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Students from Kennedy’s Best Buddy program and student government are participating in the fourth annual Project UNIFY.  Three major events are scheduled as part of Project UNIFY with the first scheduled Friday, January 27.  Year 4 Project UNIFY consists of a student forum, Spread the Word to End the Word campaign and a field day of Unified Sports activities.  The student forum will be held Friday January 27^th at the Sportszone in Hiawatha from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm  The purpose of the forum is to get students excited about interacting with each other and working together to promote the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign.  The field day will take place this spring.

Project UNIFY is a US national project, funded by the US Department of Education.  Its goal is to activate young people around the country in an effort to develop school communities where all young people are agents of change – fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities by utilizing the programs and initiatives of Special Olympics.

The purpose of the project is to help young people use their energy and enthusiasm to change attitudes.  They want students to:

• Imagine young people with and without an intellectual disability committed to making a difference in their schools and communities through Special Olympics.
• Imagine young people coming together with a dedicated purpose to acquire and enhance their knowledge and lead their peers, their schools and their communities forward.
• Imagine young people leading the charge to promote effective, safe and inclusive environments for creating and sustaining positive changes through volunteering and contributing to the improvement of their communities.

A second organized effort through Project UNIFY is Spread the Word to End the Word.  Spread the Word to End the Word  is a campaign created by youth, in an ongoing effort with Special Olympics and Best Buddies International, to engage schools, organizations and communities by raising the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encouraging everyone to stop using the R-word.

On March 7, 2012, youth are leading the fourth annual day of awareness to Spread the Word to End the Word by encouraging people to rally and pledge their support of the end of the use of the R-Word and replace it with RESPECT.

Now that it is winter again, children tend to stay indoors more often. When I received a flyer about our towns winter sports program, I realized that it was exactly what I needed for my grade school boys to keep themselves busy before their rowdiness at home drives me crazy.

Ricard, my Grade 3 boy, insists that I stay with him while they have their basketball practice. Since I want to support him and show him that I am interested in his new endeavor, I patiently stay and watch. There are a couple of moms and dads who watch the practices as well. On weekends, most if not all parents are present for the games.

I found out from one of the moms that his son has been in a basketball program since he was a toddler. Im surprised how early kids can start with this sport. My son is just starting to learn about this game at Grade 3, when a few of his team mates where playing the game since age three.

In the practices and games, many parents cheer, including me. A few moms yell instructions to their sons. After the game, some dads discuss strategies with their sons.

Being a new soccer mom, I noticed how supportive and passionate we can get with our childrens sports activities. I believe that our commitment reflects in the total number of Olympic medals won by team USA – a number that cannot be matched even if the total medals of the next country in rank were to be doubled.

It got me thinking that if we, as parents, can be as involved about our childs education as we are with their sports activities, we wouldnt be lagging behind other countries in terms of scholastic performance.

Leaving education solely at the hands of teachers is not working to get top scores for our kids. Wont this translate to how competitive our children will be in the global economy in their generation? As is, America is slipping downwards. We have to get involved. Lets take a look at what we are doing right in motivating our children to excel in sports and figure out how to apply this to propel our kids to succeed in school.

Chacha Tumbokon is the founder of RaiseSmartKid.com, a parents guide on how to raise a smart, intelligent, and bright child – from baby, toddler, preschooler, and school-age kid to teen.

Sheryl Ubelacker

The Canadian Press

Canadians may be a winter-hardy lot overall, but thousands end up in hospital each year after breaking bones on the ski slope or snowboard run, sustaining a concussion from a hit on the hockey rink or suffering multiple injuries in snowmobile crashes.

In the fiscal year 2010-2011, more than 5,600 Canadians of all ages were hospitalized with serious injuries related to winter sports and recreational activities, says a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Skiing and snowboarding accounted for the largest proportion of serious injuries, with more than 2,300 Canadians admitted to hospital after being hurt, CIHI reported Tuesday.

