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Building Safe Sport Champions in Manitoba’s High Schools

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/09/2023 (1068 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everyday, thousands of kids across Manitoba participate in sport at school, both competitively and recreationally. It’s important that their experiences are positive and safe.

In 2022, the Province of Manitoba announced their support of Sport Manitoba’s Pathway to Safer Sport in partnership with Sport Law, a strategic framework that builds upon existing safe sport initiatives, tools, and resources that are dedicated entirely to awareness, prevention, and action in safe sport. Ultimately, the goal is to make sport a safe activity for all Manitobans to engage
in, that is completely free from harassment and abuse. Involving schools is a huge piece of the puzzle.

The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association (MHSAA) and Sport Manitoba recently launched the Safe Sport Champions program. It is an ongoing series of full-day workshops, where
several students and teachers represent their schools and bring back valuable takeaways for the rest of the staff and students.

Chad Falk, Executive Director of MHSAA, was asked to explain the importance of a program like this in high schools and the partnership with Sport Manitoba. Falk said “the program is full of valuable, educational components for student athletes and coaches to assist with the empowerment and skills needed to protect themselves and their teammates.

Engaging students in this way creates a model of peer-to-peer leadership. Students can learn from one another and feel empowered to speak when something doesn’t feel right.

Students may feel more at ease asking for help or reporting an incident.

February 2023, the Safe Sport Champions program kicked off its inaugural workshop at Sport Manitoba with 70 student-athlete participants and 22 teacher supervisors from around the province.

Allison Forsyth, a sexual abuse survivor, safe sport advocate and educator, was the keynote speaker and facilitator. Former Olympic rower and safe sport activist, Dr. Sandra Kirby also presented as did the Winnipeg Police Service.

The conversations throughout the day, which included grey area behaviours, social media use, and reporting, were not light. And education was key.

Falk said “students that attend these workshops are team captains and true leaders amongst their peers. These empowered leaders then in turn share and practice these lessons learned with
their teammates. It’s a great opportunity for both student athletes and coaches from around Manitoba to collaborate on that ever-so-valuable peer-to-peer level, which contributes to making a safe school sport environment for all.”

Teachers were also impressed. One noted, that the “speakers were engaging and brought awareness to sensitive topics that need to be discussed in school sport. Student-athletes left the
workshop empowered to take action and to lead further discussions on being champions of an inclusive and safe sport environment within their schools.”

Another explained that the program “opens your eyes to the way things have been done in the past and what needs to change in future school sport environments.”

“With so much emphasis on year-round high-level performance, it’s more important than ever to have sessions like Safe Sport to remind us what really matters in school sport. Safe Sport [is] an investment in our athletes and coaches, we owe it to them to make this a regular event.”

While it is a movement in the right direction, to believe these initiatives will solve everything in a day would be a misstep. There needs to be a forward momentum that grows from this framework, as we become increasingly equipped to safeguard sport participants.

Sport Manitoba, provincial sport organizations, clubs, schools, coaches, officials, athletes, spectators, parents, teachers, volunteers each play a role in ensuring we have zero tolerance for abuse in sport.

Each September, new athletes, coaches, and staff become involved in sport. Safe sport champions are critical in promoting a positive and safe environment.

Visit sportmanitoba.ca/safesport for safe sport resources.