KidSport™ Pilot Project Gets the Ball Rolling in Hazelton, BC

KidSport™ Pilot Project Gets the Ball Rolling in Hazelton, BC

For Immediate Release:
Friday, August 1, 2008

Richmond, B.C.: An innovative partnership between KidSport™ and Health Canada has brought a unique pilot program to Hazelton, a small town in northern British Columbia that is home to the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en First Nations.

Health Canada recognized a need to introduce sport in the community of Hazelton and turned to KidSport™ and their important mission, So All Kids Can Play. KidSport™ worked closely with Health Canada to develop a pilot program that has successfully brought a series of coaching clinics and player skill development workshops to the remote community.

Over the last four months, Basketball BC has trained 21 coaches with Level One certification at a series of workshops. These coaches worked with 48 new kids from the ages of 6 – 18, who attended skills development sessions. The sessions were hosted by Trinity Western University alumnus Luke Robinson and Richard Hunt.

Each of the 48 athletes received a basketball and a Steve Nash Youth Basketball jersey, and the coaches received coaching manuals and a KidSport™ / Steve Nash Youth Basketball golf shirt.

“KidSport™ will return to Hazelton in the fall for follow-up clinics and to work with local organizers to create a Steve Nash Youth Basketball League,” said Paul Varian, CEO, Sport BC. “These clinics will lead to new sport opportunities for the kids of Hazelton and we will work hard to ensure that we continue to deliver these valuable programs.”

“It was much more than a coaches or players clinic for Basketball; it was about effecting positive change, through the game of basketball,” said Sandra Olson, Director for First- Nations Action and Support Team. “The coaching theory from Richard Hunt was amazing and watching Luke Robinson work with the kids was very inspiring.”

The Level One basketball coaches course and players clinics from Basketball BC and KidSport™ were great for the Hazelton community,” said David Schwab, New Hazelton Secondary School Principal. “The clinics will help the coaches to inspire and help young basketball players in the community.”

This fall, KidSport™ will return to the community of Hazelton to deliver new sport programs with BC Amateur Hockey and NHL Players Association Alumni, Gino Odjick.

In 2008, KidSport™ BC’s goal is to get 3,000 children on rinks, soccer pitches, and courts. Their health, self-esteem, and social skills are depending on it. KidSport™ was established by Sport BC in 1993. There are now more than 160 local community chapters across Canada that have raised more than $5 million, providing a season of sport to more than 45,000 Canadian children in 65 different sports.

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