While winter here in North America has vanished, the Department of Defense Armed Forces Entertainment office and American300 hope to bring the cooling effect of winter athletics to the middle east this July by sharing ESPN X Games Gold Medals and Medalist; Levi LaVallee and Mike Schultz with our troops.
The Mission - put great Americans with our troops, allow for connectivity to take place one on one... the brick and mortar of resiliency.
For the past 3 years a little known nonprofit, American300 has been sending Olympic Medalist to the front lines, once there Olympians have shared stories of success, teamwork and determination with our troops. 'xHEAVY Medal Tour', will mark the first time that the nonprofit has coordinated generation 'X' athletes from ESPN's famed X Games. "From our very first Olympian supported 'HEAVY Medal Troop Tour' we noticed that the athletes and troops had a ton in common" says, Robi Powers, the creator of the program, "it was only natural to expand the medals to include ESPN X Games medallist and their stories of dedication, perseverance and success with our warrior heroes serving far from home".
Now over a decade old, ESPN's X Games feature both a summer and winter 'X' championships pitting the world's most talented athletes in competitions ranging from Snowmobile to Skateboarding.
Levi LaVallee, who lives in Longville, MN owns 7 X Games Medals, a World Record and a gravity defying attitude that had the world sitting on pins and needles after his horrific crash in California last year. He'll be teamed up with his crew chief Glen Kafka who LaVallee, credits with all of his athletic accomplishments, due to Glen's 'Wizard of Wrench Work' reputation and partnership with Team LaVallee.
The other athletic great joining the tour is Mike Schultz, who lives in the small town of Pilager, MN. 'Monster Mike' as he is affectionately known owns 3 X Games gold medals, in adaptive SnoX and MotoX and is considered the world's greatest above knee amputee - extreme sports athlete. "When I first met Mike he not only had both of his legs, but he was climbing the ranks of pro open snowmobile's standings every year " says Powers " when word came to me that Mike had lost his left leg in a competition accident I, like so many was devastated. Here we had this incredibly humble superstar athlete that had been served up a life changing injury, it was just tragic. When (Mike) 'climbed back on the horse' and re-invented extreme sports prosthetics technology... and then applied it, I realized that God had a mission for Mike, one that our troops and their battle wounded buddies needed to see and hear!"
This will mark the first time that American300 has called upon a civilian adaptive athlete to help raise the bar on resiliency, something the nonprofit plans to expand upon in the years to come. "We've mentioned Mike to several service members while on other tours this year, and the troops can't wait to meet him" says Powers.
With base names and areas of operation being classified at this time, the only location that is available to the public is the tours first stop: The Landstuhl Wounded Warrior Hospital in Germany. Like all American300 supported Armed Forces Entertainment Tours, each day will feature stories, photographs and video making for a real-time follow along environment for family members (and America as a whole) of the troops that come in contact with the tour.
For more information on our government's Armed Forces Entertainment Office please visit: www.armedforcesentertainment.com
*American300 is a non-government agency, with a mission of supporting our Armed Forces Members, Their Families and the Communities in which they live and Operate In. American300 an officially listed key supporting organization of our DoD Armed Forces Entertainment Department, no further association or affiliation is offered or implied.
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