As part of the opening night to the Canadian Sport Film Festival, KidSport will be hosting a valuable discussion panel for anyone invested in ensuring children have a positive experience when they start their sport journey.
Starting children in sport is an exciting time for families – getting to meet new friends (both for the kids and adults!), learning new skills, being active and having fun. Above all else, it should be safe. Safe from physical injury, yes, but as importantly, safe from mental, social, and emotional injury. This is accomplished through a collaborating partnership between the sport organization, coaches, parents, and the athletes themselves. Often times, this is left too late in an athlete’s journey and they have had negative experiences which have led to a drop in participation. So, how do we ensure that we are providing an environment that will model positive experiences for young athletes, both in and out of sport?
Our panel will be looking at what makes a safe environment, what everyone’s role is in making (and keeping!) it that way, and why it’s important that all involved are part of the process.
Moderator:
Panelists:
Marci Sier has been the head squash professional at The Badminton and Racquet Club in Toronto since 2008. She is also a Mental Performance Consultant who practices as a professional member of theCanadian Sport Psychology Association. Marci has been the provincial junior coach since 2015, coached at the Women’s World Team Championships 2014, and continues to coach at the top junior tournaments in the world. She has also created seminars for Google, Mackenzie Investments, US Squash Women’s Summit and other Canadian Private Clubs. Marci was also therecipient of the Squash Ontario Coaching Achievement Award in 2017. Additionally, Marci is also an active coach developer and evaluator in Canada, and sits on the Squash Ontario Junior High Performance Committee, Squash Canada Coaching Committee, and Squash Canada High Performance Committee.
Dave Cox is the Assistant Coach of the U21 Canadian Women’s Field Hockey Team and Performance Analyst of the Canadian Senior Women’s Team. He is the Ontario Head Coach of Field Hockey Canada’s NextGen junior high-performance programme and former Team Ontario Head Coach. Dave is a former international hockey player and coach of the Barbados National Field Hockey Team. He is a FIH Academy Level 3 Coach and FIH Academy Educator and the founder and Head Coach of the Toronto United Field Hockey Club.
Anika Taylor is the Community Engagement Coordinator, MLSE LaunchPad.
“While growing up as a youth soccer athlete, I had endless opportunities to enjoy the positive benefits of sport participation. However, through these personal experiences and my time at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, I also learned that despite sport’s potential for good, participation does not inherently offer positive benefits or ensure transference of important life skills. This recognition has been at the forefront of my work and contributions across the Canadian Sport System, to creating positive, equity-based safe sport and physical activity experiences.”
