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Special Olympics Maryland forms

Please note: When you are asked to fill out a volunteer application in order to become a volunteer, or to be recertified as a volunteer, this first form is the form to be filled out. It is not only used for Unified partners.
   Volunteer / Unified Partner application (updated for 2016 [for Unified Partners], release, contact information).   Mandatory - Must be completed by volunteers and/or Unified Partners before participation in Special Olympics Maryland events and competitions. This form has been revised, and now includes a combined section for a sign off on the Housing policy and the Concussion Information sheet, see links to the full explanations below. Parts of this form may now be completed on your computer, but you must print out the form and sign it in all the appropriate places before submitting it.
   Communicable Disease Waiver form Required for all volunteers, explains COVID risks. Three page form, please print, sign, and return the last page.
   Student / minor volunteer references Additional mandatory form for volunteer applicants 17 years of age or younger. Parts of this form may now be completed on your computer, but you must print out the form and sign it in all the appropriate places before submitting it. A completed Volunteer Unified Partner application must also be submitted.

   Athlete's application (medical, release, contact information).   Mandatory - Must be completed before athletes may practice or compete. Updated forms required every three years. This form has been revised this year, and there are new requirements (mandated by Special Olympics International) for completing the form. A couple of additional forms may be required, depending on the athlete's individual situation. There are 5 pages included in the revised form:
    The first 2 pages should be completed by the athlete or by the responsible parent / caregiver (required)
    The third page should be completed by the medical professional handling the athlete's examination (required)
    The fourth page is only required if the athlete is not cleared by the physician who completed page 3 and is referred to a medical specialist for follow up before being released for participation
    The last page is the waiver / release page, and must be completed and signed (note that if a block is checked in section 4 on this page, a new additional form will be required)
            Emergency Care refusal - athlete signing on own behalf (necessary if either block in section 4, page 5 was checked)
            Emergency Care refusal - parent or caregiver signing on behalf of the athlete (necessary if either block in section 4, page 5 was checked)
         This form is also required that may be required if the athlete is referred
            Special Release form for spinal issues - required when athlete is referred to a neurologist for follow up for spinal compression issues or atlanto-axial instability symptoms
Portions of these athlete forms may be completed on your computer before printing them. All appropriate signatures must be obtained before submitting the required forms.

   Housing Policy Explains SOMD policy and guidelines for competitions where athletes stay overnight.
   Concussion Information sheet Great information for all people involved in sports where a disproportionate amount of concussions occur.
   First Report of Accident / Incident SOMD incident or accident reporting form. Coaches should have copies of these forms at all practices and competitions. Note that our Area Director, Katy Schieman, should also be notified anytime that one of these forms is required.

Director's Corner

Special Olympics AA county offers sports training and competition. The minimum age for participation is 8 years old. However, the Anne Arundel County Public School system, in conjunction with the state level program, Special Olympics Maryland, offers a Young Athletes program for participants as young as 2 years old. Please contact AA County Schools for more info regarding this program.

Katy Schieman is the Area Director for Special Olympics Anne Arundel County. Please contact Katy with any questions or concerns related to Special Olympics AA County. Katy's email - kks412@yahoo.com, phone # 410-672-5685. Thank you for your cooperation. Our fax number will be out of service for a little while until we can establish a new number.

Special Olympics Maryland has updated their on-line donation process to allow donors to specify a local program to receive their gift. Please go to our Fundraising page using the link at the top of this page to see instructions for using SOMD's new donation page. And, as always, we thank you for your support.

Important notice: Procedures for athlete participation in our sports.

What: We are now requiring that athletes pre-register for all sports in which they will be participating.

When: The registration period will close at least 1week prior to the first practice for that sport. Registration will open approximately 2 or 3 weeks prior to the closing date. Specific beginning and ending dates will be posted here on our web site, and will be sent out by Constant Contact email to people who have previously registered to receive email notices (Constant Contact registration link on the right side of this page). Those dates will take precedence over the estimated dates described above in this section. Note that if you miss the registration period, you will not be eligible to participate in that sport during the current season.

Why: Pre-registration will allow us to identify athletes who will need to submit new Athlete Application forms, including the medical forms, before SOMD deadlines for participating in practices or competitions in this sport. For team sports, we can identify who is returning, and the number of athletes participating on teams. For some sports like kayaking, bocce, tenpin bowling, and duckpin bowling, the number of athletes that can participate may be limited by available equipment or by the number of lanes / courts available. For all sports, we may have to institute waiting lists, for those who register after all of the available slots for the current year have been filled.

