We would like to send a big congratulations out to all of the Southwestern athletes and coaches that participated in the 2010 National Summer Games in London  the week of July 12!

The hard work that our athletes put into their training showed in the amazing medal count and personal bests that were racked up during the games.

For a look at the official results for Team Ontario and for news articles, pictures and copies of the Team Ontario daily newsletter that was produced at the games please visit the Team Ontario website at: http://www.specialolympicsontario.com/default.asp?contentID=82

Now for a word from your amazing Provincial Team Liaisons:

Congratulations to all Regional Team Members

After a very competitive summer season of qualifying events Region 1’s Regional Competition Management Team and Regions 2’s Sport and Competition Committee are pleased to announce the Athletes and coaches that have been named to the Regional Training Squads for the 2009 Windsor Summer Provincial Games.

Special Olympics Ontario – Region 2

Regional Meeting Minutes of May 2, 2009

Coaches meeting minutes, April 26^th, 2009  Woodstock

Meeting called to order at 10:00am

Provincial News Update

Jenn reviewed the Provincial News Update, the following is the areas that were highlighted:

Competition Information

Juli Prokopchuk-Brattan has taken on the position of Competition Developer she will be working with our Generic sport partners, the technical teams, regional groups and our local volunteers to ensure competition development.

519-943-123                   julip@specialolympicsontario.com

• Members of the Guelph floor hockey team and Derek Trainor, a speed skater from K/W, attended the 2009 World Winter Games in Boise Idaho from region 2. The floor hockey team brought home the silver medal.
• Region 2 has 3 swimmers that have been selected to attend the 2009 Canada Sumer Games in PEI. These athletes will be members of Team Ontario and they will be representing Special Olympics. Congratulations to Alex Buehlow, Michael Heath and Erica Buehlow!
• Home Time Games: if you know of a sponsor in your community please contact Jenn or Diane
• Reminder: Winter 2009-2010 is the qualifying year for the 2011 Provincial Winter Games…. Start thinking about hosting the regional qualifiers!

Sport Services and Coach Education

Dia Sue-Wah-Sing has taken on the position of Sport & Coach Education Developer. She is working with NCCP and local volunteers to ensure our coaches are receiving the proper training. She is also developing the Sport Plan for SOO.

1-888-333-5515 ext 234   dias@specialolympicsontario.com

§         SOO will no longer be running SOC NCCP courses without a minimum of 15 individuals registered to take the course. These courses are heavily subsidized by the Provincial office, so to ensure that we have enough coaches invested in taking the course we have changed the format by which you community can host a course and in how individuals sign up for the courses

o       All communities that would like to host a course between September-December of 2009 must contact Dia with the date and location of the course by June 30, 2009

o       All individuals wishing to take and SOC NCCP course must sign up online athttp://www.osoinc.com/default.asp?contentID=688

§         SOO Sport Club Review Survey- an online survey was sent out to all Head Coaches across the province, many in Region 2 said they did not receive the survey so Jenn is asking Dia to resend it out to everyone

School & Youth Services

Allison Vigeant is our School & Youth Developer

1-888-333-5515 ext 255   allisonv@specialolympicsontario.com

§         Transition Coordinators are a vital position for those communities that have strong school programs. We are currently losing over 50% of the school athletes that are registered with SOO when they graduate as we have no way of ensuring they move into the community programs. This is where the Transition Coordinator comes in. If you know of anyone in your community that would like to become a Transition Coordinator have them contact Jenn or Allison

Marketing and Fundraising

Lynn Miller, Manager Marketing Services

1-888-333-5515 ext 226   lynnm@specialolympicsontario.com

Michael Chung, Co-ordinator Special Events & Promotions

1-888-333-5515 ext 233   michaelc@specialolympicsontario.com

§         SOO has launched a new quarterly e-newsletter. If you would like to sign up to receive the newsletter please visit www.osoinc.com/enews

§         There will be a new online merchandise store on the provincial website, any community that would like to can order from this supplier and have the items customized for their own community

§         Torch Run Dates for region 2:

o       London and Middlesex County June 2

o       Simcoe June 3

o       Waterloo June 4

o       Woodstock June 6

o       Tillsonburg and Ingersoll June 8

o       OPC/ St. Thomas June 29

Finance and Administration

Willie E, Manager Accounting & H.R. Services

1-888-333-5515 ext 223   williee@specialolympicsontario.com

Eleonora Iggulden, Donations Assistant

1-888-333-5515 ext 229   eleonorai@specialolympicsontario.com

Shyamol Rozario, Accounting Assistant

1-888-333-5515 ext 254   shyamolr@specialolympicsontario.com

§         There are new requirements for filing your GST claim, a new spreadsheet will be circulated

§         There are new forms available on the provincial website that must be filled out for any banking change of information or when opening a new account

§         There is a new online deposit form that can be used by communities

Volunteer Services

§         Nominations for the SOO annual sport awards are due by May 15^th

§         Years of Service awards have all been distributed to each community. If there is a discrepancy with your Years of Service please fill out a YOS appeals form.

