The Department of Defense Warrior Games are Paralympic-style sports for active military service members and veterans with upper-body, lower-body, and spinal cord injuries; traumatic brain injuries; visual impairment; serious illnesses; and post-traumatic stress. Each of the four branches of the United States Military Services (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines) and the Special Operations Command send a team to compete in these games. The top US athletes from the Warrior Games combine to form one team (Team US) to compete in the Invictus Games, a bi-annual international event being held in 2020 in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Team US is made up of 65 athletes from the four military branches. They will all come together in Canton, Ohio as their first and only opportunity to meet and train together. They will leave here and fly directly to The Hague for the Invictus Games. The purpose of the Invictus Send-off is to provide a motivational experience including a team-building atmosphere where the athletes can quickly break their culture of representing their particular military branch and come together as Team US. In addition, there are six days of training to physically prepare themselves to compete in their particular sport.
Host Partners:
The following three organizations are working together to host the Invictus Send-off in Canton, Ohio:
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Visit Canton
- USVCC (United States Veterans Chamber of Commerce)
Volunteer Needs:
The Hall is looking for volunteers as follows:
- Approximately 150 volunteers to assist the athletes with their Training Sessions. There are three volunteer shifts each day and shifts are approximately 2 ½ to 3 hours long. The shifts are as follows:
- Shift 1: 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM
- Shift 2: Noon – 2:30 PM
- Shift 3: 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM.
- Approximately 15 drivers to drive the 10 vans to shuttle the athletes to and from their training sessions. Drivers will work shifts of 5 hours each day: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
- Approximately 25 volunteers needed to greet the athletes at the airport on April 28, assist them with their luggage, and direct them to the hotel transportation. Shifts will vary depending on the athlete’s arrival schedule.
- Approximately 5 volunteers to assist with set-up and logistics of Team US equipment and training facilitates on April 25, 26 and 27. Shifts are 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
If you have a specific interest in working on one of more of the events or being a driver, please indicate your interest on the volunteer application below. Otherwise, we will assign volunteers based on need.
For those volunteers assisting with the Training Sessions, there will be a short volunteer meeting on Monday, April 27th at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At this meeting, volunteers will receive training for their specific event; t-shirts, parking instructions and review their volunteer responsibilities.
Below is a list of each of the training events, their location, the days for each training session and a short description of the duties required of the volunteers for each event.
Events:
Archery @ HOF Plaza Tent. 2 Volunteers per shift: Scorers- Need to be able to do basic math; and set up/tear down help, also help pulling arrows out of the targets for athletes.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4
Cycling @ Stadium Park Drive. 3 Volunteers per shift: Set up cycling then transition to course marshals and traffic control where needed; Misc. Water cooler patrol, helping athletes with equipment, runs for event staff.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/2; 5/3
Rowing @ Tom Benson HOF Stadium Locker Rooms. 3 Volunteers per shift: Assist with Rower and computer program set. Assist with score keeping and annotations.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4
Powerlifting @ Tom Benson HOF Stadium Locker Rooms. 2 Volunteers per shift: Assist with Room set up. Assistant with loading weight on the bar for athletes to bench.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4
Field Events @ Don Scott Field (McKinley High School). 4 Volunteers per shift: Bring throwing equipment out to the field. Retrieve throwing implements (shot/discus) and reset equipment for the next athlete.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4
Track @ Don Scott Field (McKinley High School). 4 Volunteers per shift: Assist in the placement of athletes in lane assignments/entries to get started. Assist in the monitoring and recording of times. Relocate and reset adaptive sporting equipment.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4
Sitting Volleyball @ Perry Wellness Center. 4 Volunteers per shift: 2 Per court, line judges, ball shaggers and help with Drills during practice.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/2; 5/3
Swimming @ Perry Wellness Center. 2 Volunteers per shift: to help athletes getting in and out of pool, water and cooler restock etc.
- 4/29; 4/30; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4
Wheelchair Basketball @ Perry Wellness Center. 3 Volunteers per shift: Scorebook keeper, record during practice; Scoreboard operator, record during practice; Misc. help with drills during practice.
- 4/30; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3
Wheelchair Rugby @ Perry Wellness Center. 2 Volunteers per shift.
- 4/29; 5/1; 5/2; 5/3
Volunteer Application. Complete the Volunteer Application below and hit the “SUBMIT” button at the bottom. Once your application has been received, you will be contacted about scheduling your volunteer days.
If you have any questions concerning this volunteer opportunity, please contact Mark Prosise at [email protected] or call 330-588-3674
*Please scroll all the way down to the bottom of the application