Jr. True Sport Champions Program

The Jr. True Sport Champions program trains and engages secondary students from diverse backgrounds to promote and involve their communities in True Sport; with the vision that sport based on the True Sport Principles can instill character in youth, strengthen communities and increase opportunities for excellence.

The workshop objectives are to:

  1. Introduce the concept of ethical literacy and the importance of incorporating it into the sport system, across all sports, from playground to podium;
  2. Develop an awareness of one’s ethical literacy through the exploration of personal values and principles;
  3. Introduce True Sport and its principles, materials and resources, and demonstrate how it can be used to promote ethical literacy within their sport, across various audiences and sport environments;
  4. Understand how intentionally including True Sport can positively impact the sport experience and contribute to a variety of benefits within the community;
  5. Connect students to mentoring opportunities with the aim of practicing True Sport engagement and implementation; and
  6. Cultivate reflection and storytelling skills as well as communication and leadership skills within a sport mentorship context, and demonstrate the application of these skills in scenarios beyond sport such as employment interviews.

This leadership program was developed and successfully piloted with the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba in collaboration with Grant McManes, the Coordinator of Healthy Living, and Dr. Glen Bergeron, professor and athletic therapist at the University of Winnipeg. In-class workshops were hosted with student-athlete leaders who then applied the new concepts into their coaching and mentorship experiences with younger students. The impact of the program was captured in this short video.

To learn more, or to organize a workshop in your community, contact us at info@truesport.ca

This initiative is made possible by the Community Fund for Canada’s 150th, a collaboration between Community Foundations of Canada, the McConnell Foundation, and the Government of Canada.