Coach of the Year
for Area 26 by Greg
Updike
On Sunday,
January 25th, at Washington Irving Middle School, Bruce Fingerhut was presented
the Area 26 coach of the year award. The award was presented by the Area 26
Council Chairman Tom Ingoldsby. Bruce has done a tremendous job of leading Area
26 athletes to become not just better on the field of competition but better
people off the field for over 15 years. The ceremony was attended by a full gym
of players and their friends and family. If you see Bruce please congratulate
him for this honor.
Bruce Fingerhut int he middle flanked by Veronica
Jennings, Potomac Region Director SOVA, and Tom Ingoldsby, Area 26
Chairman.
Tim's River Polar
Plunge Fundraiser by Kelly
Updike
Dear
Friends and Family,
I
am excited to announce that I am participating in the Polar Plunge again. I ran
into the 37 degree water last February to support David and other Special
Olympics athletes just like him. With much help I was able to raise a little
more than $2,000 and I am asking for your support and generosity this year to
help me reach my goal. I would love your donation to help me run into the icy
waters of the Potomac River again this February but more importantly to help the
bigger cause which is more and better opportunities for the Special Olympic
athletes. To donate please click the link below which will take you to the Polar
Plunge donation site for Area 26. Thank you so much for your support!
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=2700760&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=%26Referrer%3dhttp%253a%252f%252fpolarplunge.com%252fView%252fPage%252fNorthern_VA#&panel1-2
Warm
Regards and Warm Water,
Kelly
Updike
Special Olympics
Northern Virginia Golf Fundraiser by Mark Emery
NEW Class A Requirements by Veronica Jennings
Below
are details on concussion training requirements for
all Head and Assistant Coaches. I’ve also attached signs and symptoms of
a concussion for your records. Please review, if you have any questions please
feel free to contact Veronica Jennings. Thanks!
Concussion
Training Requirements
Due
to the increased risks of concussions, insurance companies are no longer willing
to provide liability coverage for sports organizations unless they require
coaches to complete concussion training. Special Olympics North America (SONA)
and American Specialty, our insurance broker, have implemented a new concussion
training requirement for all head coaches and assistant coaches for all sports
we offer. Beginning January 1, 2015 all new coaches must take concussion
training as part of their Class A Volunteer eligibility process. All current
coaches must complete concussion training by December 31, 2015.
SONA
selected the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) concussion training as the
approved training module. This is an online course that takes about 40 minutes
to complete. To learn more about the course and to access the course, click on
the following link:
http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/HeadsUp/online_training.html.
Volunteers
who take the training must send a copy of their course completion certificate
either by email to
volunteers@specialolympicsva.org or by mail to Volunteer
Manager, Special Olympics Virginia, 3212 Skipwith Rd., Suite 100, Richmond, VA
23294.
We
anticipate that SONA will create a system for us to electronically track course
completion. We also anticipate receiving a paper version of the training. This
requirement was put into place suddenly due to insurance requirements.
We
will not monitor concussion training completion for Class A Volunteers attending
state games until January 1, 2016. However, please make sure all of your new
coaches complete the concussion training. Current coaches are encouraged to
complete the concussion training as soon as possible.
The next the monthly emailing of the Area 26 Newsletter will be November 5th (first Wednesday of the month). If you have something to be communicated, please have your info to me by Friday, October 31st.
