Huskerland Newsletter

Transcription

1 October/November 2013 Huskerland Newsletter Inside this issue: AAU Insurance 1 Club Dues & AAU Card 2 Club Dues & AAU Card Cont d 3 AAU Extended Coverage 4 October/November Calendar 5 AAU INSURANCE OVERVIEW AAU INSURANCE PROGRAM INTRODUCTION Millions of young athletes participate in sports across America on a daily basis. Numerous volunteers give countless hours in coaching young athletes and in directing and hosting events. While undeniably a noble pursuit there is an inherent risk involved in any athletic endeavor whether as an athlete, coach, bench personnel, administrator, instructor, manager, official, team leader, tournament director, volunteer, spectator, parent or event operator. The AAU of the US, Inc. has attempted to address many of those inherent risks through a comprehensive insurance program that is second to none in the youth sport industry. Since 1888, the AAU has been the leader in the amateur market in setting standards of protection. The AAU s insurance program is a benefit of membership and extends to those who are members of the AAU or affiliated with the AAU through its members. Membership categories are athletes, nonathletes and clubs. The AAU insurance program is comprehensive in nature and provides protection for athletes while participating in competitions and practices, coaches while instructing, event operators while conducting sanctioned events, spectators while attending events, and facilities while partnering with AAU members, to name a few. The AAU insurance program includes sports accident, general liability, extended coverage (A/B), and insurance certificates (verification of insurance, third party addtl insured certificates). Should anyone be involved in an incident they will need to file an incident report and then file a claim (sports accident form, non-member incident form, property dam-

2 Page 2 Club Dues & AAU Cards for The Huskerland Club Dues are still $40. Just go to the Huskerland Website and click on Membership to pay your dues. Best to get that done ASAP so you have your insurance binder mailed to you and that the correct contact information for your club is provided to us. We will have your contact info posted on our list of Participating Clubs. By paying your $40 club dues your club will have AAU Blanket Insurance coverage through the Huskerland League that is listed with the AAU. If you host a tournament it is under the umbrella as a Huskerland League tournament without having to file an AAU event sanction. For this coverage the clubs will need to require that all participants provide their AAU Card numbers on their entry form but you don t need to have the wrestlers show their card at the event site. More information about AAU Insurance can be found below in AAU Insurance Overview and by clicking on AAU Insurance Program Summary. We strongly recommend that you obtain AAU for all your wrestlers and coaches, even for wrestlers who do not plan to enter tournaments. I have a very important statement from Jamie Bates, Head Coach at Wilber-Clatonia High on AAU Cards. I use to not make my kids get them. We will from now on. I had a kid who did not have a card get hurt last year. Two ambulance rides and two emergency room visit later his bill was over $10,000. I think they are a must, I think wrestling has gotten way to expensive for little kids but this is a cost that should not be trimmed. We feel it is the prudent thing to do as a club to require all your wrestlers and coaches obtain AAU Cards. The AAU has made obtaining insurance coverage both affordable and manageable. Besides getting cards for all your coaches please have your club and tournament directors obtain cards also. AAU Youth Athlete Cards for wrestlers are $14 or $16. The higher priced $16 card has extended coverage that provides coverage at Non-AAU wrestling events. We feel the $16 card will be the better option in most cases. AAU Non-Athlete Cards for coaches, club directors, tournament directors, and officials are $16 or $18. We feel in most cases that the $18 card is the best option. Additional information for the Extended Coverage (AB) Cards can be found below. Please obtain cards for all your wrestlers and coaches by going on-line at aauwrestling.net and click on Join AAU. Special note that obtaining cards for coaches might take two weeks for background checks. Any questions that you have with please contact Jason at jason.cullison@nsdtitans.org.

3 Page 3 Club Dues & AAU Cards for , Cont. The adults obtaining AAU Cards will be required to register for Positive Coaching Alliance's Level 1 AAU coach training -- "Double-Goal Coach: Coaching for Winning and Life Lessons." I need to admit I put off taking this course online course as long as I could. It will take a couple of hours of your time to complete it. Note that 96% of the coaches who have completed this training said they'd use "some" or "a lot" of the content in their coaching this year. After taking the course I would certainly agree with that statement. What I got out of the course is that we need to make wrestling a positive experience for all kids not just those who are having good success. With 14 weight classes to fill at the high school level the clubs that do the best job at keeping kids in wrestling are doing the most to help those kids but also doing the most to help their high school programs. I realize that most of our clubs know their coaches and background checks seem a waste of time. Due to the nature of our sport as a close contact situation for coaches with their wrestlers this is a great deal that the AAU is doing this. If the background checks prevent one person in this state from slipping through the cracks the AAU has done a great service for our sport. Holding a current AAU Card will be a requirement for all four of our state level events for all wrestlers and coaches. It will also be required for AAU Winter Nationals that will be held at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha on January 11 th. This event has seen some great growth and is a very well run event. It is also tied to the Tulsa Nationals as a Youth Point Qualifier. Dan Vacha who does the TrackWrestling for Huskerland and AAU State events is the tournament director. Dan has done an excellent job with this event and is working hard to make it a premier event in the Midwest. There is a cap set at 1000 wrestlers. Enter early so you don t get left out. Members of Huskerland Clubs will be able to enter for just $25. Action will take place on 14 mats and draws wrestlers from over 15 different states. I wish the best for you and your club for the upcoming season. I am as excited about this season as I was when I founded Huskerland Wrestling 29 years ago. I will still be wearing the stripes this winter as my old body is still holding up pretty good. Take care of business and give your all to your young wrestlers. This is a great sport that we all love and enjoy giving back to. Craig

4 Page 4 AAU EXTENDED COVERAGE (AB) The Extended Coverage (AB) coverage program was developed to extend coverage for AAU members while participating in events hosted by organizations that are not member clubs of the AAU. Coverage in this program is provided for properly registered athletes or non-athletes for events in the United States of America (including its territories and possessions) Puerto Rico. To have extended coverage (AB), the following criteria applies: For team competitions, the entire competing team and coach (non-athlete) must be AAU extended coverage (AB) members. For individual competitions, each competing individual must be an AAU extended coverage (AB) member and must be supervised by an AAU extended coverage (AB) registered coach. The competition must be formally scheduled, supervised and conducted by a recognized sport association, civic organization or school (and not be a member of the AAU). If you are a member of the AAU in the extended coverage (AB) category and conduct an event that is not sanctioned by the AAU, you forfeit your rights of extended coverage (AB), for that event only. Benefits of the AB program are: Sports Accident General Liability Certificates of Insurance Who is insured? Athletes Non-Athletes Member clubs/teams Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, Inc. When does AB coverage take effect? Coverage takes effect when AAU registered members in the extended coverage (AB) category are participating in events hosted by organizations that are not member clubs of the AAU. Example: All of Jim s Wrestling Club members are registered AAU extended coverage (AB) members. Jims Wrestling Club is participating in an event hosted by an organization that is not a member club of the AAU nor is the event sanctioned by the AAU. Jim s Wrestling Club has coverage in this situation by being AAU extended coverage (AB) members.

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