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

In not raising generations of critical thinkers we do a disservice to the principles on which the United States of America was founded upon. The ability to think objectively, without bias and in a goal-directed manner supports the threads of freedom and liberty and is a service to our country, specifically to the ideals that our founding fathers championed and established. In not raising generations of children, men and women to think independently for themselves, we run the risk of creating like-minded spheres of political influence at risk of being overrun by singular political forces. Without independent critical thinkers who can recognize the powerful value to society in their practice of advocacy, we then become a nation of followers resting our minds while giving our hearts to a select ‘elite’ political class of individuals focused on achieving and sustaining power. It is in such ways that freedom dies not in battlefields of war where our soldiers gallantly serve on t...

Children, as they grow up in their formative years form a great amount of their understandings of the world based on their experiences as they are processed emotionally and physically. In this essay, I question how the emotional and physical processing influences behavior and movement. Do our experiences influence how we hold our body? Likewise, do our experiences, especially those in our childhood and adolescence influence how we hold our facial muscles? I posit that the ‘processed’ experiences place a signature mark on our whole selves and we live out our lives with this coded information. I also posit that we are able to change, or re-code this information while toning our cognitive-physical health. The way we walk,  The way we hold our face muscles,  the way we talk the way we dance. Their is a physical, emotional code that is created and affirmed and the ability to change that signature mark can be done practically through purposeful,...

Would you eat junk food everyday and expect to have a healthy and fit body? Would you introduce heavy metals into your brain and expect to walk away unscathed? Would you listen to ’professionals’ and ‘established’ voices who told you to disregard your own common sense and listen to them tell you that eating junk food and inserting heavy metals into your brain is totally safe and sound? We feed junk into our hearts and minds by listening to musicians play catchy beats with soul-degrading lyrics. We say  ‘yes, please’ with a smile as our doctors tell us that nano-sized heavy metals will not affect our brains and they do not cause brain damage or what is blandly called, autism. The late-Bruce Lee defied incredible odds and was successful in facilitating a shift in the global culture by consistently harvesting a healthy and positive original attitude, a mindset which influenced his life actions. Because of his resoluteness tenacity, Mr. Lee trumped the ‘half-...

Servant Leaders Come In Full-Force / Surfers Healing #OnePerfectDay in Belmar, New Jersey Click above to see video.

Scalzi Originals Foundation The purpose of the foundation is to facilitate a revitalization of community by introducing fun, effective, practical activities for youth and adults.  The cognitive-physical empowerment aspect of the Scalzi Originals Foundation of youth and their families is central to the vision. This includes providing our services to individuals on the autism spectrum, with Downs Syndrome and other special needs. Likewise, the focused development of executive function skills, soft skills, motor coordination and emotional intelligence is at the core of the foundations mission. Sensitive to the lack of access of such programs in both affluent and poor neighborhoods, the foundation focuses on using social entrepreneurial practices to help bring about the revitalization of communities through its diverse actions. Acting as a social enterprise, the inception of specific programs, like skateboarding, basketball, soccer and baseball, chess, music, art, ga...

somewhere in the heart in a crevice of my mind a spark grows from the inside out a revolution that becomes electric The value of self-expression development to a youth or adult with neurological deficits cannot be understated as an engine of positive growth on multiple levels. Be it typing an essay or writing a short poem, playing a musical instrument or dancing up a storm, self expression can be a form of communication, a work of art and a pathway to bringing our inside selves to the outside. By having typical children, those on the autism spectrum, with downs syndrome or executive function skill deficits   practice story dancing , they actively rewire the cognitive-physical story of their lives. In this case, self-expression can become a self-regulatory, communication life line to individuals who may be otherwise verbally-challenged. All said, the greater task exists in getting the student to recognize the value.  What is self-expression anyway? It i...

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...

Think independently and practice being an independent doer by dancing your way forward. The act of dancing is self-affirming and releases the body from a limited range of daily motion. Practicing self-affirmation on a daily basis strengthens the resolve of a person to think more independently. For individuals on the autism spectrum, self-affirmation and independent thought are a lifeline of communication. I foster its development and believe in the power of dancing to positively disrupt the machinations of the brain. Dancing, like the conducting of music can be a formidable strategy in bringing what is on the inside to the outside. It is rapid and direct. Most of the children, adolescents and young adults I currently coach who are on the autism spectrum or with a severe disability greatly benefit from it and respond favorably to physical movement to the sound of music. Dancing changes them. Afro-Cuban salsa makes them smile and laugh. They step out of a shell and outside th...

Amygdala somewhere in the heart in a crevice of my mind a spark grows from the inside out a revolution that becomes electric  #micropoetry by Coach Bill The value of self-expression development to a youth or adult with neurological deficits cannot be understated as an engine of cognitive activity on multiple levels. Wether it is typing an essay or writing a short poem, playing a musical instrument or dancing up a storm, self expression can be a form of communication, a work of art and a pathway to bringing our inside selves to the outside. What is self-expression anyway? It is a willful expression from us usually communicating a message and is unique to each person. A painting, a way of dancing, the words chosen for a haiku, all of these denote an expression of the self. This includes heart and mind. Self-expression activities like  story dancing , actively rewire the cognitive-physical story of one's life. In the case of dancing a story...

What value should schools place on setting the strong foundations of developing social entrepreneur/ servant leader-minded students? To be dynamic and spirited, a clear purpose that is found relevant by students is important. What they have to say about the course should be valued and taken into consideration in order to keep the program open to being effective and efficient. A clear purpose valued as worthwhile by the team involves not just actual technical labor needed to co-accomplish a project with fellow peers, but emphasizes on a larger scale the abstract, soft skills (hard skills) , such as grit, perseverance, honesty, integrity, teamwork, empathy and compassion necessary for individual and group work. In developing social entrepreneurs, I believe it should be important to emphasize on the reason why a project is being undertaken. Social entrepreneurs are passionate about their work. They bring their unique traits to the table and see how to best address t...

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...