Covering All the Bases

Transcription

1 Prince William Special Olympics Area 23 July 2013 Covering All the Bases IT RAINED BUT WE REIGNED The weather played an important role as athletes from Prince William gathered in Richmond to compete in SOVA Summer Games. Our delegation comprised of athletes, coaches and chaperones arrived to compete in Track and Field, Aquatics, and Bowling. After an impressive Opening Ceremonies, the Track and Field athletes were denied their chance to compete due to the weather. Track and Field chalked up an impressive 1 Gold, Rain/Weather 26 Gold needless to say, weather was the overall winner in Track and Field this year. Luckily, Joe Melugin ran the 1500 Meters in a time of 6 minutes and 20 seconds to bring home a gold medal. Way to go, Joe! The indoor sports faired much better. The aquatics venue was really fantastic in the new facility where warm-up areas allowed athletes time to prepare. Our aquatic athletes won over 15 medals and ribbons. This year, the adult bowling team competed on Friday afternoon. The adult bowlers earned 1 gold and 1 silver medal. In youth bowling, bowlers won 1 gold, 3 silver, and a 4th place ribbon. Olympic Town provided athletes a place to have fun, enjoy some fun games, and bring home goodies to enjoy. There were also Healthy Athlete programs providing hearing, vision, dental and health screening for our athletes. In the evening after closing ceremonies, the athletes had a lot of fun and enjoyed the luau themed dance in their luau attire as they danced the night away. Most of all, they enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new friends. PARENTS MEETING A meeting is planned for parents and other family members in the west side of the county. It will be before school starts. Lenny and Van will present information regarding obligations of parents. The meeting will also give family members an opportunity to learn more about Special Olympics; overnight competitions such as Fall and Summer Games. We will also be discussing fundraising efforts that are planned and how you can keep the training programs healthy! We plan to have the meeting sometime in September or October. Contact Lenny Codella at or OPEN HOUSE Kid's Choice is having an open house on August 4th from 4 to 6 pm. Their facility is where we will be training for some of our sports such as bocce and soccer. We appreciate working with the kind folks at Kid's Choice and hosting this open house, so you can see what sports they have available. This issue We Reigned 1 Summer Games Delegation 1 Parents Meeting/ Open 1 Becoming an Athlete 2 WOW! 2 GPWSO in pictures 3 More WOW 4 Open House Flier 5 Fall & Winter Training Programs Calendar of Events 7 Council & Advisory 8 Committee members 6

2 Page 2 Covering All the Bases HOW DO I BECOME AN ATHLETE? Special Olympics wants to ensure that every athlete is in a safe and happy environment. We also need to know that our athletes are fit for training. To fully participate in Special Olympics, each athlete must have a current Combined Release and Participation form, commonly referred to as the medical form, that has been reviewed and approved by the Medical Coordinator. Without this form, athletes are not permitted to practice or participate in sports events. When completing the medical form, all questions must be answered and all blanks filled in. On the first page of the medical update, the person completing the form must date and sign the form along with stating the relationship to the athlete. If a question does not apply, please enter NA. For example, if your athlete does not take medications or supplements, write NA for the response. Please double check that you have answered all questions, including check boxes before mailing the form to: PWSO Medical Coordinator Lockleven Lane Woodbridge, VA Once the form has been submitted correctly to the Medical Coordinator, it is forwarded to Virginia State Special Olympics. If the Medical Coordinator has not notified you that there is a problem with the form, you may attend the practices for the sport(s) you are interested in participating. If you are not WOW! Fundraiser and Fun Events sure whether your form has been approved, contact our medical coordinator at or Medical@pwsova.org. Coaches & volunteers will not accept original medical form. It must be sent to the Medical Coordinator at the address provided above. We recommend that you go to our web site, to verify place and time for practice. If you do not have access to the web, please call the office at and leave a message with the sports of interest and someone will return your call. You may also send an to AreaCoordinatior@pwsova.org to find out the time and place of the practices for a sport. WOW! Another chilly splash at Tim s Rivershore in February had Team Prince William taking a chilly dip in the Potomac River! It was a frigid effort, but a wonderful event sponsored by Tim s Rivershore. Our team consisted of Mary Baclich, Lisa Bell, Mary Duncan, Brennan Gappy, and Janet Manning. THANK YOU LADIES! Our own Region Director, Jim Garrett plunged for Alberto Dominguez. Look forward to a bigger and even better splash for Special Olympics next winter. WOW! Another first, as Lenny Codella spearheaded a fundraising bowling event in Manassas in order to provide a fun bowling tournament for our bowling athletes. It was a wonderful event that is planned to continue. WOW! Take a little time to try your hand at pulling a plane at The Dulles Day Family Festival and Plane Pull! Last year. a team of our athletes grabbed their gloves and did just that! If you are interested in participating at the event to be held on September 14, 2013, contact Alberto Dominguez at publicrelations@pwsova.org. It is a fun day with plenty of planes to look at as a variety of teams took part. WOW! It s a walk in the park!! Our first hike scheduled by volunteer/coach Craig Vitter was held on June 22. As Park Rangers gave us a guided tour through Leesylvania State Park followed by a picnic in the park. Great exercise, interesting tour, and wonderful socialization as a new event for fun, learning and exercise. Thank you, Mr. Vitter. WOW! We are expanding as growth in the western part of the county has PWSO adding basketball and Athletics in the Gainsville area. Thanks to Lenny Codella for heading up the effort in this expansion. WOW! A grant was awarded to start a Quantico Marine Base Special Olympics program. A Little Big Feet meet is planned for Saturday, September 7 at Butler Stadium for all those who participate in the program. Practices started mid-july for 8 weeks. GET THE POLAR PLUNGE PINKY PROMISE (PPPP). COMING FEBRUARY TO VIRGINIA BEACH and TIM s RIVERSHORE! Visit our Facebook page at Special Olympics Greater Prince William Area for more information.

