Hi Gary here,

Just a reminder to you good people - please go to Albums (click top or bottom), then click on the link at the bottom ('click here for music with slide show'). You'll be reminded how courageous and determined you Amputees are. Great song too, don't forget to turn your speakers up. :o)

Please also read Aidan's golf story. Aidan started First Swing Golf Clinics at the age of 12 and is now 15.

Enjoy,

Gary

 

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Hi Gary here again,

Well Chris, it's good to see you're back from your Honeymoon, hope all went well. It was great to see such good numbers out on Saturday & Sunday; both a great success. As Wayne said, the winning team ended up 5 under, but let me remind you that you're all winners. As to the First Swing Golf Clinic on Saturday, we had two newcomers who did extremely well, congratulations to all.

I will remind you all that the SA Open is not too far away. I would ask you to please get your entry forms in ASAP (before the 8th October). This will be a great help to me so I can get  the numbers in to the caterers, the trophy shop and Silver Fleece for our shirts. Let me remind you that if you require a long-sleeved shirt, please add this information to your entry form, as well as the number of guests you intend to bring to the functions.

I would also remind our overseas and Australia-wide competitors to get a phone call into Cassandra at the hotel; this time of year the Glenelg area is not only very popular but extremely busy. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on the great deal the Comfort INN, Haven Marina is offering our members and competitors.

Furthermore I may add! What more I hear you saying :-) I have received lots of e-mails & phone calls requesting that there be more Golf Days added to the Calendar leading up to the SA Open. Well I'm prepared to do this, and it will be the same price with SAAGA subsidising the fees. You will have to register as usual, but we won't go out with any less that two groups at a time. So take note of the Calender please; the First Swing clinics will be as is, unless there is any special request.

Be good, be healthy and enjoy.

Gary Hart
President
SAAGA

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Dear Members,

Chris Crichton, South Australian Amputee Golf Association Secretary here with a quick note to thank you all for your best wishes on my recent marriage. The day went off without a hitch.

I can now turn my attention to the South Australian Amputee Golf Association's up & coming events, which are close at hand, as well as planning for the next 12 months. I will be endeavouring to attend more first swing golf clinics and the Sunday golf days in the build up to the Open so I can look to improve on my last year's result and to be part of the SA Amputee team spirit as I am sure you will all be doing the same.      

I'm sure that you will agree that it is an exciting time for the South Australian Amputee Golf Association with the South Australian Amputee Golf Association Open now attracting a larger overseas attendance than last year. This puts us on the world stage as an international event, thanks largely to Gary Hart's marketing and networking while visiting amputee associations overseas.

Gary and I have been in constant contact and are now discussing the final details of the South Australian Amputee Open and we will be looking at visiting other regional towns promoting the first swing clinics and offering this opportunity to every amputee and disabled person in the future.

By being a member and supporting the association, you have to agree that we are able to offer unique benefits and opportunities to amputees that would not normally be available. With that in mind I would like to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the South Australian Amputee Association for your ongoing support.

I will leave you with a quote from Arnold Palmer
“Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.”

Regards

Chris Crichton
Secretary, SAAGA

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Golf Day Sunday 13/9/2009

We were greeted by a refreshed looking President (after his overseas jaunt. well done Pres.) at the clubhouse who collected our fees.

An eager bunch of golfers hit off from the 1st tee in fine and reletively warm conditions.

As the afternoon progressed the weather changed with some rather cool westerly winds coming in and bringing a few showers with them.

The golfers were undeterred and continued the golf.

The group which I was involved with played some wonderfull shots, including a few great putts with the YAR putter on loan, a magnificent chip shot by Lilian going through a bunker and rolling straight into the hole on the ninth giving us a birdie and a great drive on the 10th by Paul a chip and a putt giving us another birdie.

Unfortunately we were unable to sustain our run of birdies and the team finished 1 over for the day.

The winning team finished 5 under for the day giving them a clear victory. Must have ben the influence of the US trip.

It was good to see some more new faces for the golf day well done Fred and Ken. Keep up the practice and we look forward to you both competing in he SA Amputee Open in November.

To the other players on the day well done. It is great to see players supporting our monthly golf days as well as our 1st Swing Clinics.

Till the next Tee off.

