Spence neighbourhood’s barrier-free sports programming helping inner-city youth athletes

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This article was published 29/03/2015 (4024 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Young men and women from inner-city Winnipeg made their neighbourhood proud Monday night. Six youths who grew up playing basketball at the Spence Neighbourhood Association brought home championship banners.

Making Spence Street sports history, youths from the neighbourhood played for championship teams at the Manitoba varsity high school basketball finals, for Oak Park and Sisler high schools. And last weekend, youths from Spence won the AAA junior varsity girls championship, playing for the University of Winnipeg Collegiate.

The Spence Neighbourhood Association’s barrier-free sports programming is helping create winners.

The most valuable players of both the AAAA girls and boys provincial champions played their first league basketball games through the Spence programs: Kyanna Pingue-Giles of the Sisler Spartans and William Sesay of the Oak Park Raiders. The same can be said for the MVP of the AAA junior varsity girls final, Alicia Dunsford, of the U of W Collegiate and her all-star twin sister, Rachelle Dunsford. Likewise for Sisler all-star Kyia Pingue-Giles (Kyanna’s twin) and Liyanah Serapio, a Team Manitoba player and starter for Sisler.

More than 300 inner-city youths participate in the association’s programs, which eliminate barriers for youth in sports. All get to play sports, be part of a team and build healthy relationships with coaches and adult mentors.

The success of these student athletes, supported by strong, loving families, is what happens when we invest in inner-city youth. Athletes in the program are supported by the U of W, the Spence Neighbourhood Association, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg and the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba. Together, these groups help provide uniforms, transportation to games, quality coaching and healthy snacks. Family and mentors supported these youth as they developed as athletes, moving on to elite teams and competition. It was a community effort.

Providing recreation to inner-city youth requires a no-barrier approach. Fundraising by the neighbourhood association helps cover league fees, transportation, a co-ordinator for the teams and the committed investment of volunteer coaches and mentors.

Strategic investment in youth takes time to reap rewards: We drove these kids to basketball games for the first time back in 2008-2009.

However, there is work to be done so all young people have a chance to fully participate. Winnipeg’s child-poverty rate is the third-highest among large cities in Canada, behind Vancouver and St. John’s, World Vision’s Poverty at Your Doorstep report states. Economic circumstances should not determine where you finish in life. Youths prove to us they are more than willing to take advantage of opportunities to excel, where they are supported.

How many other youths have the same kind of talent that could drive our city forward but remain stifled by barriers to participating in school, good housing and adequate mental-health supports? How many artists, athletes, doctors, researchers, executives and lawyers are we missing out on, who could raise our collective achievement to new heights? Supporting young people so they can realize their dreams starts with community-based programs that are close to home.

More needs to be done to support youths. Once these elite athletes started playing at the high school level, many had to leave their immediate neighbourhood, often by bus, in the darkness of Winnipeg winters, to attend schools with high-level sports. One pair of siblings earned scholarships to the U of W Collegiate.

The success of these student athletes, supported by strong, loving families, is what happens when we invest in inner-city youth.

For all Winnipeg youths to excel and drive our city forward, we need to provide resources to support these same high-quality relationships and opportunities in sports, arts and education in every neighbourhood. This means adequate funding at the city, provincial and federal levels.

This is our collective challenge. If these young all-stars are brave enough to learn and to grow, we should be brave enough to provide the supports required to realize their dreams.

 

Jamil Mahmood, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association, and Nick Tanchuk, a former sports co-ordinator at the association, are research affiliates at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba.