To our Sport for Life champions,
How do we create and sustain truly inclusive quality sport programs?
Our vision at Sport for Life is for every person in Canada to find a custom-designed physical literacy pathway that works for them throughout their entire lives. We believe that we can accomplish this through collaboration, innovation, inclusion, integrity, and, most importantly, hard work. Our mission is to collaborate with new and existing partners, including academics, physical literacy experts and quality sport practitioners.
In this eNewsletter, we have stories that feature individuals from many sectors, from elite athletes competing on the international stage to community leaders who are working to make our society more equitable. This month we celebrated World Refugee Day and National Indigenous History Month as we reflected on the power that sport and physical activity can have in encouraging inclusion. We also highlight the importance of safe, abuse-free sport, and some of the steps we’re taking to be an active player in this movement.
Whether it's Judo, soccer or any other physical activity, it is our dream that one day everybody will have an opportunity to enjoy a physical activity practice that suits their lifestyle and needs, and reap all the health benefits that come with it.
|
|
You can’t teach a child Judo the same way you can teach an adult—it just doesn’t work. First they’ll get bored, then they’ll get hurt.
According to Andrzej Sadej, the Coaching & Education Director and Para Head Coach of Judo Canada, that’s one of the key reasons the sport hasn’t yet caught on in this country. In the past, in a majority of programs, instruction didn’t take into account the specific needs of children, like making the activities fun, so now his national sport organization is focused on pivoting their nationwide programming. Using the Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity (LTD) framework as a guiding resource, they hope to continue building a thriving judo culture in Canada.
|
|
Kinngait, formerly Cape Dorset, is a small, remote community of 1441 residents known for soapstone carvings, printmaking, a stunning landscape, and arctic wildlife found on the traditional lands and homelands of the Inuit.
About a year ago, Joanne Weedmark started as the recreation director for the Kinngait, Nunavut municipality, one of three communities Sport for Life works with on the Physical Literacy with Indigenous Communities Project. From early on in her career, Weedmark realized that the children and youth enjoyed being physically active.
|
|
The Niagara Region has always had a vibrant sport and physical activity culture. This will be on full display in August when more than 5000 athletes, coaches and staff from across the nation come to the region to take part in the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games.
Marquee sporting events such as the Canada Games provide excellent opportunities for new partnerships and legacy projects to enhance a community’s quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Niagara Canada Games are no different, as Ridley College and Sport for Life – in collaboration with the Canada Games Council – have joined forces to establish a community sport legacy project, which ultimately will be spearheaded by a new Sport Niagara entity following the Games.
|
|
Although we can now commonly find these terms together, the evolution of women in sports has been marred by barriers resulting from society’s discriminatory beliefs about gender roles.
Since the introduction of Title IX in 1972, there has been considerable growth in female sports participation. In fact, women's sports are considered one of the fastest-growing subgroups in the sports industry worldwide, with increases of female sport participation near 15% at the collegiate and international levels since 1994 . The sport system has come a long way towards providing true quality sport and physical literacy opportunities for females, but there is still a long way to go before equity is achieved.
|
|
This day is meant to celebrate the strength, courage, and resilience of all the individuals forced to flee their homes, families, and ways of life to escape conflict or persecution.
This honouring is always relevant with refugees historically and currently fleeing to Canada.
Examples include the Cambodian genocide 1975-1979, the Syrian civil war starting in 2011, the Libyan war beginning in 2018 and the war between Ukraine and Russia starting in 2022.
|
|
By 2030, immigration will account for all of Canada's net population growth. Cities across Canada are being transformed by immigration, and these demographic trends will undoubtedly impact the Canadian sport and physical activity system.
Grassroots and professional organizations need to find ways to appeal to this diverse new audience, and it is the responsibility of all sport and physical activity leaders to ensure that the system is accessible to all Canadians. The resource outlines the barriers that newcomers may face in their participation of sport and physical activity, and then provides examples of solutions and opportunities that exist, as well as promising practices of work being done across Canada.
|
|
We are excited to share that as of June 22, 2022, we have officially become a Program Signatory of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada’s Independent Safe Sport Mechanism - Abuse-Free Sport!
Abuse-Free Sport is an independent program that is part of a growing national movement to rid Canadian sport of all forms of harassment, discrimination and abuse. As a Program Signatory, Sport for Life is an active player in this movement.
|
|
Each fiscal year we put together a year-in-review infographic with some of the metrics that showcase how we create, share and mobilize our knowledge and products.
Check out the infographic here.
|
|
Si vous voulez consulter nos infolettres en français, cliquez ici.
|
|
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
