About
AccesSportAmerica offers high-challenge sports and training for children and adults of all disabilities, including gait training with its patented TheraTrek, windsurfing, and a Fall Surfing Clinic with the Surfrider Foundation. The program includes adaptive windsurfing and uses sports and training to change lives through sports and training.
The mission of AccesSportAmerica is to inspire higher function and fitness for children and adults of all disabilities through high-challenge sports and training. The program creates programs and training and coaching regimens in collaboration with trainers to accommodate a wide range of disabilities. Ross adapts sports and creates and develops equipment to accommodate all disabilities, and he is described as the foremost authority on adaptive windsurfing in the United States. The program also offers gait training with its patented TheraTrek.
The leadership team includes Cheryl Shea (Art Director), Jean Lilley (Program Coordinator/Administration), Chris Murtaugh (Team Leader, Master Trainer), Nate Berry (Program Director), and Ross Lilley (President). Nate is a National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF) Certified Personal Trainer, and Ross is also a National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF) Certified Personal Trainer. Nate’s responsibilities include overseeing programs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Camp Harbor View, Massachusetts Hospital School, Boston Public Schools, and the YMCA.
Jean has been involved since AccesSportAmerica’s founding in 1996 and helped found AccesSportAmerica with her husband, Ross. Chris has worked with AccesSportAmerica since 1996. Nate has been with AccesSportAmerica since 2002, first as a volunteer, then as a team leader, and since 2008 as Program Director. Ross has been adapting and teaching high-challenge sports since 1983 and has been involved in personal training and coaching since the late 1970s. In 1986, Ross’s son Josh was born with cerebral palsy and resulting spastic quadriplegia, and when Josh was four years old, Josh and Ross began windsurfing together, which became the catalyst and inspiration for AccesSportAmerica. Ross served as pastor of South Acton Congregational Church until 2001, when he resigned to devote himself full-time to AccesSportAmerica.
Ross has twice received the Boston Celtics’ Heroes Among Us Award and the Massachusetts Governor’s Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports’ Neighborhood Superstar Award, along with numerous other awards. Community involvement includes a Fall Surfing Clinic with the Surfrider Foundation.
Parents and supporters describe their experiences with AccesSportAmerica in several ways. Marianne and Chris Cooper say their son Jesse, though confined to a wheelchair, was able to “fly across water” through the programs. Jean Whitney states that AccesSportAmerica has created a new vision of fitness and fun for athletes with disabilities. Board member Ray Hoefling says he is honored to serve on the board and notes the dedication and commitment of the trainers. Supporter Bill Belichick says that for over a decade he has supported AccesSportAmerica and that Ross Lilley and his staff make sports fun for athletes, adding, “Nobody does it better than AccesSport!!” Dr. Timothy Johnson calls AccesSportAmerica a fantastic program and says he knows of no other organization that brings such passion and expertise. Cheryl Shea says AccesSportAmerica is important to her because it is “the shortest distance between us and our best selves.” Parents Russ Bosbach and Nancy Tarquinio encourage others to watch the interactions between athletes and trainers, including laughing, having fun, overcoming fears, and gaining skills and confidence, and they invite others to “watch the wind change everything.”
Last updated May 15, 2026.
The mission of AccesSportAmerica is to inspire higher function and fitness for children and adults of all disabilities through high-challenge sports and training. The program creates programs and training and coaching regimens in collaboration with trainers to accommodate a wide range of disabilities. Ross adapts sports and creates and develops equipment to accommodate all disabilities, and he is described as the foremost authority on adaptive windsurfing in the United States. The program also offers gait training with its patented TheraTrek.
The leadership team includes Cheryl Shea (Art Director), Jean Lilley (Program Coordinator/Administration), Chris Murtaugh (Team Leader, Master Trainer), Nate Berry (Program Director), and Ross Lilley (President). Nate is a National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF) Certified Personal Trainer, and Ross is also a National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF) Certified Personal Trainer. Nate’s responsibilities include overseeing programs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Camp Harbor View, Massachusetts Hospital School, Boston Public Schools, and the YMCA.
Jean has been involved since AccesSportAmerica’s founding in 1996 and helped found AccesSportAmerica with her husband, Ross. Chris has worked with AccesSportAmerica since 1996. Nate has been with AccesSportAmerica since 2002, first as a volunteer, then as a team leader, and since 2008 as Program Director. Ross has been adapting and teaching high-challenge sports since 1983 and has been involved in personal training and coaching since the late 1970s. In 1986, Ross’s son Josh was born with cerebral palsy and resulting spastic quadriplegia, and when Josh was four years old, Josh and Ross began windsurfing together, which became the catalyst and inspiration for AccesSportAmerica. Ross served as pastor of South Acton Congregational Church until 2001, when he resigned to devote himself full-time to AccesSportAmerica.
Ross has twice received the Boston Celtics’ Heroes Among Us Award and the Massachusetts Governor’s Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports’ Neighborhood Superstar Award, along with numerous other awards. Community involvement includes a Fall Surfing Clinic with the Surfrider Foundation.
Parents and supporters describe their experiences with AccesSportAmerica in several ways. Marianne and Chris Cooper say their son Jesse, though confined to a wheelchair, was able to “fly across water” through the programs. Jean Whitney states that AccesSportAmerica has created a new vision of fitness and fun for athletes with disabilities. Board member Ray Hoefling says he is honored to serve on the board and notes the dedication and commitment of the trainers. Supporter Bill Belichick says that for over a decade he has supported AccesSportAmerica and that Ross Lilley and his staff make sports fun for athletes, adding, “Nobody does it better than AccesSport!!” Dr. Timothy Johnson calls AccesSportAmerica a fantastic program and says he knows of no other organization that brings such passion and expertise. Cheryl Shea says AccesSportAmerica is important to her because it is “the shortest distance between us and our best selves.” Parents Russ Bosbach and Nancy Tarquinio encourage others to watch the interactions between athletes and trainers, including laughing, having fun, overcoming fears, and gaining skills and confidence, and they invite others to “watch the wind change everything.”
Last updated May 15, 2026.
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