping to lead out in that weekend. After my talk, I was able to meet with a lot of interested people, and to also hang out in the exergaming room where some of the vendors were. It was a great place to network with other researchers and game designers for possible future collaboration.

Here is Andy Glass, CEO of Trazer, explaining the Trazer to Patty Mabry, from the National Institute of Health. He gave me some tips on our soon-to-arrive Trazer unit.

Powergrid's founder, Greg Merril (standing) explains the home version of the Exer-station to David Crosthwaite, of QMotions. They were also so kind to give us a copy of the Xbox's Fusion Frenzy game to use at the Zone. Thanks Greg!

Finally, here's David again from Qmotions, demonstrating their newest hardware. Hopefully, we'll be getting one to demo soon.

Overall, a short but good networking opp. to meet with others in this growing field. Next month--Denver to speak at the American Acad. of Famly Physician's meeting.

Gearing up for research!

2006-10-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

10-2-06 Just before I left for my overnight trip to Baltimore to speak at the Games for Health conference, a colleague, Dr. Bryan Haddock, and one of his students, Andrea, came over to the Zone to field test the equipment we'll be using for upcoming research with Cal State San Bernardino, the same group we did our first Xavix studies with. Stay tuned for more research!

Final Day of Grand Opening!

2006-09-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

9-17-06 Sunday was the final day of our Grand Opening that started back on Thursday. And what a day it was! We counted 186 registration cards filled out--which represented mostly *families* and some individuals who filled that out. That puts an estimated number of visitors today at around 300+ people!!! In our health fair alone, which ran from 2-5 PM, we had about 130 people go through. So all in all, it was a very busy day for the staff of XRtainment Zone (as you will see!).

Greeting people outside was KOLA 99.1, doing a live on-site broadcast. Not only did they run several different spots throughout the preceding week about our Grand Opening, they also passed out flyers for us at Route 66 yesterday! Thanks KOLA!

Judy "SJ" Peterson (wife of COO Joel) manned the welcome/check-in table, and as those who met and know her, she has the energy for that job! She greeted, passed things out, and got them to fill out the check-in card for free drawings and prizes.

With this many people coming through today, all the games were in full use.

Today was the last day to sign up as a charter member. Based on some prelim. figures, we had 14 more members sign up today! Here is COO Joel answering questions of a potential member.

We had a lot of special visitors and friends check us out. Coach Jamie (RST) tries out the reaction game on Xavix and agreed that this would be good to help swimmers on their starts. Here he is getting ready to jump... And there he goes!

One of our equipment vendors reps, Cindy, from Sportwall, drove all the way out from Santa Barbara last night to make it to today's Grand Opening. Here we get a picture with Cindy and another associate from Sportwall, who spotted a cracked target and said they would send one to us first thing this week. What great customer service!

We also held a Pilates demo, led by Dulce.

All our Junior Staff were on hand to help others with the games. Here Cassie and Chloe help to put up a hula hoop back on the bouldering wall.

The health fair saw a steady stream of people going through the following stations. Charter Member Crystal invited and greeted visitors to step in and come through the health fair.The first stop was the BP station, manned by Charter Member Maria. Some almost fainted at this, including this Canadian Olympic team archer! That was followed by the Sit-n-Reach station, manned by Mike, a physical therapist. Next was the Grip Strength station, manned by PE teacher and Charter Member Marcus. He took turns with his fellow Canadian bud, Rob, who by weekday does root canals.Next was the Body Comp station, where Sandy ran the body fat machine

and Charter Member Linda did waist/hip measurements.After body comp, visitors visited the Blood Sugar testing center, manned by two highly qualififed nurses, Dr. Keri Medina, DNSc (assoc. prof. at Loma Linda Univ. School of Nursing and wife of CEO Ernie) and Charter Member Conchita, a nurse practitioner at Arrowhead Regional. (Thanks to Charter Member David Clark, of Roche, for donating most of the supplies, including the meters.) As you can see, they did a fine job putting people at ease and controlling the wild onesThis visitor, Margaret, screams in agony because she's worried that her right hand will be injured. She uses it to pull back a bow string on her bow--she's training to be on the Canadian Olympic Archery team for 2008!Young kids, as well as "more seasoned" kids,
had their blood tested. To relieve them of the stress of getting stuck, the next stop was a free massage, compliments of International Skin and Body Care (located on Cajon, right across from Beaver Medical Group).The final stop was a Consult station, where results were interpreted and recommendations were made. Here is Dr. Olivia Moses counseling someonealong with MS Nutrition intern, John.All in all, a great job done by our volunteers to handle 130 people in 3 hours!!!

After 10+ hours of running the Open House, you can see the effect on the staff at the close of our Grand Opening weekend. I couldn't decide which picture best portrayed how we all felt, so I've included them both. (Not pictured is staff member Austin).

Great job to our staff and families for surviving this Grand Opening blitz! And welcome to all of our Charter Membership, which should number around 125 or so. Now as our kitchen gets finished, we'll soon shift into our next phase of starting up and running the various classes we said we would do. Let's get going!

Day 3 Grand Opening: Dedication & MPower Zone

2006-09-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

9-16-06 As part of our ongoing Grand Opening events, Saturday was a special day (as it always is for some of us!). We held a special dedication for the Zone and all those involved. After that, we had our first MPower Zone seminar, and finally, had a short open house.

COO Joel welcomes the attendees to our dedication service.

Pastor John Brunt, senior pastor at Azure Hills Church (Grand Terrace), gave the dedication homily entitled, "The House that God Built". It was very inspiring to all of us. Many of our staff and investors are members of his church, which made it extra special. A couple of our other associate pastors were there: Pastor Carmen and Pastor Alex. We appreciate their participation and attendance at this special event.

To end our dedication service, we closed with a special song by a premiere women's singing group, Fusion Sounds, led by our the Zone's GM, Dr. Kim (end at left).