How: Contact our Sports Registration Coordinator, Donna Merten by email, during the pre-registration period. Her email address will appear in the pre-registration box at the top of the right hand column when we are accepting athlete registrations. Be sure to include the athlete's name and the sport that the athlete is registering for. Do not send your email to our Area Director or to our Sports Director. They will redirect you to send an email to Donna, and the delay might impact your position in the queue for your requested sport.

We have incorporated above the registration rules into our athlete's General Rules for Participation in AA County Special Olympics document, which explains our expectations regarding attendance at practices and at competitions for which the athlete has signed up to participate, participation in multiple sports in the same season, return of uniforms, medical form requirement, along with the consequences to the athletes that fail to abide by these rules. The rules document may be seen by clicking here.

Attention please: Effective for all sports, caregivers are required to come to the sign-in table with their athletes when checking in. No drop offs please. Also, athletes must remain at the practice venue with a coach until a caregiver comes in to get them. These are being implemented to ensure the safety of our athletes. Failure to abide by these procedures will mean that the caregiver must remain at the venue for the duration of the practice / event, or the athlete will not be allowed to participate.

SOMD has developed Codes of Conduct for Special Olympics athletes & unified partners, coaches, officials, volunteers & spectators, and family members & caregivers. There are also explanations for handling code infractions, immediate suspensions, and for the conduct committees and their responsibilities. To view these codes of conduct on their web site please click here.

For information about volunteer opportunities with our program, please contact our volunteer coordinator, Eva Tucholski (EvaTucholski@comcast.net ). Coaches and assistant coaches must be at least 18 years old, and must undergo a background check. Volunteers who assist at events or practices may be younger than 18, but volunteers who are under 16 must be supervised by a parent or guardian. You must contact Eva (email above) in order to attend upcoming volunteer training sessions.

To make information about our programs more available, we have added contact email addresses for our head coaches to each of the pages for our sports programs.

I wish to make athletes, parents, and caregivers aware that after discussions with Special Olympics, Inc., and Special Olympics North America, Special Olympics Maryland (SOMD) will be enforcing age group regulations for teams. The age groupings that SOMD will use are 8 - 11, 12 - 15, 16 - 21, 22 - 39, 40 and over. Additional groups may be possible in the 22 and over group, depending on the numbers of adult participants. The regulatory article, Article 1 of the Sports Rules is available on Special Olympics USA's web site. See Sports Rules, Article 1 for details (scroll down to Section H on page 7). Note that SOMD has decided to subdivide the upper and lower age groupings for teams.

For Facebook fans, we have a group in Facebook - Special Olympics Maryland, Anne Arundel County. Messages about upcoming events, last minute cancellations, and the start of our sports seasons will be posted here. Link to our Facebook Page here, and join our group!.

If you have any questions about our program, feel free to contact me, via phone, fax, e-mail, or regular post, and I will respond as quickly as I can.

Katy Schieman kks412@yahoo.com

Coming Events

Coaches' training

Special Olympics Maryland has revamped their web site, now offering a coach's resource page listing training opportunities for coaches, and describing the various level requirements for coaches and volunteers:
SOMD's Coach resource page
There is also information regarding coaches' current training status, according to SOMD's records.

Coaches should advise Pru Sahadeo when they plan to attend classes.

Volunteers' training links

All coaches and volunteers are required to complete Protective Behaviors training and Concussion training courses to be certified as volunteers eligible to work with Special Olympics athletes, and this training must be completed every 3 years in order to remain certified volunteers.

Training classes are offered by Special Olympics AA County. Next class TBD, at the Busch Annapolis Public Library. Registration is required - please send an email to our volunteer coordinator Eva Tucholski
If the link does not open your email application, send an email to: evatucholski@comcast.net.

Or, you may take the courses on-line, using these links:
Protective Behaviors - http;//resources.specialolympics.org/protective_behaviors_training.aspx
Concussion Training - https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/training/
When you complete the on-line training, please be sure to save copies of your completion certificates, and submit one copy of each certificate to our Area Director Katy Schieman using this email link. You may also use either the postal mailing address listed at the bottom of the page to submit printed copies.

Current sports:
Bocce
Softball
Track & Field

A Sports summary page with info (practice times and locations, competitions) about all of the sports we offer is available by clicking here.

Qualifiers and tournaments are tentative at this point. Please check with your coaches for updates regarding these activities.

Forms

Director's Corner

Coming Events

Contact Information