3 Page 3 Greater Prince William Special Olympics in pictures Lenny Codella bowls 298! Ski team at Wintergreen Ski Resort TORCH RUN IN PRINCE WILLIAM Our first Leesylvania Hike Floor Hockey team at Jacob Javitz Center in New York City Polar Plunge at Tim s Rivershore 2013 Mary Baclich, Lisa Bell, Janet Manning, and Mary Duncan prepare for the plunge at Tim s Rivershore

4 Page 4 Covering All Bases More Wow! One of our half court teams Gainesville Full Court Basketball Team FLOOR HOCKEY PRACTICE WOW! Thanks to the Potomac Nationals for sponsoring Special Olympics Night on Sunday, July 7, Even though It rained, we still had a great time. We had about 40 Special Olympics athletes and supporters come out. Athletes lined up between first base and home plate. Rusty Graham from Area 23 threw the first pitch. Go P-Nats! WOW! What our wonderful athletes have been accomplishing is truly amazing! We have so many firsts to report, and so many thank you to give, and so small of space to report it in!! SKIING On these HOT days of summer, think back to COOL ski season and for the first time our ski team traveled to West Virginia mountains to compete with Special Olympics West Virginia winter games. Our coaches met the snow covered driving challenge and our athletes brought home numerous gold medals. FLOOR HOCKEY Another first for our Floor Hockey team as they ventured to the big apple New York City in January to compete against several state teams in the Jacob Javitz Center. The team that came the furthest was from Georgia! The teams competed as the professional hockey refs oversaw the competition. Everyone enjoyed the experience and tough competition as the team of 12 brought home the bronze medals. BOWLING Another big WOW, as 100 Special Olympic bowlers competed in the spring singles tournament in Manassas at the Bowl America Lanes. There was a record set at the tournament that had spectators holding their breath as athlete Lenny Cordella bowled 2 pins short of a perfect game! In the last frame two pins were still standing as Lenny and his parents celebrated the spectacular accomplishment. His score was 298, rarely seen by those who strive for the perfect 300 game. Lenny reported his knees were shaking as he turned to get hugs and congratulations. POWERLIFTING The two new assistant coaches, Chantal Sicot and Alberto Dominquez Sr. has greatly supported the team this season. Their primary job was to ensure the athletes lifted the weights safely, keeping track of each athlete s lifted weight and participating in the various exercises. Also this season we added three new team members We now have 10 strong members of our team of which we were able to bring eight to the Virginia Amateur Athletics Union or AAU tournament in Richmond on 29 June This was a competition of powerlifters both men and women from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Special Olympics Virginia partnered with the Virginia AAU to host this event. This included both people with and without intellectual disabilities and was truly an inclusive event. A powerlifter has three types of lifts. The first is the squat, followed by the bench press and the last is the deadlift. At competitions they are required to complete each of the three lifts. In all, the Prince William Special Olympic team lifted a combined total weight of: 9,139 pounds! These eight athletes walked away with 32 Gold Medals!! Next year, we should be able to easily beat the 10,000 pound threshold. The Athletes, the National Guard team, the AAU teams and the Crowd had a blast. Our athletes got to meet powerlifters for all across Virginia. The Powerlifters had a blast and met some new friends. They look forward to next year s event. BASKETBALL The ever-popular basketball program has grown with three locations that keep our coaches very busy as they train and athletes compete with other area teams. We begin our training at Godwin Middle School and GMU Freedom Aquatics & Fitness Center. If you are interested in participating please contact Leonard Van Lowe at basketballcoordinator@pwsova.org or WOW! Look What s Happening & Special Recognition: A big WOW and THANK YOU goes to one of our own, Jerry Holy. He wrote the PWSO Council and suggested PWSO have a Facebook presence. Jerry has created this on his own for us and hope you enjoy and participate with a like by one of our own. Check it out at Special Olympics Greater Prince William Area. Thank you, Jerry for helping us on this endeavor. SHOP FOR A CAUSE FUNDRAISER Please join us in our fundraising effort by shopping at Macy's Manassas on August 24th. In order to participate, you need to present a shop for a cause card at your time of purchase. The cost of the card is $5. Please contact Everett Willis at chairman@pwsova.org or for cards and thank you for helping us fundraise. We are all non-paid volunteers and totally rely on them for contributions and support fundraising to fund our training sports programs, competitions and other activities so that these are available to all eligible athletes are no cost.

5 Page 5 Come out to Kid s Choice Sports Center Sport And Health Dr. Woodbridge, VA To preview a new facility To be used by Prince William Special Olympics! OPEN HOUSE Sunday, August 4, PM 6 PM Light refreshments will be served To RSVP and for more information, please contact Peggy Van Lowe at AreaCoordinator@pwsova.org or or Rhoda Heller-Holy at treasurer@pwsova.org or Please leave a message with your name and the number of people attending KCSC is owned by two veteran operators of the adult health and fitness industry who recognized the obvious similarities between the industries, but more importantly, they understand the differences. Simply put, KCSC will adopt many of the business practices that have worked for the adult fitness industry, and apply them to the relatively undisciplined world of kid s fitness. We expect to make a leap of more than 30 years in the approach to dealing with kid s fitness. First, we ve acquired a state-of-the-art building in a growing suburban location. Our Woodbridge Center is more than 55,000 square feet in size with all the right features: great parking, clean locker rooms with family changing rooms, viewing areas for the parents to keep track of the youngsters, supervised children s nursery, complete snackbar/food service, central on-site pro shop, and many more amenities.

6 Page 6 Covering All the Bases Fall and Winter Training Programs Many thanks to coaches and other volunteers who have made all of these programs possible. See Calendar of Events for dates and times of practices and events. Please call or training@pwsova.org to register unless otherwise noted. Also, check our web site for up-to-date information on the sports training programs. Athletes need to regularly in the training program to prepare for the competitions and tournaments. AQUATICS PROGRAMS Our two swimming programs train in Manassas and Dale City. The athletes will practice every week starting in February. We also offer skills training which focuses on the athlete becoming comfortable in the water environment. Many of these volunteers are on swim teams themselves and provide an invaluable resource in helping to train the athletes while fulfilling their community service hours. Contact Everett Willis at ebwjr@aol.com or BASKETBALL Basketball starts in November. The location is Godwin Middle School and GMU Freedom Aquatics and Fitness Center. We offer skills, half and full-court teams. Please call the office at if you are interested in participating. BOCCE This program starts on Thursday, August 22 at Kid s Choice. If you are interested in learning how to play and participate in bocce, please call Jean Arnold at or at jearnold1@msn.com. BOWLING Team bowling Training programs meet in Dale City and Manassas. If you are interested, please contact Lenny Codella at or LennyCodella@ msn.com for the Manassas program and Tom Conheady at or tconheady@verizon.net for the Dale City Program. FLOOR HOCKEY Floor Hockey meets at GMU Aquatics and Fitness Center starting in November. Contact Mike Dahlkamp at or him at mike.dahlkamp@gmail.com if you are interested in the floor hockey program. POWER LIFTING Power lifting is a program for athletes over 16 years of age. Athletes must be able to stay focused and endure intense workouts. The team trains on Thursday nights starting in the fall Please contact Jerry Stanphill at or Jerry.Stanphill@faa.gov for more information. SKIING Call the office at and leave a message with your name, interest in skiing and phone number where you can be reached. SOCCER This year, soccer will start on Wednesday, August 14 at Kid s Choice from 6:30 8 PM and at Hellwig Soccer Field near the tennis court on Bristow Road on Sundays from 5 to 7 PM. We offer both skills and 5-man teams. Contact Everett Willis at chairman@pwsova.org or for more information. TENNIS Tennis will start in April If you are interested in participating as an athlete or a volunteer, please contact Mike Thorpe at or mtthorpe@comcast.net YOUNG ATHLETE PROGRAM A recreational program for children ages 2-7 with an intellectual disability. They meet every Tuesday at Bowl America, on Balls Ford Road, Manassas. Contact Darlin Cox at or youngathlete@pwsova.org for more information. NEW PROGRAMS Check out our web site at to find out about programs within Area 23.

