Inclusive Fitness Week 2009, Great Britain, May 11-17, 2009

This year marks the 2nd annual awareness event which was developed by the Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) of Great Britain bringing together IFI accredited facilities. Focusing on introducing people with disabilities to local leisure and physical activity opportunities, the event places inclusion firmly at the forefront of the fitness and leisure agendas.

Details of celebratory events and activities throughout the week, as well as more information about the Inclusive Fitness Initiative in Great Britain, can be found by visiting www.inclusivefitness.org.

Paralympian April Holmes Nominated for World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards, April 29, 2009, Colorado Springs, CO

This nomination for two-time U.S. Paralympian April Holmes (Somerdale, N.J.) was earned after becoming the world's fastest female amputee by winning the gold in the 100m at the 2008 Paralympic Summer Games in Beijing. In 2002, just one year after she lost her left leg below the knee in a train accident, Holmes, a college All-American sprinter, began to run again. Since then, Holmes has become a world record holder in her class (T44).

Holmes has other important achievements including the founding of the April Holmes Foundation in 2002, a non-profit organization for people with physical disabilities. The foundation aims to encourage people with physical disabilities to rise above any obstacles to reach their full potential.

Holmes is the only U.S. Paralympian to be nominated this year. In the nine years of the award's existence, a U.S. Paralympian has never taken home the Laureus statuette. The Laureus World Sports Award is the premier global sports award honoring the greatest sportsmen and women across all sports each year.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Evanitsky, U.S. Paralympics at (719)866-2053 or Jennifer.evanitsky@usoc.org.

New DanceAbility International Website

DanceAbility International's new website is now available at http://www.danceability.com/. DanceAbility has touched thousands of lives with the mission to encourage the evolution of dance and mixed-abilities dance. This new website features:

• Video clips and photo galleries
• Inspiring story about a visionary woman, Marisa de Leon, whose generous private donation in 2007 is allowing us to spread DanceAbility throughout Latin America
• Resources for parents, teachers and anyone who wants to learn more about mixed-abilities dance (also known as inclusive dance)
• DanceAbility videos for sale, many available for the first time ever
• Easy access to find DanceAbility teachers and events around the world

For more information, contact DanceAbility International at (541) 342-3273 or info@danceability.com.

Spirit and Success in Motion: A Celebration of Sports and Life Achievement of People with Disabilities, American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, May 26, 2009, Seattle, WA

Featuring the President of the International Paralympic Committee, Sir Philip Craven, and Dr. James Rimmer, Director of the National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability, the human spirit will be celebrated in this preconference session. Elite sport for persons with a physical impairment will be the topic of the evening with Sir Philip providing his insight as both a world class athlete and holder of the highest office within the Paralympic Movement. Dr. Rimmer will be discussing the grass roots approach within the United States to get more people with a physical impairment more physically active. Sir Philip and Dr. Rimmer will be joined by ACSM President Dr. Mindy Millard-Stafford and International Paralympic Committee Sports Science Committee member Dr. Walt Thompson and a Paralympic athlete.

For more information about this preconference session at the Annual Meeting, go to https://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Annual_Meeting2&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=12583.