After the dedication service, we transitioned to our MPower Zone seminar. This featured Nutrapoints creater and author, Dr. Roy Vartabedian. He developed this unique and innovative nutrition program while the director of the Cooper Wellness Live-in program in Dallas, TX. This program allows you to monitor and control both calories and nutritional quality.

He also talked about supplements, highlighting his favoriet, Juice Plus. Then he ended on a note about pediatric obesity.

After his talk, people lined up to purchase his books and have him sign them.

One of the Zone's charter members, Conchita, really enjoyed the program and learned a lot. Her daughter, charter member Natalie, tends to be a "selective" eater so using the Nutripoints and Juice Plus's fruit and vegetable gummies will help ensure she is getting the best possible diet. (Juice Plus will be available for sale in the Zone's retail section. Charter members get 10% off all retail purchases!)

After Dr. Roy's presentation, the Zone opened up for a short open house. Here Jr. Staff Cameron gets the high score on the Jackie Chan Dash. He is the current high score holder on the Dash with a 129 step count! (The Dash is a race to see how many steps you can get in 10 seconds.)

Because of the increasingly high visibility the Zone has been getting, we decided to hire a top notch security night watchman to guard the premises after hours. This particular guard claims to have extra ninjitsu training so don't mess with him! Here he is at his post, ninja senses at high alert. No one can get in or out without his knowing it.

1st ever XRGames!

2006-09-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

9-15-06 As part of our Grand Opening events, we held the first-ever XRGames! Between 1 PM and 5 PM, we featured contests at various games, keeping track of scores on the whiteboards. After which, highly coveted XRtainment Zone prizes were awarded to the top winners. Many kids really worked up a sweat repeating the games to improve their score or overtake a friend. Check out these serious competitors!

While not eligible for the prizes since he's a Junior Staff, Josh Knowlton gives it his best on the Makoto Challenge. We had it set at "Sudden Death - Accelerated, Level 2", which seemed to work well for this.

This participant keeps a close eye on the scoreboard as someone takes the Makoto challenge.

While kids won in various age groups, the overall top score was a tie at 75 between Robby Taylor and none other than moi, CEO Ernie! Since I was ineligible for a prize, we did not do a playoff. Here's Robby with his prize--a cool XRtZ water bottle! (Robby is also the brother-in-law if mine, but that did not factor into the tie--I was trying hard to beat his score! LOL!)

DDR, the most well-known of the exertaiment games, was a popular contest as well. We picked the song that everyone had to dance to. Here are two challengers battling away.

More kids taking the DDR challenge while the others look on.

Staff Alicia writes down the scores after each person was done.

The Junior Staff discuss the scores, wondering if they could beat it.

Gunnar and his mom battle it out on DDR.

Other games that were part of this 1st XRGames were....

the Sporwall...

Gamebike race...

and the Bouldering wall, where the kids chose a path and were timed on it.

After each event, Alicia and Casey called the kids around to award their prizes.

"I won! Yeah!!!!!'

(L-R) Sam, Gunnar, and Gunner's mom all won prizes in more than one event. Congrat to them all!

And so ends our first XRGames. There will be many more in the future. While the XRGames were going on, the counter top finally arrived and will be fully installed on Mon. Joel can be seen cleaning it up so at least it would be presentable for the rest of this weekend's events.

Joel made this poster of some of the quotes in various publications were we or exertaiment was featured. The word is getting out there!

Ribbon Cutting! Day 1 of Grand Opening

2006-09-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

9-14-06 Tonight was the first event in a series of events for our Grand Opening weekend. Had a great turnout, and we were fully staffed and keeping very busy. Had a chance to talk to a lot of potential members' parents, so this was good. Besides the ribbon cutting, we had an Open House as well.

Now you can really feel safe eating here. Look what we rec'd from a surprise health inspection last week!

KSGN, 89.7, is a Christian station that plays family-friendly music. They came out for a couple of hours and promoted us on the air. Here, one of our charter members, Sam, is picking up some of the free goodies they were giving away.

Amber (in white at right end-below) is in charge of KSGN's "Street Team", where they go out to various locations to promote the station at events such as this. Thanks KSGN for coming out to help us kick off our Grand Opening!

Speaking of kicking, Amber give the 3Kick a try. Look at that form and determination on her face! Don't mess with this girl!

A KSGN Street Team volunteer checks out the bouldering wall. Is this what they want to do when KSGN's GM causes the employees and volunteers to "climb the walls"? LOL! (Just kidding, Dawn! Hope you can make it out sometime in person.)

"Aw man, I can't believe it! They're open, it's free, and KSGN is out front!!! I gotta get in there!!!

Dr. Bryan Haddock is in charge of exercise physiology over at CS San Bernadino. He was the PI for our first XRtainment Video game study. He's already thinking about our next study. Here he is, testing out his ninja skills on the Makoto.

A new addition to the place are the dancers on the wall. The one who painted the whole place, also painted those up there just a couple of days ago. You can also see the new bench that is right in front of the window.

At 5:30 PM, it was time fo the ribbon cutting with those big scissors. They really cut, too! I didn't do my "speech" there, but here's what I would've said:

"The US Surgeon General Carmona said that the #1 threat to national security is pediatric obesity. Why? Because he knows how this epidemic, if left unchecked, will impact not only our healthcare system, but financial and medical systems as well. Sadly, the Institute of Medicine reported today that healthcare's solutions and interventions are doing a poor job in helping our obese kids, and that by 2010, 1 in 5 kids will be obese! I pray that XRtainment Zone, with it's out-of-the box approach, will help be one of the shining stars in the fight against pediatric obesity. Thanks for being here today!" (Thanks to Dr. Thomas "R" Makowski, who took the ribbon cutting pictures for us. Not only is he an accomplished photographer, he is one of Beaver Medical Group's top cardiologists.)

