Azure Hills Church hosts Family Fit Zone for Grand Terrace

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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.

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!

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