AYSO Region 1315 : Mountain's Edge-Enterprise

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AYSO Region 1315 EPIC Program

Celebrating the Capabilities of Players
with intellectual or physical challenges

SAFE - FAIR - FUN

We are thrilled to announce that the AYSO EPIC Program has come to the Mountain’s Edge Community in Las Vegas, Nevada.

AYSO Region 1315: Mountain's Edge-Enterprise has created an EPIC Division for players ages 6 and older with a disablity where the player has a physical or intellectual challenges that prevents them from fully participating in a traditional soccer program.

This is not your typical "soccer" program. It will primarily focus on having fun while developing the basic fundamental skills needed in a soccer program.

This program will offer athletes with disabilities the additional support they need to fully participate in a quality soccer experience.

EPIC Buddies

The EPIC Buddy is a support person without a disability intended to either guide the EPIC player on the field of play or to be part of the player support system from the sideline.The best buddies are older elementary, middle school, high school or college students.

There are several reasons why peers make good buddies:

Peer buddies begin to form friendships with the players.
The players may respond better to peers.
Peer buddies learn and grow from performing a positive, affirming service.
The players learn to become comfortable with people outside their families.
Buddies can help monitor players for signs of fatigue, stress, overheating or any condition that could compromise player safety.
Buddies help players feel welcome and comfortable with activities and the environment.
Buddies can help players become independent - but stay on to be a supporter and a friend.

Those that support children and adults with a physical or intellectual challenges are those that typically have to provide all of the support. The use of Buddies willl provide these fantastic supporters the opportunity to truly sit on the sideline and enjoy watching their player particpate in an activity without their support. In order to accomplish this lofty goal we need volunteers to step up and register as volunteers to be EPIC Buddies.

Volunteer as an EPIC Buddy

We are seeking Volunteers to serve as EPIC Buddies.
Buddies are volunteers for the EPIC Players that assist the player while they learn soccer, meet new friends, having fun and increasing skills and self-esteem.
The Buddies will work directly with the player to learn the skills being taughts by the coach and help the player stay focused on the tasks to learn the skill.
Each week buddies that are available to participate will be paired with an EPIC Player for them to help for the day.
To register as an EPIC Buddy you must be at least 12 years old

Goals of EPIC Buddies

First to support the player so that they can learn soccer, meet new friends, have fun, and increase their skills and self esteem

Second to allow the parents and caregivers of players with intellectural or physical challenges the opportunity and thrill of watching their player participating in an activity from the sidelines.

To Register as a Buddy:

Registration

Go to our website at www.ayso1315.org and log in or create an account. Once you've logged in, or if you are already registered, Select My Account from the top right of the screen.

Click on the 'Volunteer' tab on the left hand side.
Under My Roles and Certificates select the option to "Add Volunteer"
The opportunity that you are looking for is called "Youth VIP Buddy"
Press select to add this opportunity to your roles.
Then choose 'Sign up a Registered User' and choose yourself. Then please complete the volunteer registration.

*If you are registering someone else as a volunteer please do the following: Click 'Sign up a New User'. Then press continue. As you fill out the info for someone else you need to put a different email address then the one you registered yourself with (ie. if you are registering your son as a youth referee, you need to put in an email address for him - NOT YOUR email address.) When you finish entering the info, you'll click 'Invite User and Continue'. This will then send an email to the 'New User' asking them to create an account for themselves. This volunteer will be linked to your account. DO NOT sign up a NEW user with the YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. This confuses the system and won't log the training to the right account.

If you have issues or questions regarding registration, Please contract the registrar at [email protected].

AYSOU Training

You can access the required training courses by logging into our website, going to the 'Volunteer' tab and clicking on the 'AYSOU' button to the right of your name. If you do not see this button, please let me know.

AYSOU is housed on a separate site, pressing the 'AYSOU' button will take you to the site. If the new site gives you an error, then please log out of your account and log back in. This should fix the system.

Once in the site, click on the tab on the left that says 'Training Library'. Please enroll in the following training:

EPIC Buddy Training (Required)
AYSO Safe Haven (Required)
EPIC Volunteer Training (Recommended)

Buddies cannot participate with players until the Required Trainings have been completed.

Sponsoring EPIC

The mission of the AYSO EPIC Program is to provide athletes with disabilities the additional support they need to fully participate in a quality soccer experience.

The ultimate goal of the AYSO EPIC Program is to provide a holistic AYSO experience for players, families, and volunteers, from team uniforms, to playing on a team, to cheering from the sidelines, for all participants.

AYSO Region 1315 host two seasons a year in the Fall (August - November) and Spring (January - May).

Here in AYSO Region 1315 we are actively seeking sponsors who can help cover the costs associated with providing this program in the Mountain's Edge - Enterprise region of Las Vegas. This will help ensure that the costs to participate in this program by players are kept to a minumum.

Below is a list of the expenses associated with providing this program:

Park Reservation Fees
Player Uniforms (a full player kit for EPIC includes a Jersey, Short, and Socks and costs about $25 a player)
Buddy Uniforms (Buddy Shirts cost about $25 each)
Coach Uniforms
Equipment (Balls, Goals, etc...)

For a Program of 12 players, 12 Buddies, and 4 coaches it costs about $650 in Uniform costs per season.

A good soccer ball costs about $15-20 each. The goal is to have a ball appropriate for the skills of each EPIC Player (These can range from standard sized 3, 4, and 5 balls to specialty balls like slow balls, rattle balls, or over sized balls) Unfortunately, some of the specialty balls necessary to adapt this sport to the players needs can cost as much as $50 a piece. These should last multiple seasons and care is taken to protect and store them so that they do last but all balls eventually wear out.

The nets we use are portable and cost about $150 each.

A typical coaches bag contains (a heavy duty duffle bag ($40), Large Ball Bag ($40), 7 inch cones ($20), disc cones ($10), first aid kit ($25), whistle ($7 for 2), battery powered ball pump ($30), pinnies ($25), and ice packs($1 each)) Each season the coaches turn these into the program and the Region Restocks them as necessary. The goal is to have one coaches kit per team of 6-12 players.

We are working to build a program that will provide all of the needs for these players so that the costs to each family are kept to a minimum.

The Region also has an equipment exchange program where families can bring in their cleats or shin guards that are now too small and exchange them for a more appropriate size or donate them if they don't want them filling up a box in the garage.

If you are interested in sponsoring our Regions EPIC Program in Anyway, or need additional information please contact:
EPIC Administrator: Nicholas Pay at [email protected] or
Assistant Regional Commissioner: Melanie Pay at [email protected]