Some Redlands Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors enjoy the food after the ribbon cutting.

After our ribbon cutting ceremony, COO Joel poses with Dr. Sue Gengler, of IEHP (an insurance plan), and Willie Stewart (Director of Possabilities program). Dr. Gengler was the key person at IEHP that worked with us in putting together a proposal for IEHP to subsidize our 7-wk Family Fit Zone program and up to 4-months of membership for their pediatric members that they cover. After waiting all summer, we just received word from the Dept. of Health Services up in Sacramento that the proposal was approved!!! We are all excited about that. Thanks Sue! (We were classmates during grad school and she used to harass me all the time in class while I was trying to pay attention to the professor. (Or was it the other way around? Hmmm... It's a wonder I passed! LOL!)

In addition, we are a sponsor of Team Possabilities. Possabiliites is a program for disabled/challenged athletes. Willie wants to work on some classes and programs for their disabled athletes to come to the Zone to workout and play. BTW, Willie, who is missing his left arm (construction accident), is a very famous challenged triathlete, often winning his division in both on-road tris and off-road XTerra tris. He is an Ironman triathlete, and is training to go to the Hawaiin Ironman again (thats where they swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, bicycle for 112 miles, and then run a full marathon (26.2 miles), all in one day!

For this first Open House of the Grand Opening, the staff prepared some healthy finger foods for everyone to enjoy. Charter member Conchita Portilla (middle, in maroon) and a visitor enjoy the food.

Junior Staff Cassie helps to serve samples of our smoothies to our guests. Here, charter member Holly Elias can't believe that she doesn't have to pay for the free sample!

Here are some shots of various business people that were invited to attend. On the left is Molly and her husband, of Red Fusion, which hosts our website. On the right end is Janine Perry, of Perry Designs, our marketing firm.

Here is the other half of the Perry Designs marketing team, Angelique. They've done a great job in helping us with our various marketing needs as we were starting up.

Joel explains something of great importance to another one of the top docs from Beaver Medical Group, Dr. Greg Jones. He also happens to be my (Ernie's) primay care physician. Not only is he one of BMG's top docs, he's also an animal mtn. biker as well.

Of course, the best part of the Open House is the FREE admittance! Here are some shots of both adults and kids enjoying the games and getting a workout to boot!

GM Dr. Kim and oldest son, Josh (who is the first person to finish ALL the missions on the F-14 game on the Kilowatt), pose with some nice flowers sent to us by Michele Bell, of Club Syneregy, our health club consultants who have shared with us their expertise in this field. Thanks Michele!

So ends our first day of the Grand Opening. Stay tuned for more!

At our first Market Night

2006-09-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

9-7-06 This was our first foray into Market Night. We wanted to get the word out about the Grand Opening so we set up a week ago there. Were busy handing out flyers about our Grand Opening as the masses walked by. Kids tried the Dash out while we talked to their parents.

Casey starts passing out flyers while Joel works on a sign.

Kid's trying out our special set-up. jackie Chan did well!

Visiters from Montemorelos

2006-09-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

9-6-06 We were honored to have guests from the Seventh-day Adventist medical school in Montemorelos, Mexico, Dr. Luis and Kelly Dulac. They are the couple on the left. The couple on the right is Paulo and Keyla Laguna. Kelly is the sister of Paulo. They are interested in opening or adding some exertainment games to their fitness facility they have there, so we'll help them as best as we can!

A GM turns 40!

2006-09-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

9-2-06 On Sept. 2, a certain GM was born 40 years ago. Yes, XRtainment Zone's first GM, Dr. Kim Knowlton, turned 40 on 9-2-06! We had a special surprise b-day party at the Zone for here.

Here, all the kids were hiding as she opened up the door.

She poses with her youngest, Javan, with the yummy cakes that she did NOT make for once!

B-day's galore!

2006-08-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

8-30-06 Wow! In our first 3 weeks of business, we've had at least 4 or 5 b-day parties, another one today, and another one tomorrow! I think the word is getting out that a replacement for Chuck E Cheese is in town! LOL! Check out the following pictures of the 2 b-day parties we had last Sunday.

Josh Knowlton (son of GM Dr. Kim Knowlton and newphew of CEO Ernie) turned 9 on Aug. 27. He's the one standing while his friends are playing on the Cateye Gamebikes.

Kaitlyn was bound and determined to complete the bouldering wall.

Parents got involved, too! Here the are, challenged by the kids, doing a relay on the Sportwall.

You'd think that playing "Chef" on the Eye Toy was only for kids--wrong!

Because the multipurpose room where we will be having our parties at is not quite ready yet, we all crowded into the Cool Zone area.

Even the moms got into it, albeit the low tech way to have fun.

Here's the b-day boy's brother and cousin chomping on pizza!

The 2nd party which was right after Josh's party came in and also had a great time. Didn't get a lot of pictures of them becaus I was helping them play, but they had a similar experience with all the games.

More new things in the Cool Zone!

2006-08-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

8-24-06 The changes keep coming to the Cool Zone...check it out!

The new fridge arrived so Joel and Casey are setting it up.

Katie enjoys a nice cool drink from the new fridge. Great prices, too! And all healthy stuff, of course!!!

We were honored to have a living Legend visit the Zone, all the way from Bangkok, Thailand. This is Dr. Nithat Sirichotaratana, the leading smoking cessation expert and preventive care specialist in the Far East. He has worked with the Prime Minister and other high government officials, and has also worked with celebrity and other famous people in Thailand. Hence his name, "Legend". Besides working at the renowned Bangkok Adventist Hospital and running their live-in wellness resort, he is very interested in opening up a fitness center which will include a XRtainment Zone. He's been inviting me to come visit there...maybe this will be the impetus to do so! Here he is, sitting at one of our new tables in the Cool Zone.

