What You Can Do: Teams

• Become a True Sport Team by making a conscious decision to join the True Sport Movement. Involve the athletes, coaching staff and parents in the decision.
• Add your team to the growing list of communities, schools, sport organizations, groups and individuals across Canada who believe in the power of good sport by completing the online declaration form at www.truesport.ca/declare.
• Share your declaration and the True Sport Principles with your athletes and their parents.
  • Add a True Sport logo and link on your team's website.
  • Introduce True Sport to parents in a letter or email.
  • Add the True Sport logo to your letterhead.
  • Include True Sport as a regular item in your newsletters and/or team communications.
  • Use social networking to spread the word about how you are living True Sport and about True Sport events and activities.
  • Add the True Sport logo to your team jerseys and/or put True Sport stickers on your equipment. Give True Sport tattoos to your supporters and encourage them to wear them to competitions.
• Introduce True Sport to your club, league, provincial sport organization and national sport organization.
• Know your values. Facilitate the creation of a True Sport Agreement. Be creative about how you want to display your commitment to the True Sport Principles.
• Create a transparent and consistent coach and team selection process and post it in a public place.
• Incorporate the True Sport Principles into your team meetings and training. Revisit the True Sport Principles throughout the season by making reference to them during practices, team meetings, parents meetings, pre-game talks, etc.
• Ensure your volunteers understand their role in helping True Sport live on your team. Adapt the True Sport Volunteer Engagement Kit to your community’s needs.
• Encourage positive coaching approaches and initiatives and ensure coaches are certified in NCCP or sport-specific theory.
• Learn about Canadian Sport for Life and the Long Term Athlete Development Model and incorporate it into your team’s program.
• Incorporate True Sport into your athlete/player evaluation process.
• Have a parents’ meeting at the beginning of the season to explain the team’s commitment to True Sport.
  • Ensure that coaches, players and parents all share the same expectations and outcomes for success.
  • Encourage regular and open communication between coaches, managers and parents. Create an atmosphere of sharing ideas that contribute to a great team experience.
  • Find creative and contructive ways to deal with inappropriate parental behaviours.
• Identify a True Sport Athlete of the Week and talk about how they embody the True Sport Principles.
• Challenge your athletes to identify the True Sport Principles in action – when they see an incident that demonstrates one of the values or principles, ask them to share it with the whole team.
• Give back to your community by establishing a team rule that each member must “give back” a designated number of hours to the community. Discuss the various ways that your athletes can support the community.
  • Support younger teams by helping with their practices, mentoring their athletes and modelling True Sport behaviour.
  • Schedule a field, arena or park clean-up day.
  • Volunteer with a charity.
  • Help out during community events or tournaments.
  • Further develop sport-specific skills by becoming coaches, officials and organizers.
• Encourage leadership by inviting team members to lead a warm-up activity or drill during practice.
Rotate the leadership opportunities so everyone has a chance to be a leader on the team.
• Create a team cheer that incorporates the True Sport values of fun, fairness, excellence and inclusion, and the True Sport Principles for Sport.
• Introduce visiting/opposing sport teams to the True Sport Movement and the True Sport Principles.
  • Recognize a True Sport player of the game for the home and visiting teams.
  • Give out True Sport momentos during the post-game handshakes (e.g. True Sport pins, gel bracelets, stickers, tattoos, etc).
  • Give the opposing coaching staff a True Sport Coaches Kit.
• Host a tournament, jamboree or event with a True Sport theme.
• Identify your commitment to good – values-based – sport as a marketable feature when seeking sponsorship opportunities and/or corporate partnerships. Align your organization with sponsors and partners who value sport as a public asset and understand the power of good sport.