Pioneers accept sponsorship deal

By Jane Beathard

Staff Writer

An new agreement between Jonathan Alder Local Schools and Memorial Hospital of Union County in Marysville promises to benefit athletes in the district, while promoting the independent medical facility.

The hospital will provide more than $56,000 in sports medicine services annually to the school district in exchange for promotion on team uniforms, scoreboards, playing surfaces and training rooms, following action by the board of education on Monday.

Memorial Hospital President Chip Hubbs said his organization will provide a full-time trainer free of charge and $10,000 to $11,000 in training equipment to the school. In addition, the hospital will donate $20,000 to Alder athletic programs.

In return, the district will promote the hospital as its exclusive sports medicine provider. The one-year contract comes with a renewal option.

Hubbs said Memorial Hospital is in a growth mode and wants to establish a sports medicine department with the help of area high schools. Athletic affiliation agreements with North Union and Fairbanks high schools are already in place.

Superintendent Gary Chapman said his counterparts in both districts are very happy with the relationships.

“We’re recruited Dr. Timothy Lynch as a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon,” Hubbs said. “Our intent is to get people back to doing what they love as soon as possible.”

Hubbs said the hospital is seeking more involvement with area youth in order to heighten its attraction to a new generation.

In the fall, a hospital-provided trainer will cover varsity football practices, daily training room activities, home and away games, as well as junior varsity practices. Home contests in cross country, volleyball, JV and middle school football, swimming, cheerleading and golf (injuries only) are included in the arrangement. Tournaments and other major events are also included.

Winter sports will see daily training room coverage for basketball, wrestling and cheerleading. The school will see similar coverage in the spring for baseball, softball and track.

The trainer will oversee summer conditioning and injury evaluation and rehabilitation on an as-needed basis. Hubbs said school representatives will participate in hiring the trainer.

Memorial Hospital staff will also:

• Provide coaching clinics and parent-student orientations for new athletes.

• Education on recognizing and treating concussions.

• Testing for all athletes and post-injury retests to determine return-to-play considerations.

• Annual sports physicals and movement assessments.

• Saturday injury clinics during peak sports seasons.

• Performance testing on site

For its efforts, the hospital will see its name featured prominently in signage on the playing fields and in buildings as exclusive “Sports Medicine and Training Provider of Jonathan Alder Athletics.” The hospital will pick up the cost of these promotional items.

Fans will hear the hospital’s name broadcast on public address systems. A link on the school’s new Web site will take visitors to the hospital’s site. The hospital and the district will divide costs associated with other advertising.

In other meeting business on Monday, school board members authorized the superintendent to rent a portion of the former Plain City Elementary School to Daily Needs Assistance – a local charitable organization. DNA provides a monthly community meal for about 100 families, as well as other services.

The rental agreement with DNA will generate $1,000 monthly for the district.

Posted by Staff Reports on Nov 15 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.