As we ready for the winter ahead, Ontario Disc Sports Association is just winding down it's 8 week Disc Sports Tour Outreach Program. It's been a busy past few months finishing the name transition from DISCANADA to Ontario Disc Sports Association and quite the task coordinating the disc sports tour.
But it's all come together and we can look to 2007 with an eye on future funding and the growth of disc sports throughout the province.
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For those that have been following, Ontario Disc Sports Association received a Sports Development Initiative grant to teach Ultimate and Disc Golf throughout the province. It's been an arduous task as the grant was confirmed just 3 weeks prior to the proposed start date of the tour. Obviously, some modifications needed to be made.
In consultation with the two contracted instructors, Dusan and Johnathan, we decided to push the start date back 1 month in order to approach the project with a clear and unhurried approach. Second major task was bringing a naming sponsor on board to cover a portion of the required project cost. Unfortunately, we were unable to confirm partner participation due to time constraints.
Faced with this predicament, it was clear that the fastest way to bring the costs in line was to cut the tour back. Discussions with our instructors led to the tour being cut back to a 6 week tour. It was stated that we'd hoped to extend the tour up to 8 weeks if we could look for further savings. This could be achieved only through further reductions in accounts payable with our partners, the vendors of discs and apparel. We also needed to abandon our hopes of staying in hotels every night and to reach out to the leagues and clubs within the towns and cities where we were teaching for some billeting. I'm glad to say that all of this was achieved and we'd like to thank all of those involved in the effort, for the much appreciated accommodations and the discounts. You kept us out there, and in the end, it made the difference!
Once the tour comes to an end on November 30th, we will have taught at 56 schools and engaged 4,243 students. We ramped up and taught 742 students in the North Region during the first 2 weeks, then 1452 students in the East Region in the 3 weeks that followed and another 2049 students in the final 3 weeks in the South Region. All in all, a very successful endeavor. We've been surveying the schools and the kids have continued to play since we left. The program has received an overwhelming stamp of approval and programs will be adopted as part of the curriculum and carried forward in the future.
We know that this will make a difference in your future course and leagues growth. We only hope you embrace it and move it forward....
What is the purpose of a PSO - Provincial Sports Organization? One of the key deliverables of the ODSA is to educate the masses. With our recent Disc Sports Tour, we hope we've made a difference in educating numerous communities about their leagues, courses and offerings available as a new recreation alternative.
We've constantly updated our website on where we've been, what apparatus and tools we left behind to support future play as well as provided an overview of the numbers of students reached and the disc sport taught in each school.
What is left to accomplish is for individual clubs, leagues and courses to embrace these efforts by mentoring these schools and the students. Contact the the schools in your respective area from the information that has been provided (right off the ODSA website, under the schedules sections). We mentioned your leagues and efforts as part of our communication to the schools.
We positioned this program as a Sports Development Initiative presented by our PSO & local clubs & courses (for example...'presented by ODSA, the local London Ultimate Club (LUC) and the Disc Golf course at St. Julien's Park' in order to highlight the local connection.
We truly hope that you and your club will now take the lead and move this forward. The schools now have the tools, they need local mentors to continue to help build momentum and provide expertise.
As your league or club approaches the important task of establishing a mentoring program with your local schools, remember that a key requirement is to demonstrate that a background check has been performed on all volunteers who will engage with the students. This process is relatively straight forward.
Have your volunteers contact the local police force, let them know that you want to go into schools to teach students about disc sports and that you will require what is called "Vulnerable Sector Screening" in order to prove that your record is clean. Provide the required information and pay the fee, which should be under $30 (clubs should reimburse these fees). It will likely take approximately two weeks for the police force to produce the certified paperwork and you're good to go.
Then contact the identified school contacts, let them know that you're from their local club, course and/or league and that you're following up on the ODSA Disc Sports Tour outreach program and you'd like to continue to mentor the school and the students. Offer to start an Ultimate intramural after- school program, or invite the kids to the local disc course for some additional instruction and play. By mentioning that you have secured VSS documentation, this will go a long way to making the whole process easy. Based on the feedback we've received, the schools will embrace this.
Schools have been given class sets of discs, practice targets, teaching materials, DVD's and videos. Help them help themselves and reach out to your local community by providing this guidance. It will go along way to growing future participation in your area and only costs the screening fees.
Further if your club is a member of ODSA, then you're a member and fully insured to carry forward programming anywhere in the province. If your club is not a member, contact us and we will work to provide you with necessary insurance coverage.
Remember if you do Move It Forward...Please let us know.
Ontario unveiled it's newest Disc Golf course in Brantford on October 29th and it's with great pleasure that we acknowledge the efforts of Melissa Lancaster and her crew for bringing another one into the mix.
As we publish this newsletter, future courses are being investigated and planned in areas including Alymer, Dryden, Guelph, Kitchener, Strathroy and St. Thomas. More on these efforts, in future communications.
Although I've put together teaching outreach programs, over a decade ago, this, by far, has been the most rewarding experience to date. My hat is off to Dusan Nedelko and Johnathan Gravel for their extraordinary efforts. To say they were a hit with the schools is an understatement. Their dedication to taking these sports forward has been awesome to see. While I too have volunteered a lot of time to get the organization off the ground and launch this initiative, I know this is exactly what this province and these sports needed to get a jump start on the future. The future looks bright!
Please pass this message along to all your members!
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May his spirit live forever! 1970-2010 