§         Volunteer week was April 19-25, all communities were mailed this years volunteer gift

Letters from Glenn MacDonell

Jenn reviewed the two last pages of the Provincial News Update, which were letters from Glenn MacDonell, SOO President and CEO

§         There were two appeals that came out of last years 2008 Spring Provincial Games. An appeals committee was forms and they found that:

o       For swimming-The honest effort rule will be removed and athletes will be eligible for advancement to National games

o       For 10-Pin Bowlers- all bowlers that participated at the Provincial games will be eligible to advance to National Games, but they must provide Individual Record Sheets for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons

§         Due to the recession that we find ourselves in plans to change the qualifying competition structure has been put on hold. Juli will still be moving forward with the new Technical team structure and with creating minimum standards for competitions.

Jenn also provided some updates on what she has been working on:

District Website (www.southwest.specialolympicsontario.ca)

Please encourage your coaches to go on to the site for updates on what is happening across the region. Any volunteer or athlete can sign up to be a member on the website and as a member they would have access to the online forums (these were created so that our coaches, volunteers and athletes could share information with each other or to chat on line about SOO events- as the webmaster Jenn will be monitoring all posts and she has the ability to delete anything that is inappropriate.

As members to the site they would also be able to upload resources to the website (skill drills, fundraising sponsorship letters, media alerts…). Any member is also welcome to send Jenn articles, photo’s or links to be put on the website.

The District calendar of events is also on this site and all invitations that are sent to Jenn are put into this calendar.

SOO E-mail Addresses

The new SW contact list was passed around to be updated by those that were present. Jenn went over with the group how to access their SOO e-mails and the forwarding options they have. She reiterated with the group that these SOO e-mail addresses are the ones that are currently posted on the websites and they will be the e-mails that will be used to contact everyone by the end of the summer. The group requested that Jenn resend the notification e-mails with the instructions for the use of the accounts.

Technical Teams

The region and the province are currently looking for volunteers to help out on the Technical teams.

The region would like to have a technical representative for each official sport for the SCC. These volunteers would be a point of contact for our regional coaches as it pertains to the technical aspect of their sport. They would be advisors for any competition in their sport and they would work as a liaison between our coaches and the sports officials. The region would like to encourage volunteers from the generic sports organizations to fill these positions as this will not place any more strain on our current volunteers and this would also alleviate any bias. If you know of anyone that would be interested in this position please contact Mary Kay. r2.coordinator@specialolympicsontario.ca

The Province is looking to create technical teams for each official sport as well. These technical teams will replace the current OSTAT structure. Juli is currently working with the current OSTATs to determine the number of members each technical team will need. In some cases it will be 1 person per district and in other cases it will be 2-4 team members for the province. The minimum requirements for these volunteers are being worked out, but there will be a minimum technical designation. These volunteers will work as a team to determine sport updates, ensure all policies and rules are up to date and relevant and they will over see the Provincial qualifiers and act as advisors to the coaches of their sport. If you know of anyone that would be interested in this position please contact Jenn or Juli.

Database

Each community now has a Community Registrar that is in charge of the database maintance for their community. Please ensure that any changes to sport involvement or addresses are being given to your community Registrar. These forms will no longer be processed at the Provincial office. Jenn will be updating the District contact list every January and she will be getting the information directly from the database. If any contact information changes for a head coach or community council member during the year please inform Jenn so that the District Contact list can be kept up to date.

Mybackcheck.com

The Provincial office has partnered up with mybackcheck.com, this is a web portal that can be used to acquire police checks for your volunteers. The fee is $25/ person and the individual filling out the check must pay for the check (if your community reimburses for this fee they will get a receipt). The turn around is 24hrs for all of the checks and the checks results will be sent to SOO and the volunteer. This is a service that can be utilized for those communities that are currently paying for their police checks. If you have a deal worked out with your local police station you can continue to obtain police checks that way. PLEASE NOTE: the provincial office is only accepting the original police check from now on, unless the check is held by another agency, in which case the Provincial Office will accept a copy along with a note saying why the original could not be produced.

If you have any questions on this please contact Jenn.

SCC Update

Minimum Competition Standards

The SCC has come up with an outline and suggestions as it pertains to minimum competition standards; a survey will be going out to coaches in the region for their input.

When filling out the survey please be cognizant of what you could feasibly supply if you were running the meet. Yes we would like to see lots of things at each competition - but this is a minimum standard that we are looking at.

