Ava Schein’s Ultimate Peace Fundraiser dance was a massive success! Over 325 people attended and she raised a total of $1,014! Check out the video below to see a few clips from the event. Great work Ava!
This weekend St. Johnsbury Ultimate is hosting the 8th annual St. Johnsbury Academy Invitational. 55 teams from 38 schools, representing 7 states and one province are coming in for a weekend of 176 games spread across 5 divisions and 4 field sites. It’s going to be amazing. On the Saturday night of the event, we hold a dinner/dance/trade night for all 950 players attending the tournament. On the Friday night before the tournament, we are running the same dance as a fundraiser for Ava Schein’s Ultimate Peace work.
This morning during live announcements at St. Johnsbury Academy, Ava Schein gave a live announcement about the fundraiser. Supported by our dance gurus, Graham and Gordon, they put on quite a show. Check it out:
Since 2005 I have been running coaching clinics all over the East Coast. At these clinics I instruct coaches on topics ranging from ethics, liability, and professionalism to how to run an effective practice, and teach skill progressions.
A few days ago, I was asked to run a coaching clinic in Israel in the days before Camp UP begins! So, sometime between 6/17 and 6/27, I’ll be running a day-long session for a group of local coaches, including the group that will be coaching the Israeli Junior National team at the World Junior Championships in Dublin, Ireland this August! I can’t wait!
Two new Ultimate Peace photo galleries were just posted from recent sessions in Beit Sahour and Jerico:
I’ll be arriving in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, 6/17 and taking off on Friday morning, 7/20.
I can’t wait!
As I go about my days thinking about Ultimate Peace, I’ve been focusing on what Ultimate Peace means. I’m a big fan of visualization, so, with the aid of the wonderful site Tagxedo, I created a couple word cloud based on the Ultimate Peace about page:
Over the past two weekends I have spent 98 hours traveling, coaching, or chaperoning my St. Johnsbury Academy Boys Ultimate team. I am dead tired. Of course, it’s been totally worth it. In my travels this weekend down to Amherst, MA, I got to meet up with another Camp UP CIT, Gabe Kaufman. Here’s a shot of Ava, Gabe, and myself from this afternoon in Amherst.
It was great for the three of us to meet and discuss how excited we are for this summer!
Photos from Andover and Amherst are online, as well as a short video from Amherst. Also, photos of our three spirit awards from last weekend are online right here.
This is why I coach.
In addition to the unreal experience of working at both Camp UP sessions this summer, I am going to be arriving two weeks early in order to help out at several clinics Ultimate Peace is running in a few communities in the West Bank. The sessions are currently planned to run in the West Bank communities of Bet Sahor, Bet Lehem & Jericho. I can’t wait!
Here’s a map of the locations I’ll be working in and traveling to during the summer:
View Ultimate Josh 2012 in a larger map
In just over a week $770 has been donated for my work with Ultimate Peace! Thank you so much for your wonderful generosity!
I’ve determined that my fundraising goal is going to be $5,000. It’s an ambitious goal, but one that I am confident that I can reach.
Over the next several weeks I plan on doing UP presentations at several local organizations. I am getting some wonderful support in contacting local religious centers and other organizations like the VFV, Elks Club, and other community centers. If you know of a location relatively close to St. Johnsbury, VT where you think I should try to do a UP presentation, please let me know.
In other news, I’ve made a few updates to the site. Over on the right you’ll be able to track my fundraising progress. I’ve also added a subscribe via email feature that you can use to get entries to this blog automatically emailed to you as soon as they go online. You can signup either through the module on the right or by using this form:
[subscribe2]
Another reason I am so excited to head to Camp UP this summer is that St. Johnsbury Academy student and Ultimate player Ava Schein will also be making the trip! She will be working at the second session as a Counselor in Training. According to Rona Yaniv, the Director of the Ultimate Peace CIT program:
“The CIT Program is a multi-year program that aims to develop young leadership in the world of Ultimate Peace and beyond. In accordance with the UP values, we believe that the way we play is similar to the way we lead our lives, hence our goal is to instill and develop communication and social skills, mutual understanding and respect and openness and acceptance towards others while developing personal responsibility, core values and leadership.”
Ava is perfect for the program and is going to do a wonderful job! I am thrilled to be working with her! You can read much more about the UP CIT program in this extensive blog post.
Additionally, Ava has centered her St. Johnsbury Academy senior Capstone project on Ultimate Peace. She has raised awareness of the program and has been raising funds all year to send two campers to Camp UP. One of her big fundraisers will be a large dance at St. Johnsbury Academy on the night before the 2012 St. Johnsbury Invite. Go Ava!