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Diveheart Adaptive Scuba Diving Trip Transforms Filmmaker’s Life

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(NewsUSA) – Scuba diving can be an exotic and enriching activity for anyone, but for individuals with a range of physical or cognitive disabilities, the unique weightlessness of the underwater environment allows them to exercise, relax, have fun and gain confidence like no other experience. Children and adults with challenges, including traumatic brain injuries, amputation, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and blindness can enjoy the physical and psychological benefits of scuba diving.

Diveheart, a Downers Grove, Ill.,-based nonprofit tax-exempt organization, has been helping youth, veterans and others with disabilities through adaptive scuba and scuba therapy since 2001.Last year, Los Angeles filmmaker David Marsh accompanied a Diveheart team on a scuba trip to Cozumel, Mexico, to make a documentary about the organization and its mission. For Marsh, the experience was life-changing, as he completed the trip and his filming despite the tragic personal loss of his son to a drug overdose just one week earlier.On the last day of the trip, Marsh shared his loss with the Diveheart team.

“David Marsh is amazing and awesome. Despite his loss and grief, he soldiered on and captured the spirit, love and hope that emerges from every Diveheart trip,” says Diveheart’s founder and president, Jim Elliott.”He captured the essence of our mission and shared the real-life experience of what Diveheart does to help those with disabilities experience freedom underwater.”

In the documentary, every day embraces a theme; day one is trust, day two is freedom and day three is adapting. Audiences will see how Marsh translated the feelings of the adaptive divers, who shared their losses, struggles, fears and hopes.

“We are so grateful to David for capturing Diveheart in action,” Elliott emphasizes. “My hope for this documentary is to raise awareness to Diveheart’s mission: to revolutionize rehabilitation by using zero gravity underwater to help those with everything from mobility issues to chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. We help our participants find that self-confidence, personal strength and independence, and we will continue to do so in the years to come.

The documentary, “Adapting To Dive,” premieres at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Classic Cinemas Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave. in Downers Grove, Ill. To see a trailer of the documentary, click here. Tickets are $12 for general admission and accessible seating.For more information about the documentary and tickets, click here.

Visit diveheart.org for more information about Diveheart. 

Billabong: A Brief History Of Australia’s Most Iconic Surf Brand

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If you’ve been around in Earth for quite a while now, then you’ve surely read or heard of Billabong. You may have seen Billabong mens knit woven shirts and noticed the iconic double wave logo.

Founded in 1973, Billabong has since been one of the leading companies in manufacturing and selling surfing wear. With the company now on its 48th year of operations, let us take a brief look into the history of Australia’s most iconic surf brand.

Gordon Merchant, one of the founders, liked to travel a lot in Australia during the late 60s and 70s, totally embracing the surfing lifestyle. The goals of his travels were to find the best surfing spot to settle in. He would pack maps, tents, sleeping bags, and surfboards unto a Kombi van to aid him in his travels.

This surfing brand giant started with humble beginnings. Thanks to his experience when travelling in the years prior, Gordon learned to develop breakthrough innovations in surfing gear. Billabong mens shorts in its earliest form is the starter of the business. The founders, Gordon and Rena Merchant designed and made boardshorts at their home and sold them to the local surf shops. The durability of their boardshorts were the its biggest strength, a quality soon noticed by surfers in the area.

In order to boost the new company’s exposure and business, Billabong started hosting surfing events. This proved to be a very smart move which caused the company to grow faster. By the 80s, Billabong mens shorts were already available all throughout Australia. With the whole of Australia included in their operations, Billabong started putting their sights towards exporting products to other surf-loving countries – New Zealand, Japan, USA, and South Africa.

Billabong grew fast. With this fast growth, the company started to make acquisitions of other sport-related brands. Gordon followed his customer’s wants and needs and ventured into different kinds of board sports. Billabong reached a peak where is managed around 10 sport-related brands including Von Zipper, Kustom, Xcel, and RVCA.

The growth and acquisition continued to grow, but that growth was halted in 2012. Billabong experienced serious financial difficulties. Some say that Billabong got too much on their hands due to their acquisitions, losing clear sight of their core business strategy. Sales dropped and profits declined.

Billabong was able to make deals with the US that enabled the company to get back on its feet. Billabong sold some of its previous acquisitions get back their focus on their main business plan, perhaps confirming the speculation that the company was spread thin due the multiple brands they need to manage.

Today, Billabong is now back on its feet, backed up by the constant support of the community of customers that put their trust on the company. For now, we have yet to see what Billabong would become in the future. In the meantime, we can still be sure that we can still get the best quality boards, shorts, and gear including Billabong mens knit wovens from the beloved Australian brand.

To get your very own Billabong mens knits wovens shirt, be sure to look up Hansensurf online. Or if you want to wear and experience the iconic Billabong mens shorts , visit Hansensurf website to get the best Billabong product deals.