Post by schlager7 on Feb 14, 2009 21:22:45 GMT -6
Wheelchair Task Force
Report to the Board of Directors
January 2009
Report to the Board of Directors
January 2009
The task force for wheelchair fencing was created anew in the fall of 2008. Task force members include: Gary van der Wege (chair), Sean Shumate, Dennis Aspy, Jon Moss, Michael Dasaro Jr., Terry Harkey and Ginny Boydston , with Les Stawicki and Christine Simmons as advisors.
With the simple charge of, "increase wheelchair fencing in the US," we have set forth the following mission statement:
Whereas there is a need and desire to provide access to the sport of fencing to the disabled community, it shall be the goal of the WHEELCHAIR FENCING TASK FORCE of the USFA to do the following:
Increase the number of grass root and competitive wheelchair fencers in the US.
Help further the development of coaching for wheelchair fencers in the US.
Increase communication among all persons with an interest in wheelchair fencing.
Provide more training and competitions for wheelchair fencers.
Create and/or utilize human, monetary, equipment and facility resources to achieve these goals.
With no budget or funding available at this point, we felt our primary emphasis was to create a database of both athletes and coaches, and institute a regularly scheduled newsletter to keep everyone informed and stimulate communication. The first Sit and Fight Newsletter went out in December.
With Mario Rodriguez acting as web master, a new website was launched. wheelchairfencer.org is now online and in the process of being linked to both the USFA and other sites.
It is disheartening that US Paralympics has decided to not provide any funding to our program, so we are asking that complete governance of our program be changed to that of the USFA. We understand that the current financial constraints may make things difficult, but also look forward to the potential of new outside resources.
Our competition focus will be on having a good turn-out for the Atlanta NAC and Summer Nationals, and are also looking to create more regional events including combined AB and chair competition formats. There is a dire need of training camps for both athletes and coaches.
We will continue to seek creative new ways to market our program to both the potential athlete and coach. We humbly believe even the smallest amount of funding will be put to good use and is sorely needed.
Respectfully submitted,
Gary M van der Wege