Thank you, Madam Chair.
Dear members of the committee, thank you for having me here. I've been watching, listening and learning from the committee and various witnesses. It means a lot to me to be here, as this topic is something I've been concerned about for many years.
I am a physical and health education teacher certified for kindergarten through grade 12. I've had the opportunity to teach elementary school for five years and secondary school for 20. Over the years, I've taken on various roles in community sports, such as coach, parent, administrator and board member. Most of these experiences have been in soccer and hockey.
Two years ago, I was encouraged to contribute to the hockey community through the Ontario Hockey League as an academic and personal development adviser with the London Knights, as my previous experience in supporting student athletes in their holistic development would be helpful to the players. Additionally, my children grew up in the hockey system and are now in their early twenties, so I knew the youth hockey system from which the OHL players graduated.
I've also presented at local, provincial, national and international conferences on Athleadership and holistic athlete development. Additionally, I've written courses and curricula taught in the Ontario school system. While immersed in teaching and coaching athletes, I continued to study child and adolescent development. I was determined to bring current evidence about healthy long-term athlete development to community sport. I couldn't understand why people in community sport didn't follow the National Sport Organization's guidelines to serving the children in the most appropriate ways. I've been learning about NSO sport development models over the years and listening to athletes' concerns. I have studied concepts such as the rights of children in sport and other countries' athlete development models. There is much to learn, share, adopt and apply.
Not all athletes have enjoyed their sport experiences. The longer I taught in high school, the more I heard from athletes and learned of their repeated concerns. I realized the adults were the ones harming the children through the system. By their teenage years, the teenagers knew it. They wanted to do something about it. I listened to them.
What if I educated and empowered the teens willing to do something positive in sport so that when they became adults, they could actually make a difference? I knew I needed to do something to address my concerns in sport, which I couldn't do as one individual.
At that time, about 15 years ago, I wrote an Athleadership program for teen athletes to become trained in coaching, sports administration, child development, safe sport, communication and more. Upon being trained, they would be immersed in the sport community in different roles and applying what they learned. After doing so, they would have opportunities to discuss and reflect and have guidance on what they were experiencing so they could better understand how to contribute effectively in sport.
There are over 500 graduates of this Athleadership program, and I've shared this model with other secondary schools and sport communities. They have adopted it.
One of the principles of the program is “Stop complaining—how do we address the concern?” It has proven successful, and many are now in sport leadership positions. The ripple effect is real. I've tested this concept and learned that if people have appropriate education, guidance and mentorship, they can make a positive difference in sport, regardless of age, if they are willing to learn, reflect and be led.
In community sport, it can be difficult to get adults willing to learn, reflect and be led. I thought that, if we educated the adults the same way the Athleadership program does teens, they would finally listen. I tried, and no, they don't. I witnessed more “I got this” attitudes than “How do we do better for children?” attitudes. This is part of the problem.
The problems are linked to governance. Adults in the system enjoy the status quo. If they do want to learn, the sport community won't allow what they've learned to be applied. People in youth sports do not have enough education, support and mentorship to effectively lead, or to follow or enforce the policies in appropriate ways. They often don't know what they don't know.
I do not blame them; I blame the system that has allowed this to happen. The ability to create change is virtually impossible within the current sport system. I've tried.
The system, as created, does not provide for children as it intended to. It was meant to offer safe, developmentally appropriate sport experiences. We have not been measuring the right examples of successful programming. As child development researcher Dr. Martin Toms suggests, “children are not mini-adults”. We have allowed the lack of governance in sport to “adultify” youth sports and harm our children as a result.
I too echo what previous witnesses have mentioned, and that is to have an independent judicial inquiry to learn the extent of the issues that enable the abusive cultures to exist, or harm will continue.
Thank you.