Every so often a moment arrives that ties the whole story together.
This month our founder, Casey Kammel, was awarded the Jim Knaub Award by the Long Beach Century Club — an honor given to an individual who has overcome tremendous physical challenges and progressed in life despite the past.
For those who don't know the name: Jim Knaub was a famous wheelchair athlete who set several records. In this community, that name carries weight. To have it attached to your own comeback is not a small thing.
"Thank you to everyone who has and still supports me in all my endeavors." — Casey Kammel
A donation where it matters.
Alongside the award, the Century Club made a $1,000 donation to the Challenged Athletes Foundation — an organization Casey doesn't simply admire, but competes for as a physically-challenged endurance athlete.
That detail is the part we'd point to. The recognition is generous. The donation goes to work.
Why this one runs deep.
In 1994, at 22, Casey dove into a swimming pool in Hawaii and crushed his C4 vertebra. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and the probability of walking again was slim.
He rebuilt his body from zero — all the way back to racing as a physically-challenged endurance athlete, and eventually to the start line in Kona roughly two decades later.
That fight is the foundation of Executive Fitness, and it's the reason the work here is taken seriously. We've seen firsthand what a body can reclaim when someone refuses to accept the first prognosis they're handed.
What it means for the studio.
An award like this isn't really about one person. It's about a belief we build every program around: that strength, mobility, and independence are worth training for at any age — and that showing up, consistently, over years, is what actually changes the story.
That's the same principle behind every session on our floor, whether a client is training for a race or simply intent on carrying their own groceries at 80.
Thank you to the Long Beach Century Club, to the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and to everyone who continues to support the work.