2020 Volume: Edition 7
To our Sport for Life champions,

Our work takes us amazing places. Whether we’re working alongside national sport organizations to develop meaningful competition strategies, promoting physical literacy throughout the beautiful Shuswap region of B.C., or teaming up with one of the largest sport organizations in Australia, we feel privileged to be engaged in meaningful work all across the country and internationally. 

In this newsletter you can read about the progress Bowls Canada has made to reach new populations, and the exciting quality sport improvements being made to Red Deer Minor Baseball. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions, we’re still on the move. Are you?
Webinar Survey

We want your feedback!

In the past few months Sport for Life has been overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to our many physical literacy and quality sport webinars. Now we want to hear what you think: would you like more of the same? Are there topics we’ve missed? What is the content that would be most useful to you?

As we continue to deal with the disruption of COVID-19, we’re eager to explore new topics as we envision a future that keeps all Canadians engaged and moving. If you could take a moment to fill out this survey, your feedback will directly influence our future online offerings.

Table Tennis Canada Develops Meaningful Competition

The national table tennis system has gone through some upheaval in recent years, with a new administration taking over in 2019. Facing a significant deficit and a tournament schedule that wasn’t working like they’d hoped, the new leadership decided to undertake a complete overhaul of their competition structure with the help of Sport for Life and the Canada Games Council (CGC).

PLAYBuilder Q&A With Athletics Australia

Athletics Australia is the national governing body for athletics Down Under. Adam Bishop is their General Manager of Growth and Development and has been working with Sport for Life to utilize the PLAYBuilder platform to support their work in delivering quality sport programs. Sport for Life connected with Bishop to hear how that process is going so far. 

Bowls Canada Creates Community

Lawn bowling, also known as bowls or lawn bowls, has always been a niche activity, but the demographic is expanding these days as the sport focuses on outreach and inclusion. 

With 202 clubs across Canada, and newly created resources based on Long-Term Development, Bowls Canada has been making steady progress at attracting new talent, developing a coach infrastructure, and making its teams accessible to people with disabilities. This work comes following struggles the lawn bowling community went through in attempting to make the sport relevant to new generations.

PLAYShuswap Enhances Community Connections Through Physical Literacy

When it comes to developing physical literacy in a community, you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. Instead, you can focus on enhancing existing initiatives and infrastructure with a physical literacy focus. That’s one of the lessons that comes to mind when community mentor Nicole Beauregard reflects on her time with the newly created PLAYShuswap working group, which was created as part of Sport for Life’s Physical Literacy for Communities (PL4C) initiative.

“It is the right approach for the communities of Shuswap because it’s more efficient. We already had enthusiastic investment around the table and strong players engaged, so it was about inviting people to become a part of it and focusing on partnership and relationship-building,” she said.
What Sport Can Learn from Gamers - The Science of Fun Webinar

Research has consistently revealed that kids are leaving sport in large numbers because it is not “fun”, while at the same time video gaming and esports are exploding. So what's up? In the past two decades while sport has become increasingly focused on technical excellence and winning, game developers have focused on the social and emotional keys to fun.

The 4 Fun Keys
1. Hard Fun: Challenge/Triumph
2. Easy Fun: Curiosity/Repetition
3. Serious Fun: Relaxation/Excitement
4. People Fun: Connection/Collaboration/Competition

This webinar with guest experts explores the four determinants of fun as seen in the gaming industry, and how these apply to sport. Wear some clothes to move in (including pants). Webinar Facilitator Meredith Gardner is determined to have some fun.

Date: Thursday, September 24, 2020, 10:00–11:30 a.m. PST / 1–2:30 p.m. EDT.

Red Deer Minor Baseball Innovates During COVID-19

Why have only one baseball diamond when you could have four?

This was the question Lorne Bates, the president of Red Deer Minor Baseball Association (RDMBA) asked himself as their board was working on further implementing Sport for Life’s Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity framework into their organization. Following the concept of Kaizen, which means continuous improvement, they were looking for innovative ways to engage their players. One idea: by eliminating outfielders and bringing play down to a smaller scale with the use of adaptive diamonds, they believed they could transform the way their youngest athletes first experience the game. 

Physical Literacy Movement Preparation Coach Workshop Infographic

Sport for Life is thrilled to share the results of our 60-month bilingual initiative to bring the Physical Literacy Movement Preparation workshop to coaches all across Canada, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and in partnership with Canada Soccer. By introducing an enhanced training regimen that can be used as a warm-up during training, and providing coaches with the resources they need to implement it, this workshop helps with the prevention of injuries while increasing players' performances and durability. The workshop involves eLearning modules and a facilitator-led and in-person peer teaching session.
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