The number of injuries from the two sports combined is more than double the 1,114 hockey-related injuries requiring hospitalization. Other seasonal activities that led to a hospital stay of at least one night included ice skating (889); snowmobiling (1,126); and tobogganing (171).

“These numbers do not include visits that involve only the emergency department or a doctor’s office, or deaths at the scene,” said Greg Webster, CIHI’s director of primary health care information and clinical registries. “So the total number of injuries is actually much higher.”

In fact, the number of injuries from seasonal activities that sent Canadians to emergency departments alone is estimated to be 10 times the number of hospitalizations, said Webster, extrapolating from Ontario data that saw a total of 45,270 ED visits in 2010–2011.

Children and youth aged 10 to 19 accounted for half of all hospitalizations for hockey injuries and almost one-third of those related to skiing and snowboarding falls and crashes, the report found.

“And within that age group, over 80 per cent of the injuries are accounted for by boys,” Webster said. “So this is obviously a group that could be targeted for injury-prevention, both in the area of hockey and also skiing and snowboarding.”

When it comes to children younger than age 10, the most common reason for a hospital stay was an injury from skiing, snowboarding or tobogganing.

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Harney District Hospital will hold a free Physical Therapy Sports Injury Clinic Monday evening, Jan. 30. Students experiencing muscle or joint pain due to sports activities will be seen by a physical therapist to assess injuries and offer recommendations for treatment. To take advantage of this free clinic, call the Physical Therapy office at 541-573-1543 to schedule a time to be seen.

Harney County Library Advisory Board meets the last Monday of each month (except for those dates that fall on national holidays) in the library, 80 West D St., at 6 pm The public is welcome to attend. Use the back door to the left. For more information, call 541-573-7339.

The Burns Lions Club meets every Monday at noon at the Burns Elks Lodge. Those interested in serving the community are welcome.

Communities PRIDE meets every Monday morning from 8 am to 9 am at the Pine Room banquet room. Those interested in the communities of Harney County are welcome to attend and participate in this forum for community involvement for community benefit.

Narcotics Anonymous meets each Monday at 7 pm at Foursquare Church, 74 S. Alvord, Burns.

A Women’s AA meeting is held every Monday at noon at Foursquare Church, 74 S. Alvord, Burns.

Burns Fire Dept. meets each Monday at the Burns Fire Hall at 7 pm

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, the Xiamen government has arranged three main sports activities for sports enthusiasts on 27th Jan and 5th Feb, 2012.

LAHORE-Usman Anwar, Director General Sports Punjab, has said that on the directive of the Punjab Government, SBP is orgainsing Sports Festival 2012 throughout the province to revive the sports culture.
Talking to journalists here on Friday, the director general said that in the initial phase the sports activities are being organised at the Union Council level and around 4310 grounds, which were giving a deserted look, are being used to hold the Sports Festival matches.
“The main purpose of holding such an activity is to weed out talent from the lower level,” he maintained.
On the laying of new austro turf at the National Hockey Stadium, Usman said the work at the stadium will be completed in two months time while the pending works on the sports facilities in the province will soon be completed through public-private partnership and all the resources will be utlised for the promotion of sports in the province to keep the youth secure from bad habits.
Meanwhile, on the fifth day of Punjab Sports Festival, the competitions among various teams union councils all over Punjab continued.
In Lahore, Model Town UC 139 teams participated in cricket semi-finals between Shahid XI vs Rehman XI which was won by Rehman XI while in the second semi-final Zeeshan XI beat Mohsin XI while Rehman XI beat Zeeshan XI in the final.
In UC 127, 131 and 99 final cricket matches were held in which Yasir XI, Butt XI and Waseem XI won the matches. In badminton, union council 126 A and 126 B teams played in the tournament. Amanullah beat Abdul Munim 21-16, 21-10. In the doubles, Shahzad Liaqat and Talha beat Ahsan and Esat 21-15, 21-16. In Cantt Shalamar, cricket matches were held among union councils 46 and 47 teams in which Mujahid XI and Khurram XI won their matches. In union council 46, Saqib, Waqas, Shahzad and Ilyas won the badminton tournaments.
In Lahore, union councils 86, 87, 88 and 89 played volleyball, athletics and hockey competitions while in Union council 84, five cricket matches were held among Allaudin XI vs Anwaar XI,Waqas XI vs Malik Irfan XI,CCB XI vs Tariq Gujar XI,Sarwar Gujar XI vs Ghulam Rasool XI and Allaudin XI vs Anwaar Qasim XI. Union council 85, 86 and 87 cricket teams played single match each.
In Sheikhupura, 101 union councils participated in cricket and kabaddi. At Rawalpindi, all 344 union councils participated in athletics, badminton, cricket, football, hockey, volleyball and kabaddi.
In Chakwal, 68 union councils played athletics, badminton, cricket, football, hockey and kabaddi. In Attock, 72 union councils participated in all games. In Jhelum, 54 union councils teams played all games. In Bahawalpur, 107 union councils teams participated in kabaddi, football, hockey and cricket. Around eight union councils of Bahawalnagar participated in all the games whereas 122 union councils of Rahim Yar Khan participated in kabaddi and hockey. In Gujranwala, 27 union councils participated in kabaddi, football, volleyball, badminton and athletics.