The Cool Zone is THE place to sip a smoothie, read a book, pay your bills online with our wi-fi (or at our Internet station), watch one of the three 40-inch TVs (with Direct TV), or just hang out with friends. The Cool Zone is open to the general public like those waiting for their kids at Sylvan or waiting for the laundry next door.

Good friend Maria Cruz brought her kids over to check out the place, and it looks like mom is doing the playing! She did great on the Makoto...maybe she'll have to enter one of our XRGames competition in the Makoto.

Maria and the kids enjoyed it so much that she signed 2 of them up! I'm sure the 3rd will start coming over to play, too. (Right Danny?!) Parents of members get a special day pass--only $8! (vs $15 for a day pass).

While Maria & family and Dr. Sirichotaratana were there, in comes Dr. Steve Wilson, of "In Your Best Interest", a clinic located in Redlands. He is a bariatrician (weight loss expert) so he quickly grasped the value of the Zone. After giving him the tour, he went back home, picked up his two kids and mother-in-law, and while they were busy playing, he signed them both up! He also picked up our Rx pads and said he had patients he could refer who need this kind of service. Thanks for your support, Dr. Wilson!

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2006-08-22T01:59:00.000-07:00

8-22-06 Want to be in-the-know with the latest news and updates e-mailed to your in-box? Want to know when this blog is updated with new pictures? What to get cool specials only available to our e-newsletter subscribers? Then subscribe! You won't be disappointed!

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Visit from Dr. Nutripoints!

2006-08-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

8-20-06 Today (Sun) was quite busy, not only because it was my (Ernie) first time to work at opening till closing and learning how to do the front desk stuff (thx to Alicia and GM Kim for tutoring me!), but we had a steady influx of people coming in throughout the day.

Besides all of our day users, charter members, a visiting pediatrician (Dr. Ponce), and some VIPs (The Handyside family), Dr. Roy Vartabedian and his family (Dr. Renee and 5 y/o son, Alex) visited us all the way from Carlsbad. Dr. Vartabedian is the creater of the top nutrition program, Nutripoints. This is a book we use both at Beaver Medical Group and at the Zone. It not only helps you to portion control, but gives you one number that rates a particular food, so you can know what the nutritional value is for the calorie buck.

Drs. Roy and Renee watch as son Alex gives them a lesson on how to do the 3Kick.

Renee, who is into ballroom dancing, gives DDR a try. She caught on very quickly!

Dr. Nutripoints himself gives Makoto a try while son Alex watches him.

One of our most consistent charter members, Samuel, does battle on the DDR with Jake. Can you guess who won?

Speaking of charter members, be sure to tell your friends that the window to be a charter member will close Sept. 1, so if they want to get those benefits, sign up today!

Kitchen getting installed

2006-08-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

8-18-06 Now that we are open, we are able to focus on the kitchen in the multipurpose room. This room will be used for multiple purposes (hence it's name, multipurpose room). Besides classes that will appeal to the non-gamer such as yoga (which will help me kick the top pads on the 3kick), pilates (which will help me on the powergrid and bouldering wall), and self-defense (help me when we're closing up late at night), we will be holding our nutrition, cooking demonstrations, and wellness classes such as our Family Fit Zone class (read more about these classes on our website). This will be where we'll also hold our free MPower Zone classes for the community.

Here the "Boyz of XRTZ" Cam, Josh, Jake, and Javan, pose as they kitchen begins to take shape.

Here again, the BOXRTZ pose in front of the new blinds so that the yoga classes will have some privacy.

Out front, some potted plants in water-filled containers (they weigh over 300 lbs!) adorn the front entrance of the Zone. In the glass, you can see the new blinds that were just installed.

Interns do have fun!

2006-08-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

8-16-06: Interning in the healthcare field never has been this fun! How many healthcare internships can you say that you got to lay video games as part of your internship? And yet, that is what they are supposed to do, so they can better instruct and relate to their kid patients who play the game.

Here we have 3 generation of interns: Alicia (black polo) was a recent CSUSB intern; Denise (other girl on DDR) is still an intern with us from LLU; and John, standing behind, will be an intern soon.

Denise gets some big air!

If you're a student interested in interning at XRtainment Zone, contact Dr. Ernie Medina to set up an appointment. (909-747-5935).

Another Open House!

2006-08-16T23:12:00.000-07:00

8-16-06: Another successful Open House tonight! This one was specifically for healthcare professionals (docs, NPs) and public health nutritionists. They also brought their kids so they could try out all the games and give their parents feedback. We wanted our local healthcare folks to experience exertainment firsthand so when they're talking to that parent with a child who needs to exercise or learn how to eat right, they'll think of XRtainment Zone as the place to refer them too!

GM Dr. Knowlton was there to welcome our invited guests with a packet of information about our services. Included in that packet was a prescription pad for the doc to give his patients on the various services available to them. (They also get a 15% discount if they bring in that prescription!)

Corey explains things to Dr. Phillips and his son while the grandkids play on the Xavix games.

Family members crash and burn on the car racing game.

Mom isn't quite brave enough to try the DDR on the real pad with her daughter.

Dr. Dixon (peds, Beaver Medical Group) gives it her best shot on the Jackie Chan run while Dr. Klein (neurology, BMG) looks on.

Corey gives a tour and explains the Makoto here.

Having heard Corey's instruction, Angie feels that by closing her eyes she can be more in tune with "the force", resulting in a higher score.

SB Sun reporter Matthew (right) and a photographer were out doing interviews and taking pictures. Watch for it in next Friday's newspaper.

"Watch out kids! Big kid coming through!".

Dr. Sue Gengler, of IEHP, gives the wall a try. She started out on the green route (easiest) but quickly started grabbing any color.

The Xavix station was busy most of the night.

Joel explains how the dome speakers work overhead to some prospective members.

And so ends our first week of officially being open for business.

