2019 Volume: Edition 9

To Sport for Life champions worldwide,

We believe in the power of stories. 

As the physical literacy and quality sport movements continue to evolve worldwide, it's story-telling that provides us with the most potent way to celebrate our successes and share them with as wide an audience as possible. And on the heels of our first ever International Physical Literacy Conference Europe, we've never felt more optimistic about the transformative power of our message. 

In this newsletter you'll find stories about a free Edmonton-based sports program, new outreach initiatives that aim to change the demographics of Canadian curling, and a first-person account of becoming a whitewater rafting guide. We hope these stories surprise, inspire and challenge you. 
Rocks and Rings celebrates a decade of curling 

The concept was simple: introduce kids to curling, rather than waiting for the kids to find it themselves. Ten years ago Rocks & Rings was introduced as a non-traditional curling setting that aimed to diversify the sport, making it reflective of Canada’s actual makeup. Now they’re on the cusp of signing up their two millionth student.

How whitewater rafting saved my life

Shortly after losing a job in November 2017, an event which led to an escalating series of manic episodes, I ended up in the psych ward of Vancouver General Hospital. They informed me that my antidepressant was partially to blame for my uncharacteristic behaviour, then gave me a prescription for lithium — a drug I’d only ever associated with Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman who took his own life with a shotgun. I understood that I would have to do something drastic if I wanted to regain a level headspace and a sense of normalcy.

Quality Sport for Community Clubs Webinar

This webinar will introduce the concepts and content of Sport for Life’s new Quality Sport for Community Clubs resource. A brief overview of the five sections of the resource will be provided: focus on athlete growth and development, supporting long-term goals, using competition intentionally for development, a commitment to sport for all and partnerships that prioritize development needs.

Date:    Tuesday, October 1, 2019, 10–11:30 a.m. PST.

Sport for Life teams up with HeadStartPro

HeadStartPro Performance Training is a sports-education service provider dedicated to improving the health and longevity of athletes with accessible and affordable online courses. HeadStartPro’s multi-sport approach and universal concepts make performance and injury prevention training available to a broad spectrum of coaches and athletes in the Learn to Train, Train to Train, and Train to Compete stages of Sport for Life’s Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity framework.

Free Footie program growing exponentially

When Tim Adams first founded Free Footie , an inclusive after-school program designed to reach marginalized youth in Edmonton, he settled on a name that had a double meaning. 

“The intent behind the name Free Footie was primarily to communicate that the program is free, but I also wanted to free the game. The original name for soccer outside America is football, and I wanted to free football and give that name back to the people,” Adams told Sport for Life.

New e-learning course aims to help organizations recruit and retain volunteers

It can be tricky to source reliable volunteers, and even trickier to keep them involved in your organization. Whether you’re working in the sports world or elsewhere, Sport for Life’s new e-learning resource Recruitment and Retention of Volunteers contains tips for how to make the best of your volunteer situation.

How to develop an Egyptian physical literacy curriculum

Mark Verbeek has never been satisfied with the status quo. For the past two decades he’s been a physical education teacher in Ontario, and repeatedly he’s found himself struggling to convince parents of the importance of physical literacy. Repeatedly he’s been met with resistance from those who believe in tradition over innovation, and who don’t yet understand how the tenets of Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity could benefit their children.

Physical literacy goes global with IPLC Europe

Sport for Life has been hosting an International Physical Literacy Conference (IPLC) in Canada every two years since 2013, and now for the first time it’s going global. In September we hosted, along with Change the Game, the first ever IPLC Europe in Umeå, Sweden.

Si vous voulez consulter nos infolettres en français,  cliquez ici .
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. 
Sport for Life Society |   (778) 433-2066 |   www.sportforlife.ca