Unfortunately, often, there are not enough meets for our athletes. If the minimums are too high, it will result in even fewer meets. Hopefully with, the meet guides, having a set of standards and more support from sport technical people, we will be able to supply a better blueprint to follow for holding meets. Of course the results we want are that more communities will get involved and hold (good) meets.

Please encourage all the coaches in your community to take the time to fill in the survey when it comes out. With input from lots of coaches and communities, we should be able to come up with a good set of feasible minimum standards for competitions, the SCC will present the survey findings at the Fall RCM.

Winter Sport Manager

The SCC currently has one vacancy and they are looking for interested volunteers to fill the position of Winter Sports Manager. They would ideally like a volunteer that comes from a community that is not currently represented on the SCC and the volunteer must have some technical background in winter sports and be a current coach of a registered winter team. Any interested volunteers should contact Mary Kay at r2.coordinator@specialolympicsontario.ca

Sport Club Breakouts

Softball

Woodstock C                          June 20, 2009

St. Thomas B&C                     July 11, 2009

Brantford B&C                       July 18, 2009

Stratford B, C, D & T-Ball     August 23, 2009

Track & Field

Brantford                                July 4, 2009

Soccer

Strathroy C&D                       July 19, 2009

London                                   August 2 or 3, 2009

New Business

2009 Provincial Summer Games

Regional Team Manager, Amy Ross, provided an update on the preparations for the Provincial Games. For more information visit the district Website.

Region 1 Coaches Meeting

June 6, 2009 at the Essex Retirees Social Club, Essex

Meeting commenced at 9:00am

In attendance were the following (email and contact information attached): 

Jennifer Klaus, Paul Miner, Brian Camlis, Karen Ryan, Pat Holden, Dave Flynn, Teresa Rauti, Ettore Truaut, Brian Fram, Jim Clarke, Karen Clarke, Cindy LeBrecque, Katie Fitzpatrick, Tom Thompson, Velma Bachtold, Shirley Knudsvig, Jim Wright, Beth Marontate, Marie Mailloux, Jim Marchi, Jacquie Marchi, Jessica Martynse, Janet Morton, and Sloane Crease.

Meeting Chairperson, Jennifer Klaus, greeted everyone and thanked them for coming. Round table introductions followed.

All in attendance were provided with copies of the Special Olympics Ontario (SOO) Spring 2009 Updates. On page 4 of the document, under 2009 Canada Summer Games, Jenn stated that Reisha Baxter was replacing Casey Dielman on the team.  Under 2010 National Summer Games, she stated that SOO hopes to announce in October of 2009, the names of the 2009 Summer Games athletes that will have an opportunity to advance to Nationals.

Under Special Olympics NCCP Coaching Course Offering on Page 6 of the document, Jenn noted that there are minimums required to run the course due to the costs incurred.  At that time, she canvassed the group to see which groups needed spots on a competition course.  Windsor indicated six or seven, and Chatham two. The next course being run in Region 1 will be in the fall of 2009.

Under GST Rebates on page 10 of the document, Jenn indicated that several groups had not been applying for this rebate and stressed that they do so.

Under Best Practices on page 12, note that Doug Shirton has left SOO, and the new Chief Sport Service Officer is Dia Sue-Wah-Sing.

Jenn distributed copies of the Honest Effort Rule (HER) document.  She made it clear that the HER would be implemented at the 2009 Provincial Summer Games, but noted if no divisioning is conducted in a particular event, then the HER does not apply.

Jenn indicated that the Region 1 &2 Website is up and running, but needs content for the site.  It is located atwww.southwest.specialolympicsontario.ca .  She had additional potential email addresses which can be associated to that website. If you want one of these, let her know. Your address would read your surname or position, then the site address. For example lasallecommunitycoordinator@specialolympicsontario.ca

Competition Manager’s Report

Jim Clarke reported that Region 1 preparations are well under way, and showed the group the Region 1 uniforms that had been selected for the upcoming Summer Provincial Games.   There were still a couple athletes who had not submitted paperwork in order to compete, and that was being addressed.

Upcoming Events

Track and Field Meet – after group discussion, the consensus was to have a track meet at the Carrick Complex, behind Sandwich Secondary School in LaSalle on Saturday, July 11, 2009. Jim Wright was to book the facility, and Jenn Klaus to coordinate the meet.

Area Sport Updates

Rhythmic – Windsor is done for the season except for those who qualified for the Games. These athletes are currently training at Nancy Pattison’s Dance Studio on Walker Road, in Windsor.

Softball – Windsor has a predominantly younger group, with two or three older athletes. LaSalle has a predominantly older group but D division. Chatham a B group, and Essex a D group.  Attempts had been made to get the LaSalle team into a tournament out of town, but the tournament was cancelled and the others were full.  Arrangements would be made to have a local fun game for some competition prior to the Games.

Soccer – no new upcoming tournaments. The ICHA and Caboto, both from Windsor, have teams competing in the Games.

Windsor will be starting speed skating and powerlifting, and is looking at possibly floor hockey.

LaSalle is looking at starting 10 pin bowling and snowshoeing.

Breakout discussions followed.

Meeting concluded at 10:50am

Minutes by: Jim Wright, Secretary

Well the results are in.......

All members of the Region 1 and Region 2 teams did an amazing job at the 2009 Windsor Summer Provincial Games. 

For full games results please click on the following link: http://specialolympicswindsor.wordpress.com/

The Games Committee has posted all of the pictures of the games they have and you can browes and download the pictures by visiting the Games website at: http://www.specialolympicswindsor2009.com/

To view the Region 2 results scrapbook, created by their Team Manager Amy Ross, please click here: Region 2 Results from Provincial Summer Games Windsor 2009 

Thanks to all of our sponsors and fans, without you the games wouldn't have been the amazing success that it was.

To all of the athletes: Congratulations on trying your best and on upholding the Athletes Oath. You all made us so proud in Windsor.

A special thank you goes out to the coaches that attended the games with the athletes. Games truly was a success because of your dedication to the athletes. Great job everyone.

The qualifying results for the 2010 National Summer Games will be announced this fall, stay tuned to see if someone you knows qualifies for these games which are being held in London from July 11th-18th, 2010.

NATIONAL COACHES CERTIFICATION PROGRAM (N.C.C.P.)

"COMMUNITY  and COMPETITIVE SPORTS COACH CERTIFICATION COURSE"


National Coaching Certification Program

Special Olympics Competition Sports Coach Course


This is an interactive learning environment where you are encouraged to exchange ideas and

share experiences in an effort to improve your Special Olympic coaching skills.

You will learn to:

*       Identify the athlete's needs and learning effective strategies on adapting your practices
*       Be able to break down the fundamental motor skills of running, jumping and throwing
*       Prepare athletes, parents and coaches for upcoming community competitions
*       Ensuring your practices are planned effectively and safely
*       Prevent and respond effectively to foreseeable emergencies


As a coach, you have made a commitment to Special Olympics Athletes in your community and we as an organization are committed to support and enrich your volunteer experience through ongoing coaching skills development.

The program focuses on essentials such as safety, teaching fundamental motor skills and ethical decision making. During this one day course you will place emphasis on safety, fun, ethics,

Team work, and values beyond the game. Training helps volunteers foster love of the sport, promote participation and teach basic skills to beginners of all ages through a variety of activities.

Provincial Games Coaching Requirements 
Assistant Coaches- Community Sports Coach Course
Head Coaches- Competitive Sports Coach Course

Fall 2010 Calendar

Milton- Community
When:        Sunday August 29th , 2010
Time:         8:30am-4:30pm
Where:       Community Living North Halton 
725 Main Street
Registration:      $45.00

Orillia- Community
When:        Saturday September 11th , 2010
Time:         8:30am-5:00pm
Where:       TBD
Registration:      $45.00

Kitchener/Waterloo- Community
When:        Saturday September 25th, 2010     
Time:         8:30am-5:00pm
Where:       TBD

Registration:      $45.00

Timmins- Competitive
When:        Saturday October 2nd & 3rd, 2010
Time:         8:30am-5:00pm
Where:       TBD
Registration:      $65.00

Windsor- Competitive
When:        Saturday October 2nd & 3rd, 2010
Time:         8:30am-5:00pm
Where:       TBD
Registration:      $65.00

Mississauga- Competitive      
When:        Saturday October 2nd & 3rd, 2010
Time:         8:30am-5:00pm
Where:       TBD
Registration:      $65.00


To register  for an SOO/NCCP course  please visit us :    https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TicketingWelcome.aspx?EventID=25006&LangPref=en-CA


NCCP- Basketball Introduction to Competition:

Course Details
Date: October 2-3, 2010
Location: University of Toronto at Mississauga. Centre for Physical Education.  3359 Mississauga Rd.N Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6
Time: 9:00am-4:30pm both days
Contact: Dia Sue-Wah-Sing, Sport Developer dias@specialolympicsontario.com 
Clinic Fee: $50 for Active  Registered Special Olympics Ontario Coaches .  $325 for all others

Basketball-Introduction to Competition (ITC) is a competency based course.  Participants will download three pre task's and register for a basketball specific Introduction to Competition course offered exclusively through Ontario Basketball.

Topics covered include making ethical decisions, planning a practice and how to develop skills through modified games.  Approximately one quarter of the course will take place in the gym, on a basketball court so participants must be prepared with appropriate gear.


Questions??

Contact Dia 1-888-333-5515 x234 or dias@specialolympicsontario.com