How to become a member

2006-08-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

8-15-06 Throughtout our first week of being open, we've had people signing up families as charter members. Here's what they go through:

A new member first establishes their account by getting their index finger scanned 3 times. This is how they will check in--no bar code cards to lose!

Next, their picture is taken with the Eye Toy.

Finally, a staff person verifies their account. When a member checks in with their finger scan, their picture and account will show up on the computer screen. It's our staff's goal to learn every single member by name!

Donna strikes her warrior pose before starting a Makoto game.

Stressed out? Don't take it out on the kids or hubby, take it out on the 3kick!

1st official B-day party

2006-08-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

8-15-06: Ryan Edelbach (white t-shirt, in back) was the first one to have his b-day party during the first week that we were open. His friends from school had a chance to play on all the games. Happy B-day Ryan!

Ryan thinks, "Cool logo on my cake!"

Mom Janet, who's not too sure about the video games, sticks to something more familiar and low tech.

They were all like spidermen on the wall.

These guys weren't shy about trying out DDR.

Practicing his Jedi knight moves.

Leave it to the guys to figure out how to cheat playing the sportwall!

End of the 1st day...

2006-08-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

8-9-06; 9:15 PM PST As the sun sets, and the racoons come out (2 big ones, right near the entrance to the Zone), so ends the first official day of XRtainment Zone. The end of day report said there was a steady stream of people coming in & checking it out, signing up, putting down deposits for b-day parties, and of course, working out. All in all, a good first day. Here's a shot of Alicia, Joel, and Cameron closing down the register for the evening. Way to go, team!

WE'RE OPEN!!!

2006-08-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

8-9-06 It was on this day that exertainment/exergaming hit the big times! We're now opening our doors to anyone who wants to go in. After 8 long years of residing in my mind, it is about to become a reality! Be sure to stop by and check it out.

The word is out and people are just rushing in to play the games.

Javan is ready to check people in with our fingerprint bioscan.

Joel shows the latest article on us and exertainment in Club Business International. Great article!

Stay tuned for another Open House for healthcare professionals and the media on Aug. 16, and the Grand Opening on Sept. 14!

Lights! Camera! Action!

2006-08-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

8-7-06 While waiting for the one last check-off on our inspection process, we used the day to do a video shoot for our commercial in Krikorian Theater. Thanks to all the youth from our church, Azure Hills Church (Grand Terrace) who came in as "active models" for the video shoot.

Showing us how the Eye Toy is done.

Since there's not as much noticable movement on the Powergrid, the models were asked to exagerrate their movements a bit for the camera.

Our first time to really utilize the Sport Wall with a bunch of kids. Using the bean bags, this proved to be a very fun and competitive game using almost all the kids of varying size and age. They had a blast with it!

After playing so hard for the camera, the volunteer models were all treated to a smoothie! Here they are waiting eagerly for their smoothie.

Our staff working hard to make the smoothies for all the volunteers.

While drinking their smoothies, they could watch 3 different Direct TV stations on our 40-inch TVs hanging near our Cool Zone.

At the front, you can see a featured game being played by Summer and Josh on the Eye Toy.

While all this was going on, COO Joel was busy signing up yet another member! Working Joel, working hard.

Delegation from Guam

2006-08-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

8-5-06 Guam's top preventive care specialist, Dr. Wes Youngberg, and his family--wife Betsy, and kids Dakota, Madi, and Katie, stopped by the Zone to check it out on their way back to Guam. Wes used to teach at Loma Linda Univ. and was my (Ernie) mentor and advisor when I first entered the doctoral program. Also with them was one of our charter member families, the Sherwin family, with dad Tom (peds ER doc at LLUMC), his wife Merideth, and their kids. Finally, 3rd year med student and relative, Gwen, was with them as well. They all had a great time playing the games and left nice and sweaty! Wes seemed interested in bringing some of these games to Guam, so who knows, maybe we'll be setting up a Zone there!

Gwen and Dakota do battle on the sportwall.

Tom, Merideth, and Betsy watch the action.

The happy, sweaty, group after a XRtainment Zone experience.

Retail center getting set up; inspection update

2006-08-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

8-4-06 Check out the snazzy new counter for our retail section of the Cool Zone. Here's where you can purchase cool XRtainment Zone clothing, mugs, pens, and other items. We'll also be selling the home versions of exergames such as the Xavix Jackie Chan Fitness Studio. Finally, we'll be selling other health-related items such as Dr. Vartabedian's nutrition book, Nutripoints.

As for the inspection process, we found out Friday that we needed a few more departmental check-offs with the city, so Joel has started work on that and we hope to have that all taken care of on Mon.

So Tuesday will be our first offical day we're open? Stay tuned!!!

DDR has it's 60-inchers...and opening date?

2006-08-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

8-1-06 Check out one of our 60-inch TVs for our DDR Zone! Here COO Joel and Corey test out the DDR.

But there's even bigger news! We passed the fire marshall's check today, and now all we have left is a follow-up visit from the health dept. and the building inspector. If we pass those 2 f/u inspections tomorrow (Thur)., we'll have our occupancy permit and can officially open! It could be Friday, it could be Monday. Stay tuned!!!

Charter members get sneak peek!

2006-07-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

7-30-06 In a "dry run" of the facility and operations, charter members, investors, and a select few "in-the-know" attended a tour of the facilities. The weeks leading up to this time was busy with preperations, right up to the start of the tour. Check out the hubbub of activity!

Mike Sabangan donates his Sat. PM to help us get ready. Salamat Mike!

Corey works on putting up the letters (again!).

Mike and Corey work on attaching the sneeze guard, per the Health Dept.

Sunday lunch...the Jr. staff fuel up for the rush.

The staff eat and relax as well.

COO Joel gives last minute instructions.

The Jr. Staff are ready to go and help with the games!

The first family, the Reals, show up just before 4:00 PM start time.

The bouldering wall was a big hit, as expected.