The Palm Beach Gardens Makos swim team will begin its spring season this week. The Makos are composed of four teams at different swim levels and also have two starter programs for beginning swimmers. For information, visit www.pbgfl.com/makos.

Doing It All took first place in the sixth annual Jupiter Billfish Tournament held Jan. 12-13. Captained by Mark Lamb, Doing It All had a two-day point total of 7,800 and edged Miss Annie with 7,400. Miss Annie is captained by Mark Rabenstine. Outlaw, captained by Neil Subin, came in third with 5,700 points.

FC Florida Soccer Club is hosting a developmental league for ages 5-10 on Saturdays from 9-11 am at Dyer Park, 7301 Haverhill Road, West Palm Beach, and Digital Domain Studio Fields, 10250 SW Village Parkway, Port. St. Lucie. The program runs through March 3. Cost is $95 per player. Instructors include Tom Power, Asaf Lubezky, Ian Bishop and Tim Miller. For registration information, visit www.fcflorida.org or contact FCFsoccer

club@gmail.com.

Village of Tequesta Parks and Recreation Department is holding registration for adult and childrens programs. Adult programs include tai chi, mah-jongg, yoga and ballet. Childrens programs include combo dance and gymnastics. Fencing for ages 14 and older, and Zumba for ages 15 and older also are offered . For information, visit www.tequesta.org or call (561) 768-0700.

Palm Beach Gardens will be offering several new programs:

• Boot Camp will be offered on Mondays and Thursdays from 6 to 7 pm and Saturday from 8:15 to 9:15 am at the Burns Road Recreation Center in Palm Beach Gardens. For information call (561) 630-1146 or email sports@pbgfl.com.
• Stroller Power will be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:45 to 9:45 pm at the Burns Road Recreation Center. For information call (561) 630-1146 or email sports@pbgfl.com.
• Pumped-Up Strength will be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11 am at the Burns Road Recreation Center in Palm Beach Gardens. For information call (561) 630-1146 or email sports@pbgfl.com.
• Touch rugby for children ages 12-16. Game is minimal contact. Games Feb. 12, 10 am-noon and March 11, 1-3 pm Both games are at Mirasol Park. For information call (561) 630-1124 or visit www.pbgfl.com.
• Sundays in the Gardens are social coed sports activities for ages 18 and up including basketball, softball, flag football, soccer and volleyball. The fees for each sport vary from $200-$375.
• Registration is open for the Feb. 5 Big Football Game 10K at Mirasol Park. The race is on a certified course and is chip timed. Entry fees are $15 preregistration and $20 on race day. For information call (561) 630-1117 or email sports@pbgfl.com.

