2016 UNIFIED SPORTS FALL FESTIVAL COACHES 1 GO TO MEETING

Transcription

1 2016 UNIFIED SPORTS FALL FESTIVAL COACHES 1 GO TO MEETING SAVE THE DATE September 10 th and 11 th - Bocce, Golf, Sailing, & Softball September 24 th and 25 th - Croquet

2 Coaches Education and Training Unified Sports Fall Festival Sports Rules Concussion Training (approx. ½ hr) *Direct links to the below courses can be found on the Coaches Corner page on the website, under Becoming a Certified Head Coach Youth Sports Training Course - National Federation of High Schools course New England Leadership Conference October 15 & 16 th in Marlborough, MA Registration costs, agenda of events and a registration link will be sent out soon!

3 Concussion Training ALL Head Coaches must complete the online Concussion Training Click the link on the Coaches Corner page to access the course through the CDC website. Please certificates to Rachael P. when complete! Visit hover your mouse over Sports & Fitness Programs, and click on Coaches Corner Click on Youth Sports Coaches Click on the drop-down tab, Becoming a SO Certified Head Coach Click the link to the CDC or the NFHS Website for the free training

4 NEW Class A forms Volunteer Updates Please make sure you are using the NEW Class A forms They are now separate forms Minor form has built in reference letters Background check vendor reminder The new vendor is Verified Volunteers The new background checks are more thorough and take more time On average a clean criminal history will take 24 to 72 hours to come back This means SOCT will no longer be able to process any last minute forms including group home staff changes All changes should be sent in with at least a week s lead time before an event to ensure there is enough time for processing Protective Behaviors reminder SOCT only requires the protective behaviors training for Class A volunteers who are 18 and above. Web Class A form (this is a change from the previous requirement of 16 and above) SOCT now has a web version of the Class A form for NEW volunteers SOCT also has links for existing Class A volunteers to rescreen themselves Please call me if you need these links ed to you Contact Katie Femiak with any questions ex 224 or kathrynf@soct.org

5 Registration and Due Dates Unified Sports Fall Festival Intents are due: July 8. Registrations are due: July 13 for Croquet Invitational & Softball August 17 for Bocce, Croquet, Golf & Sailing Registration materials and Intent to participate are on the website: registration to Insurance requests should be submitted ASAP to Coaches Handbook to be on website 3 weeks out from the games: Please remember a one day event is $20 and two day events are $40

6 Where to find the Intent to Participate form from the homepage: Click the Forms link

7 Click here to access the intent form Click here to access registration materials

8 How to complete the Intent to Participate form online: Type in your Local Program name and Local Coordinator information. Select the appropriate sports season from the drop-down menu. Select the number of events or sports from the drop-down menu that your local program will be practicing and competing in at the state competition. Based on the number of sports you select, the corresponding number of sports specific practice information will appear. Fill out all training and practice information completely and to the best of your ability. The form will be automatically sent to our office once you click submit. All intents for Unified Sports Fall Festival are due by July 8 th Please work with your coaches if your delegation competes in multiple sports per season to submit only ONE intent per Local Program. If you have any questions as you complete this form, please contact the registration@soct.org address and someone from the sports department will contact you.

9 Bocce Unified Sports Fall Festival Bocce Tournament will be held at Scalzi Park in Stamford this year. For anyone that would like to stay in the area a group rate of $109 at the Sheraton Stamford Hotel has been arranged. To make reservations please use one of the following links: Special Olympics Connecticut Bocce Room Block or Bocce Skills will be held on Saturday only and will be open to any athlete who is 8 and older Traditional Bocce Tournament singles & teams will play on Saturday, September 10 th and are open to athletes 30 and older Unified Bocce Tournament teams will play on Sunday, September 11 th and are open to athletes 30 and older

10 Croquet Unified Sports Fall Festival Croquet Tournament will be held at the Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island during the weekend of September 24 th & 25 th Allotments for Ocean House will be sent out to individual teams Invitational at Elizabeth Park will be held August 20 th Parking: Shuttles will be available to and from off-site parking location. Details to follow. If you are a new team looking to start croquet, please contact Rachael Polansky (rachaelp@soct.org) For new and existing teams, Bobbi Shorthouse is available for training assistance: croquetbobbi@gmail.com or (860)

11 Golf Unified Sports Fall Festival Golf Tournament will be held on Sunday, September 11 th at Sleeping Giant Golf Course in Hamden. All teams and spectators must park at Quinnipiac University and take the shuttle bus over to the course, NO dropping off athletes or parking at Aunt Chilada s; please do not go get your vehicles while waiting for awards. Boxed lunches will be provided for teams with early tee times. Reminders for coaches to share with their athlete partners 1. This is a competition and awards are given. Therefore there are rules which must be followed. There have been too many rule violations leading to complaints about them. We try our best to enforce them but golf is a game where the players traditionally police themselves 2. Alternate shot means after Player A takes a swing, Player B then takes the next swing. If Player A swings and misses, the swing counts and it is Player B s turn. Failure to comply with this rule will result in a 10x on the hole. Failure to comply twice means a participation ribbon. This may be hard on an athlete but, in fairness to the other athletes, the rules must be followed. 3. Keep your score accurately be sure to count penalties and misses. 4. Slow Play. It should not take more than 2 hours to play. Play quickly and efficiently. Some tips will be handed out the day of the event. One practice swing is enough you can work on this with your athlete at practice.

12 Qualifying for alternate shot play There are 3 elements to qualifying for alternate shot play: 1. Satisfactory score in skills. 2. Satisfactory scores in on-course play. If you are new to alternate shot play, 9 holes of your 27 must be done either at the Lyman Orchard Jamboree or the Orange Hills Alternate Shot Golf invitational. 3. Have appropriate golf behavior on the course: such as raking sand traps, where you should leave your clubs before making a shot, not distracting a fellow competitor when he is hitting, etc. Additional Golf Events Golf Skills Jamboree Sunday, July 24 th at Lyman s Orchards, Middlefield. Please contact Joe Dennin at jndennin@sbcglobal.net if interested. Colchester Skills Challenge Sunday, August 7 th at Tallwood Country Club in Hebron. Please contact Cliff Backes at cbackes@ol-advisors.com if interested. Alternate Shot Golf Invitational Saturday, August 20 th at Orange Hills Golf Course. Please contact Sara Pierson at sarap@soct.org if interested. New England Golf Invitational- October 2016, date TBD Special Olympics North America Golf Championship Thursday, September 29 th Sunday, October 2 nd at the PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, Florida. Please contact Laurie-Jean Hannon at laurie-jean@soct.org if interested.

13 Sailing Unified Sports Fall Festival Sailing Regatta will be held at the Wadawanuck Club in Stonington Borough Dinner/Dance will be held at the Stonington Borough Fire House For those teams staying over, hotel accommodations have been made at the Quality Inn Mystic. Housing rosters are due to SOCT Headquarters by Monday, August 15.

14 Softball Unified Sports Fall Festival Softball Divisioning Tournament Saturday, August 13th, Pragemann Park in Wallingford For this event each team is allowed two absences, if a team has more than two you may advance to the state tournament but will only be eligible to compete for a participation ribbon. You must still complete the Absence Form and send to the SOCT Headquarters within three days from the event. Unified Sports Fall Festival Softball Tournament will be held at the Connecticut Sportsplex in North Branford and Kennedy Memorial Field in East Haven. Games will be played on Saturday & Sunday. Depending on the number of teams we have, we hope to be able to complete divisions in one day. Skills will be on Saturday only at Kennedy Memorial Field. **Healthy Athletes will be offering Health Promotion at the Connecticut Sportsplex. Join us to learn the importance of nutrition when training and competing. If you have any questions please contact Caitlin Daikus at ext. 238 or via at caitlind@soct.org.

15 Uniforms In an effort to continue to enhance the athletes in all of our competitions, we are asking teams to be sure to have appropriate uniforms for each sport; athletes should be in sport attire for all events: No Jeans allowed at any sport Team Uniforms should not be RED so that our Medical volunteers can be easily identified in their red shirts Softball uniforms should either be shorts or softball pants with a tee shirt or softball uniform shirt; athlete numbers are even; partner numbers are odd Croquet uniforms are to be white shorts, capris, pants and white polo shirts Bocce uniforms should be polo shirts or tees with shorts, capris or pants Sailing must have the proper attire including specific life jackets Golf uniforms should be polo shirts with shorts, capris or pants

16 2018 Special Olympics USA Games Seattle, Washington July 1-7 This year s Unified Sports Fall Festival is a qualifying event for the 2018 USA Games. SOCT does not have our quota yet but we are hoping to be able to send athletes and partners in Bocce, Golf and Softball Applications will be sent out to local programs to nominate all eligible athletes and partners who receive a gold medal once quota information is received Tryouts will take place for Unified Softball should that sport end up being part of our quota Any questions, please contact

17 Unified Long Distance Running Team Type of Activity: Long Distance Running* - 5k up to Marathons, occasional relay races. *Expectations are that athletes will complete 5k distance by end of first year. Season: Inception: 1990 Members: 46 Composition: Training: Practice Sites: August 1st thru October 31st 50 % Special Olympics Athletes and 50 % Unified Sports Partners One workout per week with team at designated practice site. (Otherwise training independently with Unified Partner when available. Training schedule according to ability/ experience) Cheshire CT, Wilton CT, Trumbull CT, New London CT, Simsbury CT (Day of week and time will vary depending on site but normally Tuesday or Wednesday starting first week Aug.) Race schedule 2016 (tentative): New Haven Labor Day 5k/20k, September 5th Suffield Academy Unified Cross Country Race (5k/3k) - TBA Bigelow Tea 5k, Southport, - September 25th Hartford Marathon/ Half/ 5k- October 8th Marine Corp Marathon 10k- October 30th Unified Partners: Transportation: Cost: Contact: Special Olympic athletes often join the team with a Unified Partner, however unified partners are available for athletes who join independently. Athletes are responsible for their own transportation to/from practice sites and races except for races outside Connecticut. Race fees, hotels and other misc. expenses are covered by the program...training gear is athletes responsibility. Racing T-Shirt provided by program for first year athletes. Uniforms provided for veteran participants. Kevin Grimes kbg131@gmail.com, Barbara Hedden teddybear172124@aol.com Marc Mercadante marcm@soct.org,

18 How to Find Sports Specific Rules from the Homepage Hover your mouse over the Sports & Fitness Programs heading and click on Coaches Corner

19 Scroll down the page and click on the drop-down box titled SOCT Sports Rules & Coaches Guides

20 Questions? If you have additional questions please don t hesitate to contact the Sports Department staff: Sports Department - Laurie-Jean Hannon laurie-jean@soct.org Sailing - Sara Pierson sarap@soct.org Bocce - Sue Mohr susanm@soct.org Golf sarap@soct.org Softball - Katie Dennett katied@soct.org Croquet Rachael Polansky- rachaelp@soct.org Volunteers - Katie Femiak - kathrynf@soct.org Healthy Athletes - Caitlin Daikus - caitlind@soct.org

21 Thank you for completing the 2016 Special Olympics Connecticut Unified Sports Fall Festival Webinar Please follow this link to confirm that you have completed this presentation: See you at the games!!!