7 Page 7 CALENDAR OF EVENTS: JULY JANUARY 2014 For more information about any of these programs or events, please call the office at and leave a message or check our web site at or Facebook at Greater Prince William Area. All events are subject to change. Other events may be scheduled after release of this newsletter. We also have a calendar app for smart phones at July 20 Bowling Fun Tournament 27 Manassas Bowling at Mathis Ave Bowl America, 1 3 PM 28 Dale City Bowling at Dale City Lanes, 2 4 PM August 4 Open House Kid s Choice (Woodbridge), 4 6 PM 10 Coaches training Herndon Senior Center, Aug 10, 10 AM 3 PM 14 Soccer Kid s Choice, Devil Reach Road, Woodbridge 6:30 PM 8 PM 18 Soccer Hellwig Memorial Park, 5 7 PM 22 Bocce Kid s Choice, 7 PM 8:30 PM 24 Shop for a Cause, Macy s, Manassas VA - FUNDRAISER September 7 or 8 Soccer Tournament, Kid s Choice 14 Dulles Day Plane Pull, Dulles Airport - FUNDRAISER 22 Bocce Tournament, Kid s Choice 29 Bowling Tournament at Dale City Lanes TBD Parents Meeting October 5 Soccer Tournament, Caroline County 19 Soccer Tournament, Chancellor TBD Powerlifting, Potomac High School, 7:30 8:30 PM November 2-3 FALL GAMES, Virginia Beach 9 Basketball Manassas/Gainesville, Freedom Aquatics & Fitness Center, 4 6 PM 10 Dale City Bowling at Dale City Lanes, 2 4 PM 10 Floor Hockey at GMU Freedom Aquatics and Fitness Center, 5 6:30 PM 13 Basketball Woodbridge at Godwin Middle School, 6:30 8:30 PM 16 Manassas Bowling at Mathis Ave Bowl America, 1 3 PM TBD Ski season between November March December 12 Winter Holiday Dance, Woodbridge Moose Lodge January 19 Floor Hockey Tournament (projected) WINTER CHAMPS/ FANQUEST (projected)

8 Prince William Special Olympics Area 23 Area 23 Council Members Primary Business Address Address Line 2 Address Line 3 Address Line 4 Phone: Fax: someone@example.com Business Tagline or Motto Chairman Everett Willis Chairman@pwsova.org Area Coordinator Peggy Van Lowe AreaCoordinator@pwsova.org Treasurer Rhoda Heller-Holy treasurer@pwsova.org Training Coordinator Lenny Codella training@pwsova.org Medical Coordinator Mary Baclich medical@pwsova.org Webmaster Leonard Van Lowe Webmaster@pwsova.org Volunteer Coordinator Vacant volunteer@pwsova.org Fundraising Coordinator Jean Arnold fundraising@pwsova.org Secretary Jean Zimmermann secretary@pwsova.org Athlete representatives Chantal Sicot Sarah Narburgh AthleteRep@pwsova.org globalmessenger@pwsova.org Public Relations Alberto Dominguez PublicRelations@pwsova.org Advisory Committee L.oc Trinh Darlin Cox E. O Connor C. Vitter Carla Hart Check out our web site at: Prince William Special Olympics athletes are grateful for the support given by the Prince William Park Authority and the I. J. and Hilda M. Breeden Foundation Special Olympics Prince William PO Box 1073 Woodbridge, VA *