The Toddler Zone was well-attended and busy! The young ones had a blast in there.

Timber!

The Sportwall saw a lot of action with both teens and younger kids.

Katie whips up a batch of smoothies. They were going like hot cakes

Jr. staff Cassie serves smoothies to thirsty folks!

Pastor Carmen crashes her car again!

Keilana takes a turn at the Makoto.

The 3kick and Makoto are side-by side, ready to test anyone who comes near.

Once they got the hang of it, the Powergrids were always in use.

This is a family wellness center, where kids and even their grandparents can play these games.

They're double-teaming on Jackie Chan boxing.

Even the dads got into the Jackie Chan Boxing.

These 3 are linked together, laying "Tag" on ATV Fury 3 (PS2).

Now that's teamwork!

The Eye Toy Zone attracted a lot of "chefs" and "kung fu fighters".

Also using teamwork on the 3kick.

Good thing the 3kick is built solid!

He wants to do it on his own.

Of course, the grandaddy of all the video games is DDR. Soon are 60-inche TVs will be in each corner.

We raffled off some prizes. Here is Joel reading the winner's name.

The grandprize winner won an iPod shuffle! Congrats!

Last minute training

2006-07-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

7-28-06 This is it! The close of the final week before we head down the roller coaster ride towards our long-awaited opening. Michelle Bell, our consultant from Club Synergy, came down for a brief visit to help us get the new staff up to speed on customer relations, and also helped us prepare for Sunday's tour for charter members. We sure kept her busy the day that she was here! Here, you can see Michelle meeting with the new staff. With her depth of knowledge and experience in the health club industry, she has sure been a huge help to us newbies!

Last, but not least, here is our youngest employee, Austin. He's been a great help doing all kinds of things to help get us ready for big day.

One of the fringe benefits of working in a place like this is that you have to learn and experience all the games so that you can help members when they come in to play. Austin's first goal is to get past this point on the bouldering wall and complete the yellow route!

Will have a lot more pictures after Sunday evening's event!

Gearing up for Open House

2006-07-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

7-26-06 Things are really getting close to our first official event: an open house for our charter members to come check things out before the rest of the public! Having just returned from vacation, things have really changed in the week that we've been gone. Check it out!

Let me introduce employees #2 & #3, Alicia (dark hair) and newlywed Katie. They've been a great help to COO Joel while I and GM Dr. Knowlton have been on vacation the past week. They've been busy working on smoothie recipes, learning the membership software, etc. Great to have them on board! (I forgot to get a pix of employee #4, Austin, which I'll get tomorrow.)

Here GM Dr. Knowlton practices making a smoothie. She's finally gotten the fruit recipe down so that with a special ingredient, it gives it the consistency of a smooth shake! (All healthy ingredients, of course!)

The completed Eye Toy Arena. Don Singh and Co. did a great job matching the rubber flooring with the painted walls behind each segment.

Jake Knowlton demonstrates the Eye Toy for our insurance agent, Denise Flory (Sawyer, Cook & Co.).

Our newest member who just signed up today raises his hands in victory while testing out the Eye Toy.

Part of our Gamebike setup where we have 2 recumbents and 2 upright gamebikes. I tried out the recumbent for the first time on some car racing game and it was a blast!

Three-year-old Javan Knowlton tries out the gamebike. Not bad after having just traveled 36 hours from MI in a minivan!

The Makoto and 3kick are now up and running. Jake and Josh Knowlton give them a test run. They are definitely kid-tough!

A closer look at Jake testing out the Makoto. If you've seen the movie, Paycheck, you've seen this machine being used by Ben Afleck in the beginning of the movie.

The Powergrid Kilowatts are all ready to go!

Josh Knowlton does very well testing one of the flying games on the Powergrid.

COO Joel adjusts one of the rubber pads on the Sportwall Zone.

If you're in the area, feel free to stop on by and check it out. If you want to be a part of the special invitation-only Open House this coming Sunday evening, join us as a charter member before then!

And while you're at it, keep an eye out for the next US News and World Report, where you'll read about an article about videogames and healthcare...and you might read something familiar. ;-)

Employee #001

2006-07-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

7-13-06 Here's a shot of one of our very first hires, Casey Kirkruff. A computer science major at UCR, I've known Casey since he was a probably 8 or 9 years old (he's in his early 20's now...man, am I old!). His mom, Tammy, used to work with me in Health Education, which is how I got to know Casey.

Not only is he helping with the networking and the game set-up, he is also helping with other tasks as well, like putting together this locker for the staff room. He, along with Employee #2 and #3, Alicia and Katie (whom will have pictures of soon!), will be a BIG help to Joel while I (Ernie) and Kim are away on vacation in MI. (We know, the timing isn't ideal, but we had this planned last year and thought we would have already been open and humming along by now.)

We're confident that Joel and these first 3 employees will get things ready and learn all the new systems and games, so that when we come back in a little over a week from now, they will train us and we'll be ready to go for our Charter Member Open House and soft opening!

Flooring almost done!

2006-07-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

7-12-06 Wow, what a difference a day makes! The flooring is just about done. Even though it's now dirty with dust and all, it is looking good! Also, the restrooms are just about done--I think the women's restroom needs a couple more sinks installed and that's it. Check out the floor work--Don Singh and crew are doing a great job!

This is where the Makoto and 3Kick will go, and the DDR zone nearer the window. The floor is just very dusty right now, and will look really sharp once it's cleaned up.

Notice the curve of the transition from the black to the red...nice! The red mat is where the Powergrid and Eye Toy zones are.

Here you can see the Powergrid zone on red...and the Eye Toy Zone with it's different colored wedges.

The main floor in the multipurpose room is done. It's a very nice wood-looking floor, giving the room a nice, warm, calming feel with the dark green walls. With some bamboo decorations, it will really be nice. Can't wait to start my first yoga class in there!

