Sport Virgin Islands Project #5464

Using Sport For Social Change

by St. John Community Foundation

Project Report | May 10, 2011
May 5th, 2011 Report

By Celia Kalousek | Executive Director, St. John Community Foundation

Surfers had a ball in Tortola...Just Play Oct 10th coming up!

The Tortola Surf Classic, organized and hosted by Island Surf And Sail in Tortola, allowed Using Sport For Social Change to hold an essay contest for local Virgin Island youth surfers 17 years of age and younger....and 7 kids from STT-STJ received an all expenses paid trip over for the event! The essay contest, in conjunction with Southland Gaming, The St. John Community Foundation and the Parks and Recs Department of St. Thomas and St. John was the first of its kind and definately something to look forward to next year! Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible. Check out the amazing photos and videos by going to http://www.usingsportsforsocialchange.com or surfcostarica.org one of our local resident's Phillip Hall who lives in Costa Rica came to the event and captured it brilliantly!

The 3rd annual "Just Play" day will be on October 10th of this year. We are looking forward to another wonderful day of sports for the youth and community of St. John. We had a kick off party at La Tapa to recap last year and start the ball rolling for this year's event.

We welcome back our two main sponsors from last year Verace St. John and St. John Catering! Verace St. John provided the 1st place trophies and the participant medals, while St. John Catering provided an amazing meal of pasta, salad and bread for all 200+ participants and Volunteers. Can't wait to see what they "cook up" for this October! We hope to include entertainment from the Love City Leapers, the Pandragon's and musical guest King Fidel, as well as moderator, St. John's own Brenda Wallace. We plan to organize another inspirational speaker, like last year's Reginald Cyntje who provided an uplifting message of "Each One, Teach One". Reginald spoke about helping your friends and family by teaching them something you know about, and have them teach you something new. By doing so, everyone can bring about positive change in their lives....and THAT is what Using Sports for Social Change is ALL about ... "Focusing on Virgin Island youth through sports and fitness, giving them the confidence they need to set personal goals, achieve their aspirations and create opportunity for themselves, their family and their community."

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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Feb 7, 2011
February 1, 2011 Report

By Paul Devine | Executive Director, St. John Community Foundation

As a follow-up to the October 11 "Just Play" event, we are pleased to announce another great sport event for our St. John youth! Because of your donations and support, Using Sport For Social Change (USFSC) will help sponsor the Tortola Surf Classic. This event 2-day event will provide opportunities for youth to learn and take part in the sport of surfing.

USFSC will be holding an essay contest for youth which will ask how surfing and other sport activities can benefit them. The best essays from three youth from St. John and three youth from St. Thomas will be judged by local government and non-profit agencies and the winners will receive expense paid travel to the event and entrance fees. This new event was organized by Mr. Dean Doeling of the Nike Corporation in cooperation with Scott Hustins of Island Surf and Sail in Tortola. Additional sponsors are the St. John Community Foundation, VI Parks and Recreation and Southland Gaming. In addition to the essay winners, we expect 20 youths from St. John will participate and as many as 10 from St. Thomas. We are now reaching out to St. Croix youth for participation from that island.

This is another example of how your donations have helped continue the USFSC program. A program such as this is allowing us to reach youth from other islands. The hope is that a new communication can be formed where participants from other than St. John may participate in not only the annual "Just Play" event but in other sporting activities.

Thanks to your donations, the USFSC program has been a resounding success and will be able to continue through 2011 and beyond. Continued partnerships and donations will make this possible and we hope for your continued support.

Links:

Attachments:

Tortola Surf Classic (PDF)

1 Attachment

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Nov 8, 2010
November 5 Just Play Report

By Paul Devine | Executive Director, St. John Community Foundation

Thanks to all who donated to the October 11 "Just Play" event. It was a HUGE success...beyond even our expectations! Because of your donations, Using Sport For Social Change (USFSC) provided a very active day for almost 200 children. The day consisted of games and activities for children age 2 to 6 and non-competitive sporting events for children age 7 to 18. The event was organized by Mr. Dean Doeling of the Nike Corporation. Nike provided boxes of clothing, sneakers, balls and other athletic equipment. The financials for the entire event was provided by the St. John Community Foundation as fiscal agent. The day began with a welcome and warm-up exercises for all children which included aerobic exercises and a short run. From there, the children were formed into groups and the games began! A few days prior to the event, a group of volunteers met to organize the event prizes, free clothing giveaways and participant numbering tags. All items were sized, arranged by color and boxed. The pre-organization was key to the smooth operation of the event itself and it was done in an all-volunteer fashion as was the event itself. In terms of organization, 112 children did pre-registrations. This gave us a good idea of clothing sizes and groupings. The remainder of the children registered the day of and were immediately assigned a number and a group. The activities numbered ten different events where all groups participated in five events prior to lunch and five events after lunch. The younger children were provided a separate area where games, crafts and running events took place. Lunch was provided by a local caterer as a community service! In all there were 37 volunteers throughout the day who oversaw events, served food, signed up participants, moderated, supplied water and ice and a variety of other services. The playing field was mowed and cleaned by the local Parks and Recreation agency. Effectively, the event had 250 participants including children, adult volunteers and other service providers. The day ended with a prizes for event first, second and third place finishers and a gift bag for every participant. The second annual "Just Play" day was an enormous success and plans for the 2011 event are now starting. Nike, Inc has promised additional equipment for next year's event and we anticipate an even larger volunteer base and number of participants. We thank all our supporters and hope that the same report will continue in 2011.

Links:

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