2020 TGA Planning Update
Housing
Our lodging plan for 2020 is almost complete. We are meeting this week to finalize details, and expect to announce the plan late this month, with the release of the room blocks to team managers in early October. As in 2018, we will be working with a national housing agency to assist with management of this important part of our event.
TGA Schedule
We continue to update information on the 2020 Transplant Games tentative schedule of events as new details become available. Revisions to the schedule are made periodically, so we suggest you check the website regularly.
Donor Tribute Ceremony
We are excited to report that we are planning two Donor Tribute Ceremonies for the 2020 Games on Sunday July 19, 2020. Anticipating a much greater demand for the event in 2020, we will be hosting an afternoon ceremony at 1:30 p.m. and an early evening tribute at 5:30 p.m. to give everyone options for attendance.
Zumba
Zumba is Back! For all of you Zumba fans, we will be conducting daily Zumba sessions each morning during the 2020 Games. Please note that the schedule is tentative until registration opens, as we continue to make adjustments throughout the planning stages.
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Limited Edition Honor the Journey T-Shirts!
Celebrating the theme of the 2020 Donate Life Transplant Games, we are offering a limited edition Honor the Journey T-shirt. Everyone in the transplant community has faced uncertainty, sorrow, and celebration throughout their transplant journey, and Transplant Life Foundation believes every journey deserves to be recognized. Proceeds from the t-shirt sales will benefit the travel grant fund for the 2020 Donate Life Transplant Games in New Jersey.
For a limited time, Honor the Journey T-shirts are available through the Transplant Games of America app. If you have the app downloaded already, go to the “Honor the Journey T-shirt” tab. There you will find the T-shirt details and ordering options. To download the app:
1. On your smart phone, go to the Apple App Store for iPhone users or the Google Play Store for Android users, and search “Transplant Games of America.”
2. Open the app and call up the menu by clicking the button in the top left corner.
3. Scroll down and find the “Honor the Journey T-shirt” tab. There you will find
t-shirt details and ordering options.
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Athletes Advisory Council
We are currently working with Athletes Advisory Council leadership to increase the Council participation and overall effectiveness. In the past, the TGA Athletes Advisory Council members served a two-year term providing guidance and feedback on a variety of topics and issues surrounding competition. It has been a challenge to keep the group active, partly because the games are every other year, and partly because we need additional focus on the important role that this group plays in the successful execution of a large and diverse set of competitions. In the coming months we will develop new duties and responsibilities and will announce a new and re-invigorated council.
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Competition Information
Leading up to the Transplant Games in July 2020, we will be featuring one to two sports in the newsletter. Our goal will be to highlight important rules, provide updates on any changes to the format, as well as increase interest in the competition. When registering for the Games, be sure to review each of the sports you will be participating in for final decisions on competition rules.
Meadowlands Exposition Center Sports
All of the Transplant Games “sport court” competitions; basketball, volleyball, badminton and pickleball, will be held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center. This venue will work wonderfully for the success of these events, as the Expo Center has an open convention center floor layout, where sport courts will be brought in and laid out for the various competitions. The other exciting part about the Expo Center is that it is located in the TGA “Hotel” Village. This will provide ease of transportation and access for participants in these sports.
There will be no major changes to basketball, volleyball, badminton and pickleball. Basketball and volleyball will continue to stay on their evening schedules as in years past. This allows for these two popular competitions to be widely attended spectator events. Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and we are seeing this affect with our own event. Pickleball will now be a two-day competition. Mixed doubles will be on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 and men’s and woman’s doubles will be on Wednesday, July 22, 2020. To find out more about all the TGA competitions, visit the link below.
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TGA Team Fundraising
Last month, we launched a new team fundraising program that offers credits against registration costs for the 2020 Transplant Games. So far, a total of 19 teams have signed up to participate. The program involves the sale of subscriptions to
TransplantNATION magazine and the opportunity to earn commission on the sale of ads for the publication. The program, just rolled out last month, is only available as a team fundraiser and not applicable for individual fundraising. Contact your team manager for more details. For more information on the fundraiser or the team pages visit:
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Volunteering
The success of the Transplant Games is strongly rooted in volunteers. We will have over 3,000 volunteer assignments for the 2020 Donate Life Transplant Games in New Jersey at the Meadowlands. For more information about volunteering at the Transplant Games, contact: Josh Sweedyk at;
j.sweedyk@transplantLF.org or visit:
www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/volunteer.html
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World Transplant Games
The Transplant Life Foundation and Transplant Games of America would like to congratulate all the Team USA athletes and participants that took part in the World Transplant Games in Newcastle, United Kingdom. Team USA finished second in total medals with 146, behind Team Great Britain/Northern Ireland who had a total of 205. Team USA tallied 67 gold, 51 silver and 28 bronze medals. We thank the World Transplant Games Federation for putting on a spectacular event and bringing more awareness to the donation and transplant community.
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Passages
TransplantNATION magazine’s Passages page pays tribute to many milestones reached by individuals in our community. We intend to share news of births, marriages, anniversaries, transplant anniversaries, deaths, and any other significant announcements that celebrate the gift of life or acknowledge the support an individual(s) has given to the organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation world.
If you have a tribute you would like to share in an upcoming Passages page, please send your information (35-75 words or less) to Josh Sweedyk at
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Transplant Life Foundation and Transplant Games of America would like to thank you for your support of our mission. The work that we do to educate the public and bring awareness about donation and transplantation would not be possible without your help and commitment.
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