Regards

The Raving Reporter
Wayne

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From: Darren Craig
To: Gary Hart
Subject: SAAGA Special Opening at Golf Clearance Outlet
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:29:17 +1000

Hi Gary,

As per our conversation today to further bond our relationship with SAAGA we would like to host your members to a special opening Wednesday September 23rd 5.30-8pm.

The Golf Clearance Outlet will provide to all members who attend this night food & beverages, 10% discount on all marked prices and further discounts on some products in store on the night only. On top of this The Golf Clearance Outlet will donate 5% of the takings on the night back to the South Australian Amputee Golf Association.

We look forward to seeing as many of your members, their family and friends on the night.

Details Are:

SAAGA Special Opening Evening
The Golf Clearance Outlet
897-899 South Road
Clarence Gardens
(Next to Avoca Hotel)
All Members, Family and Friends invited

As this eveing is being catered for could your members please RSVP to Gary Hart by Monday Sep 20th.

I look forward to working with you to make this a success for all concerned.

Regards

Darren Craig
The Golf Clearance Outlet
897-899 South Road
Clarence Gardens SA 5039
Ph 08 8297 2236
Fax 08 8351 3457

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This is what Ren Gallet my good friend from Melbourne, Victoria posted on Saturday 5.9.2009 in the forum section, please read carefully then get back in touch with Ren and myself, and please let's get back into using the forum and communicating with each other, with the good weather approaching, let's not also forget we have the opportunity to get out and do some Sailing with fellow member Graham Hamilton who runs Sailability.

Again it is not just about Golf, it's about getting out and giving things a go, meeting other Amps and their  Partners. This is a great way to discuss certain issues with other Amputees and their Partners, as well as having some fun together.

Cheers
Gary Hart

 

Amputee Ice Hockey

by Ren Gallet » Sunday 6th of September 2009 12:52 am

First I would like to thank my friend Gary Hart for allowing me to put this post on his web site.
Hi, my name is Ren Gallet,
Some of you reading this, unfortunately, all ready know me but for those of you who don’t, I’m currently the only Amputee in Australia playing either Inline Hockey or Ice Hockey.
There was three of us including me, Ben Cridland who is currently living and working in Canada and probably playing Ice Hockey there(lucky B***D), Tim Davies who use to be a State Goalie and is brilliant but suffered a few injuries and sold his gear but would come out of retirement if he could get funding.
Ice Skating in any form for an Amputee must be the hardest sports discipline to overcome, so playing Ice Hockey makes it even harder that’s why I’m the only one playing in Australia. I say this because I have approached the Australian And International Paralympics Committees asking why speed skating or other forms of skating are not part of the winter Paralympic Games and they answered by saying there are not enough people or countries with competitors who are able to make it a competitive event.
I have tried Skiing and within two days, having never skied before, I could ski all the blue runs at Falls Creek so I didn’t see that as such a big challenge. Playing Ice Hockey or Inline Hockey against able bodied players – Now that’s a challenge.
I have tried in a number of ways to get Amputees interested in playing but with only three people giving it a try and giving up after only getting half way across the rink shows how hard it can be.
There is an organisation run by the Canadians called I.S.I.H.F –International Standing Ice Hockey Federation. They have a web site, and 300 players to choose from for their team. At Vancouver winter Paralympic Games 2010 they will introduce Standing Ice Hockey as a demonstration sport, and it will be introduced into the Paralympic agenda at the 2014 games.
Sadly Australia won’t be included because we don’t have the players but because Canada knows we have a couple of players, as do some other countries, they are going to introduce a world team made of players from different countries to play at ISIHF tournaments. Even at the ripe old age of 62 I will be invited to play on this team at the world championships in Montreal 2010.
The Olympic or Paralympic Committees here are not interested in doing anything or helping out with the sport so the only support you will get is your own if you chose to take the sport up.
Any Amputees, who are interested in giving Ice Hockey a go or want to know more about ISIHF, can talk to me at the SAGA tournament (I play golf as well but badly).
If you are interested you need to know that Ice Hockey or Inline Hockey are expensive sports to get started in. I can help out with some gear and I know a lot of coaches willing to help and let you join their development squads. If you do play it will always be against, and with, able bodied people, and some people will be impressed by your efforts while others will be intimidated.
One thing is for sure, if any Amputee out there decides to take up Ice Hockey you will automatically be included in the Australian Amputee Ice Hockey Team just let Ben know at ausampicehockey.com.au. If I can get invited to play on a world team at 62 then anybody can do it.
Don’t expect any help from Paralympics or Olympics, it won’t happen.
Without sounding too much like a smart A**s, I can run, ride bikes, ski, but my biggest challenge has always been the ice skating and believe any Amputee who tries it will see how challenging it is for them compared to anything else they’ve tried.