The North Palm Beach Country Club hosts 10-and-under/QuickStart division and intermediate and advanced-division junior tennis tournaments. The tournaments will be held Feb. 11, March 10 and April 14 from 9:30 to 11 am For information, call Kim Franklin at (561) 352-4416 or the clubs pro shop at (561) 691-3425.

Registration under way for Greater Palm Beaches Womens Softball Spring Season: New teams and players are being accepted for the league that plays Sundays at Howard Park in downtown West Palm Beach. For information, email softballgalhere@aol.com or call (561) 758-8082.

North Palm Beach is offering Zumba fitness classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 10 am and 5:30 to 6:30 pm and on Saturdays from 10 to 11 am in the Anchorage Activities Building in North Palm Beach. Classes can be bought individually for $7 for residents and $9 for nonresidents or in blocks of 10 or 20 classes. For more information, call (561) 841-3386.

The North County Aquatic Complex, 861 Toney Penna Drive, Jupiter, is offering water aerobics classes Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 10:30 am and Saturdays at 10 am Cost is $4 per class. A 10-class pass is $30. Call (561) 745-0241.

The North County Aquatic Complex in Jupiter is offering an adult swimming program. Coached workouts are held Tuesday through Friday at 5:30 am or 6:45 am; Saturdays at 8 am; Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 am; and Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm The program costs $45 per month. Visit www.NCMI.org, or contact Linda Irish Bostic at lindabostic@gmail.com or (561) 373-1440.

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh is all set
to formulate a Sports Policy soon to give a fillip to sports
activities.

While inaugurating a football tournament here last
evening, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki said that the new policy
would focus on to tap the sporting talent in the state,
official sources said here on Monday.

Tuki asserted that sports in the modern era have
attained the status of an industry, which no state can neglect
if it has to carve a niche for itself in a competitive world.

Srinagar, Jan 17: With whole Valley including ski resort of Gulmarg under a thick snow cover, Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) is ready to kick start its winter sports activities from January 20 in Gulmarg.
The Department will kick start its annual activities with first 15-day snow ski course that will be held from January 20. In the course, 60 boys from all over the Valley are expected to participate in basic, inter-mediate and advance level of course.
The Department is scheduled to organise two courses for boys and one for girls this season. In each course 60 skiers would be imparted training. At the end of the season DYSS is also scheduled to organise Inter-District competitions in which advance level skiers from all over the Valley would be participate.
?We are ready and the courses will probably kick start from January 20 followed by another two courses which included girls one as well? said an official of DYSS.
?The report about the snow condition at Gulmarg is encouraging and we are hoping that this time we will get long season. We will be able to organise competitions as well,? he said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST

“There’s an opportunity for us to jump this to a level of excellence that, in my mind, represents what the campus represents,” said Ky Snyder, USD executive director of athletics. “We’ve been a little behind what the campus represents.

“We started with a strategic plan of getting a real solid athletic program that focuses on winning conference championships while developing exceptional graduates.”

USD has won the WCC Commissioner’s Cup, which is awarded to the top performing school in the conference, four straight years.

“This is that next step toward excellence,” said Snyder.

There is the misperception, he said, that the athletic department is housed in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Actually, only about 10 percent of the staff is there, with the remainder spread out in five other buildings on campus. And, said Snyder, “quite frankly we’re in some old facilities.”

That is about to change. In addition to Fowler Park, Phase I is to include:

oA golf/softball facility that will include a practice facility for golf that has a 100-yard driving range and two greens. Adjacent to that will be the golf locker room and clubhouse. The softball locker room and clubhouse will be located there as well and lead right to the softball field.

oA club sports facility located across from Manchester Field, where most of the club sports activities take place, that will provide an area club teams can call home.

oRenovations to the Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center.

oOperational and scholarship endowments.

In Phase II, there are plans for an Intercollegiate Athletic Center among other things.

All of the projects will reflect the university’s 16th century Spanish Renaissance architecture.

“We tried as much as we could to make these projects independent of each other,” said Snyder. “So if funding came for one project it’s not as if this has to go, then this and this.”