The Athlete Recovery Fund came into existence in 2008. When BMX freestyle rider Stephen Murray had the crash that left him a quadriplegic in June 2007, Aaron Cooke (brother of BMX pro Allan Cooke) founded the ARF. ARF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides support to injured professional BMXers, freestyle motocross and skateboarders to assist with the financial burden of a major injury.
The Athlete Recovery Fund, or ARF for short, was created to assist athletes through financial grants for healthcare that insurance does not cover, including rehabilitation equipment and home healthcare. Because ARF is a non-profit, there has to be a financial need; if an athlete has a financial need, ARF can step in to help with any costs related to the injury including premiums, rehabilitation, long-term disability and even travel costs for athletes and family members.
ARF Helps Pro Skateboard, BMX and FMX Athletes
"Professional" status is achieved in the eyes of ARF once a company licenses an athlete's likeness to market or sell their product in return for monetary compensation. According to Cooke, "Though a handful of action sports stars enjoy fame and fortune, the vast majority of pro-level competitors barely scrape by with barista-level income and little or no health coverage."
After Stephen Murray was injured, Cooke realized that although Murray had fairly comprehensive insurance coverage, once he returned home, most of his care would not be covered. Cooke wondered what resources athletes who are not as well-known or financially secure as Murray would do to finance or raise funds to cover a catastrophic injury.
Extreme Sports Assistance
Cooke also decided to use Murray's situation as an opportunity to help others because of the awareness that Murray's accident created. First, he spoke with Alli The Alliance of Action Sports, ESPN and ASA to find out why there was no "safety net" to assist these athletes. All companies concurred that a major issue was a need for a third party to organize and manage the funds so that companies can contribute to that third party.
Cooke began a crash course in non-profit organizations; he immediately saw the importance of collaborating with attorneys that specialize in non-profits to navigate the logistics to set up ARF. Alli was the closest to Stephen's injury, so they were the first to step in to provide some start-up capital to make ARF an official entity. After that, other corporate sponsors in action sports began to donate to the fund and it has continued to grow.
ARFworks with companies to come up with new and creative ways to generate donations. In September 2010, ARF began a viral video promotion at SupportARF.com. Ball Park brand hotdogs agreed to donate a dollar for each time the video was viewed, up to 100,000 views and the goal was quickly met.
Extreme Sports and Insurance
One of the most significant contributions to extreme sports is being made by Cooke's efforts to provide information and statistics about the sports to insurance companies. Since the sports are still relatively new, there isn't a long history of information about the actual injury rates. Cooke gives insurance underwriters injury reports on past events, such as Dew Tours and X Games, to create a statistical history to ensure that successive generations of action sports athletes don't have to fight as hard for insurance coverage. Despite the inherent riskiness of action sports, the 2004 American Sports Data Association survey reports skateboarding as15th on the list of sports that cause injury, far behind basketball, football and baseball.
Part of Cooke's vision also includes ARF subsidizing premiums for athletes at the lower earning brackets. ARF works to get insurance for athletes that have been told that they are uninsurable, and has been successful with helping extreme sports athletes connect with brokers to negotiate insurance issues.
How to Help ARF
Companies and individuals can get involved with ARF; it isn't necessary that there be a tie to extreme sports, only a desire to help others. Donating is definitely a way to show support for the action sports industry that provides fans with incredible entertainment. Contact Aaron@AthleteRecoveryFund.com to find out how to help and visit ARF's site for more information.
ARF – Athlete Recovery Fund
The extreme sports community is indebted to Aaron Cooke; he recognized the need and has forged a trail through territory loaded with insurance mumbo-jumbo and red tape to create the Athlete Recovery Fund. It is a significant task of compassion that benefits athletes and their families. Aaron Cooke is worthy of respect for his courageous and generous work to help action sports athletes now and in the future.
Leigh Roche - Leigh began skateboarding in the 70s and brings years of knowledge to writing shreditorial on Sk8boarding & BMX.
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