See you at the South Aus Open, REN.
Play Hard - Speeds your Friend.

Ren Gallet

Posts: 28
Joined: Wednesday 25th of June 2008 7:34 pm
Location: Melbourne Victoria

 

Re: Amputee Ice Hockey

by Gazza » Sunday 6th of September 2009 8:20 am

Ren my friend, as usual determined and willing to help fellow Amputee's it is a credit to you, as President of S.A.A.G.A ,YOU HAVE MY WORD I shall do anything in my power to help and support you and any other Amputee to achieve what you are suggesting, so I request not only of my members at SAAGA but all around Australia, please get in touch with either Ren or my self and show your interest and support and as Ren says " If I can do it, so can anybody else".

Ren, I will give it a go, we will have the support of most of my sponsors, I say most because I've not put this to all of them yet, but they think that all Amputee's are quite amazing in what they achieve already, so this is out there, what a challenge, so come on you good people "Give it a go"

I will be getting in touch with Sport and Rec, these people are truly supportive of what I'm trying to achieve in South Australia, so I urge Association's around Australia to get behind what Ren is trying to do and support him in every way.

Well done Ren, your a credit to Amputee's.

Gary Hart
President
S.A.A.G.A.

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Hi Gary here,

It's been a while and I'm back from my trip overseas where things went extremely well. I met up with some old friends and also some new ones. The hospitality and comradery were second to none as usual. It is good to be back, and back working for the association once again. Thank you Graham and Wayne for your support. It's great to see the good numbers maintained while I was away. In the last month or so we've had many new members come into our association, which also includes juniors; this is always refreshing and great to see. Before I went overseas I was in contact with the Hampstead Hospital (rehabilitation centre) and now I will be co-ordinating mid-week clinics for in-patients and out-patients.

As you all know the second South Australian Amputee Golf Open will shortly be upon us. My efforts to bring three or four tournaments together for our overseas competitors has come to fruition - Not only will we have competitors from around Australia (hopefully this includes Tasmania too!), but I have also worked with other golf associations (Japan, New Zealand and Victoria) to make these tournaments work. The South Australian Open has caught the attention of competitors from Japan, Canada, the US, Germany, South Africa, the UK, New Zealand and Thailand, which is all quite remarkable for our second open. We have many celebrities as well as female and male golf professionals for our pro/am celebrity day (11^th of November); one of our celebrities, the right honourable premier (SA) Mike Rann, has yet to accept the invitation (come on Mike we look forward to having you out with us).

People who are interesting in volunteering their time for our tournament, please get in touch either through this website or with the Pro Shop at Adelaide Shores Golf Park.

As mentioned on the marquee at the bottom of the site, there are many new members who will be taking part in this year's Open. I would like to welcome you all and hope you enjoy the journey.

As you will also have seen on the marquee the Yar Golf GX1 Putter has arrived; please let me know as early as possible after viewing Yar Golf's web site (in the sponsors area) of your interest - you will not be disappointed.

As you all know, we have a forum on this website. This is where members can get in touch with each other and share their experiences with other amputees, their partners and familes. Please feel free to add your comments or if there is anything you would like SAAGA to be doing to support your needs, please let us know.

You will notice both James (webmeister) and myself have been working very hard to bring information and resources to this website, not only in Australia but around the world. I have the honour to work with somebody like James who cares about our Association and our Members and supports Amputees and Disabled people with as much passion as I do. James, from myself and everybody who I come in contact with (regarding disabilities) - we applaud you for your skills, innovation and support with our web site.

In addition to what has been said, none of this would be possible without my beautiful wife's support. Eleanor (Partners & Liaison Manager) - thank you for your continued support; I know our members and the rest of the Amputee world appreciate it.

Chris and Trisha - On behalf of the members at SAAGA we wish you an happy day and continued happiness in your marriage.

I wish you all good health and happiness.

Gary Hart
President
S.A.A.G.A.