Introducing the COVID-19 Webinar Panelists
Have you registered for our upcoming webinar on COVID-19 in the sport of jump rope/rope skipping? The International Jump Rope Union (IJRU) is committed to ensuring that our National Governing Bodies, clubs and coaches provide a safe and healthy environment for athletes in our sport. We will discuss some of the challenges that COVID-19 presents for the sport of jump rope/rope skipping and look into potential risk mitigation and digital strategies.
Date and time
The COVID-19 webinar will take place on Saturday, July 25 at 12:00 UTC. Everyone who has registered for the webinar will receive an email with a link to access the webinar 24 hours in advance.
Meet our moderator and panelists
We are pleased to introduce our expert panelists!
Amy Simpson, Moderator
Amy Simpson is a professional news anchor and reporter. She has experience covering current events, politics, crime, military, severe weather, and business. Amy was a competitive jump rope athlete for a decade as a member of the Kangaroo Kids from Columbia, MD. She competed at the international level in both Canada and South Africa.
Dale Neuberger, Director of BCW Sports Practice
Dale Neuburger is Director of BCW Sports Practice – North America, one of the world’s leading sports management consultancies. He has served in a variety of leadership roles within the Olympic Family as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee. He was Deputy Chef de Mission for the U.S. delegation that won 101 medals in Athens in 2004.
His volunteer service in aquatics includes serving as Vice President of FINA (International Aquatics Federation); President of United States Aquatic Sports; President of USA Swimming; and, Chairman of the Board of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He has been Event Director for swimming competition in three Olympic Games.
Denise Fisher, MBA, BComm (Sports Administration)
Denise Fisher is the founder and Head Coach with Jump Rope Revolution in Edmonton, Canada set to launch post-COVID. She has been involved in the sport of jump rope/rope skipping for over 30 years as an athlete, coach, judge, and Director at the provincial and national levels. She has worked in the Canadian amateur sport system for over 20 years including working in High Performance and Olympic Preparation for the Canadian Olympic Committee, where she was selected to the Canadian Mission team for three Olympic and two Pan American Games.
Denise was invited to be a torchbearer for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games for her support of teens wishing to be more physically active. She has served as the Executive Director of three provincial sport organizations (figure skating, rugby and cheerleading) and is currently the Manager of Youth, Competitions and Sport for Special Olympics Alberta. She is proud that her daughter, Deanna, remains competitive in the sport of jump rope/rope skipping where she has won several Canadian and Canadian Grand Championship titles.
Warren Harper, Global Sports & Event Industry Practice
Warren Harper is the leader of the Global Sports & Events Industry Practice, based in Atlanta. In this role, he specializes in the provision of risk management, insurance and risk mitigation consulting services to global sporting event and entertainment clients. Services provided include exposure identification and assessment of operating plans for all organizing committee functional areas, contingency planning, operational readiness exercises, development of risk management games operating plans, and the implementation of risk financing strategies.
Warren has over 35 years of experience in the insurance and risk management industry as a commercial lines underwriter, insurance broker, risk manager and consultant. Consulting activities have involved integrated program planning and management for a variety of clients in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa and Bermuda.
Luke Winstanley, IJRU Vice President Oceania
Luke has been involved with Rope Skipping in Australia for more than 10 years; the first two years as an involved parent, and the remaining years as a combination of committee member at the local, regional, national and/or international level.
Since 2012, Luke has held Executive positions within Skipping Australia and in 2016 was elected to the position of Vice President – Oceania for FISAC-IRSF. Luke brings a working knowledge of sports administration, business process and systems governance and best practice to assist with organizational development, business process improvement and strategic planning in his role as a business consultant. He believes there are untold opportunities for development of our sport across the globe and would like to be involved in that development.
Andrej Kyselica, Microsoft Software Engineer
Andrej maintains the scoring and live results technology used for IJRU tournaments and and is a member of the IJRU Championship Organizing Committee. He is also a member of the IJRU Innovation Committee and supports the Board of Directors executive committee on strategic projects. Previously, he led on-site and online event production for World Jump Rope Federation’s championships. A software engineer by trade, Andrej has worked at Microsoft since 2005 based in Ohio in the United States.
Nika Khoroshikh
Nika, is from Russia, Rostov-on-don and is a competitive athlete on a team called “Kreativ”. She has competed for 7 years and has participated in several international tournaments. Nika has a strong passion for jump rope and wants to work hard to help the sport gain more popularity. Nika leads online classes with members from her team in order to continue jumping throughout COVID-19.