They started planning and cutting out the flooring for the bouldering wall. It's an interesting cushy floor, firm when you just stand on it, but jump on it or land on it hard, and the honeycomb design compresses nicely! You can see the honeycomb design in the 2nd picture.

The stalls and dividers are up in the men's restroom. Now all that is needed are the soap and paper towel dispensors.

The women's restroom stalls are now up. They just need a bit more work and they'll be ready to go, too!

The server room is now much neater with the telephone, computer, and wi-fi equipment all oranized and in working order.

COO Joel does it all..."Hello, XRtainment Zone. How may I help you?"

Flooring going down

2006-07-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

7-11-06 A major step towards opening--the construction equipment is out of there and the flooring is going down! That means we will be setting up the games very soon! Also, the restrooms are nearing completion.

The stalls for the restrooms are being installed and soon, they'll be ready for use.

The "Toddler Zone" is now carpeted and ready for the toys and things for them to play with. The top of the wall is all that is left to put on.

The rubber flooring is now being laid down. There will actually be different colors differentiating the various "zones". This is the area where the Makoto and 3kick will be.

The floor in the multipurpose room is a specialized gym floor that looks like wood flooring, but has a "cushy" feel, since we'll be doing yoga and other group exercise classes in here, besides our nutrition and Family Fit Zone classes.

End of week update

2006-07-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2006: Few more things getting finished this week, mainly the restrooms, flooring, and ceiling stuff. And more TVs are going up on the walls. The security system is now in as well. Will July be the month we open? We shooting for that!

The hallway leading to the restrooms are now fully lighted with the addition of the wall lighting. Can't tell in this picture, but very high-tech looking with the aluminum grating covers. The doors were added to the offices and the staff break room and bathroom is being finished.

The guy's restroom have their counter and sinks in now, while the gal's are getting finished. Then all that's left will be the stall dividers and we're done in there!

The last of the sound tubes (the clear bowls) have been installed. These are for the DDR zone. The two smaller ones are for the players while the one big one will be over the practice dance pads.

The TVs for the Powergrid Kilowatt zone are all installed now, waiting for the PS2s and the Powergrids to be set up in front of them.

Atomik's awesome customer service!

2006-07-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

7-2-06 We all are faced with poor customer service, so when a company goes beyond the call of duty, it really stands out. Atomik Climbing Holds, based out of Utah, is one such company. We were looking for special holds to add an "obstacle course" on our bouldering all, and after finding several on the Internet, decided to go with Atomik. Within the week, we received the special hula hoop and PVC pipe holders. I was impressed with their quick turnaround.

I had seen a noodle holder that cost $14 each (ouch!), but Atomik didn't sell that version, but when I asked them about it, they said that they would look into it, and sure enough within the week, they said they could make one! Not only that, they had a set of 6 of them to us the following week for only $4 each!!!

Can you believe that?! In just under 2 weeks, one lone customer (XRtZ) got a company to manufacture a brand new hold (even if we were only ordering such a small number), who then priced it $10 less than the competition, and delivered it to our door. Now that's listening and responding to your customer's needs!

So if you're looking for climbing holds for your wall, be sure to check out Atomik. You won't be disappointed! And tell them a happy customer, XRtainment Zone, sent ya.

Atomik, www.atomikclimbingholds.com, 801-404-0280, 1478 North 150 East, Springville, Utah 84663.

Here are some pictures of some friends testing out the new obstacle course.

Natalie, Summer, and Jenny (being spotted by Victor) navigate through the obstacle course.

Through the hoops, under the pipe, knocking off the ball.... Mike hangs on as Natalie and Michelle race to catch up to him.

Gaby cruises through the last hoop under the shelf as she finishes up the obstacle course.

Jake navigates through a hoop while the others spot him.

Jenny hangs on for dear life, even though she's only inches from the floor.

Natalie's arm may look skinny, but she's all muscle as she cruises through the obstacle course in record time.

On behalf of the kids (and kids-at-heart), thanks Atomik!

Wrapping up construction

2006-07-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

7-1-06 This past week was a busy one, with construction winding down and the final details being worked on. Check out the progress! Our #1 question we at the Zone face is, "When will you open?" While we can't give an exact date for our "soft opening", you can see from the pictures that we're getting closer. Once we get that final inspection for occupancy, we will share a soft opening date, but before we do, we want to make sure we have everything working right before the first member walks through our doors. We want your first impression to be a knock-you-off-your-feet one!

I know many of you--especially those who have already signed on as charter members--have been waiting very patiently and we appreciate all your support, understanding, and positive feedback. Believe me that we are working as hard as possible and pushing the crews as fast as possible, to get open.

If you get a chance, be sure to give COO Joel a pat on the back (or better yet, sign up as a charter member!) because he has been the point-man for everything construction-related. He has taken the brunt of all the problems and challenges that we have faced since we first started this construction, so be sure to let him know how much you appreciate all he's been doing. If you'd like to e-mail him, you can do so at joel@xrtainmentzone.com.

Now on with the picture updates!

The outside transformation from the old to the new is complete. Every trace of the blue tile is now gone, the window front is all new, and the facing and sign are new. The only thing left from the old are the lights, which we decided to clean up and use for now. Hope you like the new entrance!

Now that the major work in the ceiling is down, the new tiles are being put in. You can see they are the more modern 2x2 size vs the 2x4 size. They are just about done putting them all up by now.

Redland's based Computer Options is doing all of our network and computer wiring. Here they are in the "nerve center", bringing in all the wiring.

Don Singh and company are doing our flooring work. Here's the Cool Zone, which looks like tile, but is actually linoleum! They restrooms are all finished being tiled as well, and they are finishing up on the employee bathroom and break room. Then it's on to the rubber flooring for the workout area.

A view of our retail area within our Cool Zone where you will soon see cool apparel and other retail products hanging off the wall slats and in the counter.

Joel and Robert working on the powerpole for the Makoto and 3Kick, 2 of our martial arts games.

Harvey Watts just finished installing the fire escape door (to the left). You can see that the walls are all down in the multipurpose room and we're now ready for the flooring on the stage and then the kitchen equipment can come in.

A major project has been the installation of the "sound tubes" which are parabolic speakers over where the players will be. This will help keep the noise level down while giving the player stereo sound.

Here the gang work on the logistics for the Eye Toy arena. You can see all the sound tubes on the floor.

A lot of work has been completed on the Eye Toy arena. The powerpoles were put up, the logistics for hanging the LCD TV and the Cobalt Flux PS2 box were figured out, and the soundtubes installed above each segment.

Same thing for the Powergrid Kilowatt wall. You can see one of the TVs mounted on the wall and the sound tubes installed.

Welcome back to General Contractor Fred, who was away on a medical mission trip to Fiji. We're glad to see him up and around since he got very sick near the end of his time there. Glad to have you back, Fred!

Chipping in

2006-06-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

6-26-06: Greetings! Another update...we're continuing to get closer and closer! Here are some pictures of the various crews at work to get us open.

The A/C guys are just about finished. All the duct work is done and just a few things with the units on top, but other than that, they're ready to be turned on!

Corey Knowlton (husband of GM Kim) and COO Joel inspect one of our new A/C units on top of the roof.

The restrooms are being tiled and are just about ready for the fixtures to be installed.

Since school has been out, Corey has been working like crazy over at the Zone. He's quite the handyman so can do just about any of the jobs needing to be done there. Here he's blowing in sound-deadening insulation into the underside of the stage in the multipurpose room so that it doesn't sound so loud when we're walking on it.

Even the staff are putting in time to get us open as fast as possible. Here Keri Medina (wife of CEO Ernie) is working on an Eye Toy pole with newphew Jake posing behind her.

Josh Knowlton is doing a great job giving that pole it's "brushed" looked.

Our youngest Jr Staff person, Javan Knowlton (red shirt) works behind his cousin Summer Medina and brother Jake.

CEO Ernie and daughter Summer pause from scratching up the poles.

Stay tuned for more late-breaking updates!

The sign of things to come

2006-06-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

6-16-06: Here's COO Joel and his family, wife Judy, Cassie, and Cameron, in front of the newly finished sign, blazing away for all to see what has arrived in Redlands, CA. Someday, you will see this sign lit up around the country and the world, helping kids and adults find out that "working out can be all play!"

Sign up front!

2006-06-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

6-15-06: Making progress! Here's a few shots of what's going on. The biggee is our sign up front. Will have a shot of the finished thing tonight. Here they are working on putting it up. Looks great!

Justin Lui Wren (right end) and the Knowlton boys cool themselves off after playing on the Sportwall while his parents were signing him up as a charter member.

A shot of the ceiling which will soon be tiled back up very soon. They're just about done up there!

This area--the relaxing/reading area--was just getting ready to be painted.

The bottom part of the front desk (this is the smoothie bar end) was put on--looks really nice with the curve!

Don Singh, our flooring guy (and friend from church) is prepping the employee bathroom for drywall waterproofing.

They're applying the pink rubber paint to the drywall to make it waterproof.

Here's what the men's restroom looks like, all waterproofed and ready for painting.

The plumber working on the drinking fountain in the hallway to the restrooms.

Here's the crew working on the electrical boxes in the ceiling. Soon they'll be tiling everything up!

Rob the pro painter prepping the retail area of the Cool Zone. Probably is already painted by today.

COO Joel checking out his office and new desk set-up. Love all that real estate for laying stuff out while we work!

Just talked to Joel just now and he met with the health inspector and everything is looking good! So we keep passing key inspections as we drive towards that final inspeciation for occupancy. Yeah!!!

Sportwall training; visitors

2006-06-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

6-06-06: On what is being billed as an "omen" of a day, our Zone was blessed with a surprise visit by the pastoral staff of Azure Hills Church (Grand Terrace, CA)! That can only mean good things. ;-) Below, you see the back of our general contractor, Fred (who is also a member of their church and the one who led out in it's renovation) while he's talking to the pastors. (CEO Ernie, COO Joel, GM Kim, and a number of our investors are also members of Azure Hills Church.) Starting from the left are: Senior Pastor John Brunt, Pastor Alex, Executive Pastor Alger, Pastor Carmen, and Pastor Lamar.

Before the pastors arrived, I gave a tour to about 20 SB County Public Health nutritionists. They seemed excited to learn more about the Zone and exertainment in general, and are all eager to come back and try out the games when we open. (I'm sorry I wasn't able to get a picture of this group--next time!)

As you can see, the front is finally covered with our new siding to give it a high-tech look. Soon our sign will be attached on top.

Later that evening after work, several of us rec'd training on our Sportwall. It has a lot of cool games and applications, and we can't wait to get the kids playing on it. Works very well with both individuals and groups, cardio and strength training workouts. (It's covered in plastic to protect it from the dust from construction.)

Below, COO Joel and Corey listen intently as Tim explains the inner workings of the Sportwall.

Corey races against Cam in a relay game.

Cassie and Jake battle in a game using noodles.

We played a lot more games as part of our training using balls, medicine balls, bean bags, and tennis balls. It's a lot of fun and the kids are going to love this station!

Visitors from TX

2006-06-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

6-04-06 Drs. Mark and Cynthia Carter were visiting from TX and dropped by the Zone to check it out. They are "special friends" of the XRtZ, and good friends with all of us, having lived here when they were in both school.

COO Joel is giving them on update on the construction.

GM Kim and Cynthia pose for a happy reunion picture.

Javan Knowlton checks out the smoothie bar's 3-compart- ment sink. Ice machine is also installed as well.

The glass is going into the multipurpose room windows.

COO Joel in the Men's restroom. It's finally all drywalled up--yeah!