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Posted by
Melissa Tan,
November 17, 20124 |
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Melissa Tan
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Last Saturday, Metro Hall was bustling with conversations about key moments and people that helped to shape the personal and professional lives of athletes. Hosted by TO2015, Lead Partner CIBC and the City of Toronto, the Game Changers 2014 Sport Inclusion Conference brought together a capacity crowd eager to make sports more accessible for people of all ages and abilities, from grassroots engagements and recreation to high level training.
Among the attendees of coaches, athletes, community organizers, etc. was Cristina Murano, owner of Lace Up Your Cleats, offering soccer and futsal skills clinics and games in downtown Toronto for women, transgender and genderqueer people.
The day began with a keynote speech by Jamaal Magloire, a 12 year veteran of the NBA and former Toronto Raptors centre. He credited two coaches he met during his youth for laying the foundations of his skills and work ethic. When camp fees and related financial barriers threatened to slow Magloire’s development in basketball, his coaches and many others stepped in to help cover costs or to find alternative solutions. The collective effort eventually made Magloire’s childhood dream of playing in the NBA come true and he was soon able to proudly provide for his family.
Perdita Felicien echoed the importance of community support when she moderated a panel called Access to Opportunities in Sport. The two-time Olympian and two-time 100 m world champion in hurdles recalled her mother’s hard work in making ends meet as she was growing up. During times when the family had limited disposable income, Felicien continued participating in sports thanks to pay-what-you-can options. Coaches allowed players to confidentially submit fees in envelopes to help reduce stigma related to income level and she admitted to often enclosing an apology note for her lack of funds.
The kindness of a neighbour changed the life of Giselle Cole when he offered to train her for free, compelled after reading about her story in a local newspaper. Cole went on to win three gold medals in track and field at the Arnhem 1980 Paralympic Games. She's now the treasurer for the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Ontario and an advocate for persons with disabilities.
Christa Eniojukan, a teacher and head coach of the U-15 Ontario Provincial girl's basketball team, spoke about the challenges of balancing full-time work with the time required for volunteer coaching, as well as dealing with sexism that assumes only men are capable of being a head coach.
For lawyer Christopher Kalantzis, he stepped away from team sports like soccer and baseball when those environments felt unwelcoming, an experience that's all too common for many LGBTQ athletes. Kalantzis later found success as a fencer, becoming the men's provincial champion in Alberta.
At a workshop centred around legacy initiatives of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan American Games, Cathy Vincelli highlighted the City of Toronto's Host City Showcase Program comprised of “projects and initiatives that aim to boost economic development and tourism, foster sport development and healthy living, increase resident engagement in the Games [and] deliver cultural celebrations”.
Among the programs is Let’s Get Coaching! that's offering free "community level coach training to Toronto residents aged 16 years and older." Interested participants can sign up for National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) workshops taking place on Saturday, November 29 as part of Sports Day in Canada. Additional courses will be running throughout the city starting January 2015.
Tanzeel Merchant elaborated on the Pan Am Path http://panampath.org/, an 84 km continuous, multi-use path linking existing trails across the city from Pickering to the waterfront and to Brampton.
PrideHouseTO is an "engagement and activation strategy for the LGBTQ communities in Ontario" leading up to and during the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, including regional celebrations, sports participation and game watching zones, educational programming, etc. Matthew Cutler and the project team are building upon the PrideHouse legacy that originated at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, which has since become a staple of multi-sports games, like the Poland/Ukraine UEFA EURO 2012, London 2012 Olympics, Russian Open Games 2014, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and Rio 2016 Olympics.
[Side note, 16 year-old Jessie Fleming, one of the Canadian Women's Soccer Team's best young players, was among the 67 rising athletes selected to be part of the CIBC Next Team, another important legacy program of Toronto 2015. Fleming is receiving grant money towards training, workshops on personal finance and career planning, mentorship from elite Canadian athletes like Kara Lang and Simon Whitfield, and much more.]
Between sessions, a panel of Pan Am/Parapan Am hopefuls discussed their sporting journeys. Josh Cassidy, a wheelchair racer who won the 2012 Boston Marathon in world record time, experienced the incredible ways in which sports connect people from around the world. While training for the London Marathon, he became acquainted with then five year-old Niamh Curry, who was battling neuroblastoma cancer, the same type of cancer that Cassidy was diagnosed with when he was born. In that he found great motivation for performing well in races and raising awareness of the disease and the little girl's plight. Later that day, Cassidy and Barb Besharat, the Senior Specialist of Sport and Recreation at The 519, spoke about "how to support and be an ally to marginalized and stigmatized individuals within sport spaces."
Other Pan Am/Parapan Am hopefuls Laurence Liebel, who's engaging francophone communities in the Games, described her experiences competing internationally as a catamaran sailor; and Tracy Schmitt, a four-way amputee, touched on winning gold at the OPEN ABYC Regatta and the availability of para-sports equipment being a barrier to participation.
The conference ended with key note speaker Marnie McBean, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in rowing. McBean shared her insight on emotional and psychological preparations for performing at the highest level, important to both rookies and seasoned veterans. She's mentored countless Canadian Olympic athletes, including the Canadian Women's Soccer Team. The Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductee stressed the need for open dialogue in connecting people and finding oneself. "The most dangerous thing is not talking," said McBean. Although we may sometimes consider our own stories to be unimportant, what we share can be realized to be inspiring for ourselves and others. McBean also spoke about celebrating differences and unique perspectives and shared her own coming out journey.
While participating in sports as well as engaging others in sports, we can act as a catalyst for change, positively affecting our own lives and others'. What's your story? Who's your game changer?
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