Coach Bill / Dad, Entrepreneur Special Educator, American Political Scientist, Writer, Musician.

A pessimist approached me in conversation yesterday. He said to me, “for two years, you have been talking about bringing people together at the skatepark and nothing has happened. He continued, “I look around and nothing has changed. There is no one here and no one knows about what you do.” I sat and waited for him to finish. He was not done. “Skateboarding is not about bringing people together. ‘Scooter kids’ come in and take over with no respect. The students you bring in are not skaters, they have nothing to do with skateboarding. To them, skateboarding is a fun thing they do at a scheduled hour. They are not ‘thrashers.’ You failed Bill and you the true skaters do not even show up at the park anymore. Bringing in  ‘special needs people’ to skateboard is dangerous too. This is not a place for them. They should not be allowed to skateboard here. In here, it is possible to die. The ‘special needs kids’ will never be true skateboarders. It is not right what you have d...

The holocratic business method is alive and well with the Scalzi Originals Skateboarding School. Based in Stamford, Connecticut's Scalzi Skate Park, the Scalzi Originals skateboarding staff focuses on empowering students to focus on developing executive FUNction life skills by skateboarding. Individuals on the autism spectrum, with Downs syndrome or any intellectual impairment are welcome and included in our current roster. The skatepark is in the heart of the city and is the largest skate facility  in a forty mile radius with a growing skateboarding staff is largely made up of local skaters each with different skills and abilities. The company was founded on an idea of using skateboarding as a means to help develop executive function skills in my own students, some of which are on the autism spectrum. Part of this aim involved bringing positive changes to the skatepark. As it was when I first discovered it in the summer of 2015, inappropriate messages and obscene image...

It is few and far in between that two activities, such as skateboarding and surfing, can be found to so completely deliver a strengthening of so many life skills, as well as provide therapeutic benefits all at once. Both individual sports require the dynamic interplay of executive function and cross-hemispheric neural connectivity at heightened levels, placing them in their own pantheon of 'go-to' therapeutic intervention activities to use. In addition, the proprioceptive component that comes on-line and gets toned is of particular benefit to youth and adults with neurological and/ or gross motor skill deficits, such as commonly found with those on the autism spectrum, downs syndrome or varied 'special needs.' Proprioceptivity is our ability to know where our body is and how fast it is moving through space. A surfer's proprioceptive response makes them self-aware of the positioning of their limbs and stance on the board, as well as how fast they are moving...

At the skatepark yesterday, I picked up plastic bottles, beer bottles, beer caps, cigarette butts, abandoned clothes, pieces of broken skateboards, candy wrappers galore and lots of empty cheap cigar packets. I pick up broken glass, napkins, and even more plastic bottles. There seems to be no end in sight to the garbage in that area. Fresh garbage lands like breaking waves each day.  As I was doing this a skateboarder with a Martha’s Vineyard ‘Black Dog’  shirt came into the park and started practicing. He was stiffly working the smaller skate bowl. I could tell his board was brand new. In talking, Josh, a young black man, was very emphatic  several times on his strong desire to get really good at his jumps and tricks on the board. I said all the customary stuff we all know about what it takes to progress. “It just takes practice. Commitment.. and one day at a time you get better at it.” I’m no Tony Hawk by any stretch of the imagination, but I AM in the m...

Cutting red table, bureaucratic policy and top-down approval in order to move full-steam ahead is easy when one is starting from scratch. Being able to lead successfully while keeping everybody on board is a chess game though. In order to pull it off, I decentralized myself as the primary leader from the very start and looked to do what I do very well as a teacher…establish and build relationships by empowering those I work with to lead in their own right. This is servant leadership. I serve the team. Starting up an organization such as the Scalzi Skate Crew is doing can be likened to a circus performance. Though the announcer may be the most vocal, it is the performers that make the show with their actions. In this instance, I am also a performer, yet my skateboarding agility is far surpassed by seasoned locals who pull-off incredible aerials and flip-a-ma-doogies (I made that up). Each player plays a pivotal part, and we have new players coming on-board with initiatives th...

What happens when we come together under a common goal of social responsibility for each other? Where does apathy run off to? How can an organization of leaders be led successfully? How does the growth mindset play into best business practices and is it possible to run an organization where no one gets paid at first? It started with naturally developing the executive function skills of the students I work with. Movement therapy is part of my instructional tool and strategy kit and is a tremendous approach to achieving increasing degrees of independence. For a child on the autism spectrum, one with down syndrome, or simply one with mild attentional deficits, context activities for movement therapy that I use are dancing and skateboarding. With the passage of time, these two core activities used in many (not all) of my sessions also provide a backdrop for some real-world skills which need constant toning. These are the ‘soft skills’ that are seldom understood or acknowle...

(Updated 11/27/15 2:40 pm) Did you know that Scalzi Skatepark in Stamford is actually called a ‘flow’ park?  That’s a skatepark that has both a a street course and a skating bowl in the same location and having both skating ‘style of segments’ easy flow from one on to the other. At Scalzi, we have two tremendously awesome skate bowls and yet, the ‘street course’ venue is truncated and demure …off to the side sort of. Currently, I am working on landing an ‘ollie?’ I grew up surfing long-boards and not trick skating so I am nowhere near as great on the board as most others at the park, but I have come a long way in just the three months I have been practicing at their. Others do ollies AND kick the board flipping it once or twice in the air as they seemingly hover above it placidly before they land back confidently on it again. Creating independent operating systems tied to a common goal Chris and Brian, are two operating systems within the context of our common ...

Today is Thursday, October 29, 2015. There is hopeful news, but let us take it with a grain of salt. The image of the garbage shown here illustrates that OUR efforts to revitalize Scalzi skatepark are not just wheels spinning in the mud. Truly, it has been a community effort that has encompassed not just physical actions that are easily recognized, such as almost zero new untasteful graffiti, but also a decrease in the amount of garbage found within the skatepark and its immediate periphery outside the gate and its circumference. This could very well be attributed to the mega-storm last night, which would make it rather unappealing to stick around at night at the skatepark, but it could all be attributed to the community outreach by an untold number of stand-up individuals, including skaters of all ages, parents and the Stamford Police. There was indeed new graffiti that I spotted in a hidden corner, which will be taken off (as soon as I get new funds..gotta pay rent:).  ...