NEWS EXTRA

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OLYMPIC SKI COACH MIKE JANKOWSKI SIGNS UP AS A LAUREUS AMBASSADOR

United States Olympic Head Coach for Snowboarding and Freeskiing Teams, Mike Jankowski, is named the newest Laureus Ambassador. Photo Courtesy: Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

• ‘Mike Jankowski is the epitome of a world-class coach, we could not be more excited to welcome him’ – says Laureus Chairman Edwin Moses
• ‘Coach Janks’ has worked with some of the greatest snowboarders and skiers in the world including Gretchen Bleiler and Shaun White
• Laureus to invest US$750,000 in Playworks projects across five cities

PORTLAND, OREGON – United States Olympic Head Coach for Snowboarding and Freeskiing Teams, Mike Jankowski, is named as the newest Laureus Ambassador.  Known universally as ‘Coach Janks’, he has worked with some of the greatest names in freeskiing and snowboarding, including Gretchen Bleiler, Kelly Clark, Arielle Gold, Taylor Gold, Danny Kass, Scotty Lago, Hannah Teter and the incomparable Shaun White.

Following the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Jankowski had coached US athletes to a total of 18 Winter Olympic medals in three Winter Olympiads – 2006, 2010 and 2014. He also coached his skiers and snowboarders to 20 medals at ten X Games between 2000 and 2009.

Jankowski was immediately in action for Laureus, joining Jill Vialet, CEO and Founder of Playworks, a US non-profit organization which supports learning and physical health by providing safe and inclusive play to low-income students, to host leadership activities at the Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood for a group of Playworks junior coaches. They received advice and tips from Playworks experts on how to manage and assist their peers during recess, lunch and after-school activities.

Young adults and children are trained as Playworks coaches to work in their schools to run a variety of games and sports, as well as to teach techniques in group management, violence prevention and conflict resolution.

On behalf of partners Mercedes-Benz USA and IWC Schaffhausen , Laureus USA is committing US$750,000 to Playworks this year, which will go to projects in the cities of Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Portland.

Jankowski said: “As the newest Laureus Ambassador, I’m excited to join forces with Playworks to promote play for every child across the country and especially today in my hometown of Portland. Laureus USA is committed to providing support to Sport for Good organizations in order to help strengthen their reach and improve social, health and education outcomes for youth in under-resourced communities. I am very much looking forward to my duties as a Laureus Ambassador.”

Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, said: “Mike Jankowski is the epitome of a world-class coach, and we could not be more excited to welcome him into the growing Laureus Family. We are looking forward to working with Mike with a joint mission of helping to drive the positive power of sports across the country.”

Mike Jankowski joins an impressive list of current and former sportsmen and women around the world who support and promote Laureus and volunteer their time to work for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to use sport as the means to combat some of the world’s toughest social challenges facing young people today such as juvenile crime, gangs, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, social exclusion, lack of education, landmines awareness and health problems such as obesity. Since its inception Laureus has raised over €60 million and currently supports more than 150 community sports projects in 34 countries.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel appointed retired Maj. Gen. Vaughn A. Ary to the position of convening authority for military commissions.  Ary’s three-year term begins Oct. 1.

During his 27-year career as a Marine Corps officer and judge advocate, Ary served on the staffs of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy where he was responsible for advising senior leadership on the law of armed conflict. His Marine Corps assignments include combat deployments in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and Operations Iraqi Freedom I and II; command of 2d Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment, Marine Corps Depot San Diego; and staff judge advocate for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. His final active duty military assignment was as staff judge advocate to the commandant of the Marine Corps, a position he held until his retirement in July 2014.

Ary received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma, his Master of Laws Degree (International Law) from George Washington University, and a Masters of Military Studies from Marine Corps Command and Staff College.

His expertise on international and military law, the depth and breadth of his experiences for more than two decades was taken into consideration for this appointment.

The position of convening authority was created by Congress in the Military Commissions Act. The convening authority is responsible for overseeing many aspects of the military commission process and the administration of the Office of Military Commissions. Among other things, the convening authority reviews and approves the charging of persons alleged to be alien unprivileged enemy belligerents as defined in the Military Commissions Act, appoints military commissions members, and reviews military commissions’ verdicts and sentences.

PHOTO(s) OF THE DAY

SOURCE:  Department of Defense /Defense News Lead Photo

U.S. Marines with 2d Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment, observe surrounding compounds during a security patrol in Washir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on September 29, 2014. Patrols are conducted to disrupt enemy operations against Bastion-Leatherneck Complex. (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. John A. Martinez Jr. / Released)

Michael Lumpkin, center, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, Nancy A. Lindborg, the assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Dr. Thomas Kenyon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director for Global Health, discuss their efforts to see the impact of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia during a briefing at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 1, 2014.

Held each October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is a national campaign that raises awareness about disability employment issues and celebrates the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities.