June 2020

June 24, 2020: Your June update

Hey Cruisers Family!

We hope that you continue to stay safe and are starting to enjoy a few new freedoms as some of the restrictions lessen.  This month our focus is an update on Return to Sport and what this will entail for Cruisers Sports.  We would also like to share some important announcements about the Alexander J. Szerenyi Scholarship; Beacham Fun Day; Saturday Socials; financial impacts of Covid-19 and how you can help.

Return to Sport

Cruisers Sports is fully committed to the health and safety of our members as we start to see some sport and recreation opportunities resume. We know that there are many questions that you may have with regards to returning to sport and we wanted to ensure that all of our members have some context around the process and expectations in getting back to our various sports.

There are several steps that Cruisers Sports needs to work through before we can resume our programming:

• First step is the Government of Ontario and the Public Health Region orders need to allow for that sport to resume training
• Once those orders include our sports, we need the National Sport Organization and Provincial Sport Organization Return to Sport guidelines/requirements to be published
• Once those guidelines are available, we need to then take them and apply them to our Club’s programs and athletes to make our own protocols. This includes:
• Completing a Club Risk Assessment and Risk Mitigation Tool
• The Club Risk Assessment form evaluates the initial risk in returning to training – if you do not meet a certain threshold in the initial risk assessment, we can’t move forward with our programming until
• If we meet that minimum threshold, then we need to go through a second form of mandatory risk mitigation strategies that we must implement
• We will need to go through this for every program and every facility so it’s a very labor and time intensive process
• Develop our own Return to Sport protocols that align with the requirements of our    NSO/PSO, as well as incorporating the mitigation strategies discussed above
• Engage with our municipal and facility partners to incorporate their requirements into our protocols
• Once all these aspects have been completed and approved by the Board, we need to start preparing for programming to start. This includes:
• Acquiring mandatory supplies including disinfectants, masks, and gloves.
• Developing new waivers, checklists, screening forms, etc.
• Informing our members of new processes and expectations prior to the first practice
• Coordinating start dates with facilities and doing a test run to ensure protocols can be delivered as written

Where does this bring us today? We are currently in the process of developing our Para Athletics Return to Sport protocols as Athletics Canada and Athletics Ontario have released their guidelines. We are also working with our facility partners to confirm an opening date as currently all our facilities that we utilize are closed. All other sport programs are waiting for the return to sport protocols from their respective Provincial and National Sport Organizations.

As you can see, the process to Return to Sport is very intensive and intended to keep everyone safe.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out directly to your sport director:

Lisa Myers, Director of Para Athletics paraathletics@cruisers-sports.com

Kathy Ludwig, Director of Wheelchair Basketball basketball@cruisers-sports.com

Tiffany Gaudette, Director of Multisport & Boccia multisports@cruisers-sports.com

Ken Hall, Director of Para Ice Hockey paraicehockey@cruisers-sports.com

Alexander J. Szerenyi Scholarship Award - Deadline July 15^th, 2020

The Alexander J. Szerenyi Scholarship Award is valued at $3000 towards tuition for a member of Cruisers Sports who meets the following criteria: individuals who are or will be attending a Post-Secondary Educational Institute in Canada and who have a physical disability.  The application process is as follows:

• Proof of registration/acceptance from a post-secondary institute
• Letter of reference from someone who can support your application
• Personal statement essay (250-500 words) covering (How sport positively impacted your life, an example of you as a leader, attribute, quality or skills that distinguishes you from other applicants, how did you develop this attribute and what is your 5 year plan and how does academic pursuit help you achieve this plan)

The deadline is July 15^th, 2020 and the application link is: www.cruisers-sports.com/assets/forms/Alexander_J_Szerenyi_Award.pdf

Beacham Summer Fun Day: 

This annual event started a number of years ago as day for children of all abilities to come together in memory of Linda Beacham (former Cruisers Sports President) and this year we will continue this tradition however VIRTUALLY.  Tiffany Gaudette-Cina is working on this year’s event and we will be sending information out in the next week or two.  Please watch your email and social media feeds for more information.  If you are interested in helping with the event please reach out to Tiffany at: multisports@cruisers-sports.com

Upcoming Saturday Socials:

June 27 - Bring Your Pet to Zoom Day (no pets required) with Alisson and Taylor Hanson and Stephanie Visentin.  Special guests include Winston, Spot, Hustvedt, Remington and Tiesto.

We are looking for hosts and content for the summer months (and beyond).  Please give us feedback  in this 2 min survey https://forms.gle/WjyvSPGj44kfQRoZ8 or contact vicepresident@cruisers-sports.com to be a part of the Cruisers Saturday Social.

Financial Impacts of COVID-19

As we all know and may be experiencing personally, Covid-19 has had huge impacts for our economy and individuals in Canada.  Cruisers Sports is no different.  On the one hand we have far fewer costs because we are not incurring our regular programming expenses.  On the flip side our regular fundraising efforts and sponsorships are not in place to help cover upcoming costs and many granting programs are postponed until further notice.  As always, we work very hard to ensure that our sports offerings are at a very reasonable cost to our members and are always looking at new ways to fundraise for our club. Here are two ways in which our members can help us in raising funds at this time:

FlipGive

FlipGive is a team funding app that simplifies raising money for sports teams, schools, community groups and organizations.  With FlipGive, Cruisers Sports can ask for donations, shop online with popular brands like Amazon, Indigo, Apple, Under Armour, Old Navy, Nike, Walmart, Wild Wings, Starbuks, Tim Hortons and hundreds of brands and stores.   Buy e-gift cards to restaurants and Cruisers Sports will earn cash!  If you purchase these items anyways, it would be great if you run it through the app and Cruisers Sports. 

You can join Cruisers Sports now using our invite code T5S4YQ in one of 2 ways:

1. Download the FlipGive app at www.flipgive.com/app?joincode=T5S4YQ
2. Join online at www.flipgive.com/teams/join?fundraiser_name=Cruisers+Sports&joincode=T5S4YQ

Remember to use FlipGive BEFORE you shop online so we'll earn cash back.  Invite your teammates and motivate each other to earn more. Simply share our unique team invite code to get them on board. FlipGive will track how much each team member has earned and provide us with weekly progress reports.  If you prefer to shop anonymously, you can do that too!

The funds add up very quickly.  We have currently raised $1,361 of our $5,000 goal.  If you have any questions email Stephanie Visentin at fundraising@cruisers-sports.com

Sharing Your Story using Facebook Donation:

Recently one of our members, Nandini Sharma, shared her injury story and the impact that sports has made on her life, with a link to donate to Cruisers Sports. Nandini was not only able to raise $355 for Cruisers Sports through this post, but increased the awareness of our club through her Facebook Network. This is a great and easy way to be able to raise awareness around the impact of sport and Cruisers Sports, as well as helping us raise funds for our programs and services.  If you’re interested in doing a similar fundraising initiative, here are the steps to request a donation to Cruisers Sports through Facebook:

• Click “fundraisers” on the left side of your screen (you may need to click “see more” to access this option
• You will be taken to a separate page.  There click “select non-profit”.  Type in Cruisers Sports (we are there you may just need to scroll to find us)
• Select a target amount and an end date for your fundraiser, click “next” then create a title and describe “why you are raising money” click “next.  Lastly pick a cover photo and click “create”.

Stay Safe and healthy everyone and see we hope to see you connect in some fun via social media in the coming days.