{"id":13563,"date":"2016-03-02T18:07:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T23:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13563"},"modified":"2016-03-02T18:07:34","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T23:07:34","slug":"sport-aurora-highlights-year-of-sport-at-agm-and-looks-to-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/sport-aurora-highlights-year-of-sport-at-agm-and-looks-to-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Sport Aurora highlights \u2018Year of Sport\u2019 at AGM and looks to the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Year of Sport in Aurora is now behind us. 2015 brought about the \u201cActivate Aurora\u201d plan, announced by former MP Lois Brown to make Aurora Canada\u2019s most active community. <\/p>\n

A new draft Parks and Recreation master plan was introduced at Town Council.<\/p>\n

The \u201cAll Kids Can Play\u201d program was successful in providing 34 children with almost $5,000 in support to get in the game.<\/p>\n

With the draft sports plan and revised Parks and Rec plan set to be reviewed this week, Sport Aurora set in motion new initiatives for 2016 at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Council Chambers last week.<\/p>\n

The New Year marks the first year for the 36-member umbrella organization without the $200,000 Ontario Trillium Grant, money that has played a major role in the significant growth and development of Sport Aurora since 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201c2016 brings a new set of challenges, of which the most important is the goal of self-sustainability for Sport Aurora,\u201d said Sport Aurora President, Stephen Kimmerer. \u201cSport Aurora must find new methods and opportunities to meet financial support so we can continue to provide, enhance, and grow the services and programs that have made Sport Aurora an influential leader in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the Trillium Grant umbrella, the organization has hit major milestones such as the training of over 100 new coaches, as well as the implementation of the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame (ASHoF), now in its third year with 17 inducted members.<\/p>\n

While some may see the end of the grant as a setback, Sport Aurora has set plans to recuperate funds through service agreements, corporate sponsorships, new grant opportunities, and donations to advance a number of new initiatives for the ASHoF in 2016.<\/p>\n

Chief among them is the relocation of the Hall, from the third floor of Town Hall to the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex (SARC).<\/p>\n

Through a recommendation made by the Board of Governors, ASHoF Chair Ron Weese said the Hall will be moved to a more public and more visible space, exhibiting artefacts and memorabilia from the inductees.<\/p>\n

Nancy Black, project manager of the ASHoF, said the relocation is tentatively set for September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal,\u201d said Black. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to be on the third floor of Town Hall, but we\u2019ll be even happier to be in a location that has more access for ongoing hours. More people can view all the wonderful pieces we have in the Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a sport tourism initiative,\u201d added Weese. \u201cThere are thousands and thousands of people going through [the SARC], it\u2019s a big step in preserving the legacy of our sports organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Black is inviting anyone to come forward with donations, both of items and of funding, to add to this \u201cmore expansive\u201d location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just going to display artefacts of our honoured members, we\u2019re going to display sport heritage in Aurora. You are the keepers in sport heritage, so we want your stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also added to the Hall will be a \u201cSport Champions of the Hall\u201d initiative, a pledge program comprising of sport organizations that make a one-time sponsorship pledge of $250 or more. <\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s name and logo will be emblazoned on a plaque in the Hall, commemorating the commitment made by the organization to the sustainability of the Hall.<\/p>\n

Aurora Men\u2019s Slo Pitch, Ducks Swimming, Storm Volleyball, Evolution Gymnastics, York North Basketball Association, Master Ducks, York Old Timers Hockey League, Central York Girl\u2019s Hockey Association, and Sport Aurora have already joined the Sport Champions list.<\/p>\n

Other new initiatives put forward included a call for the implementation of a sports development officer within Sport Aurora, as well as adding baseline concussion testing to the minor sports schedule.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Year of Sport in Aurora is now behind us. 2015 brought about the \u201cActivate Aurora\u201d plan, announced by former MP Lois Brown to make Aurora Canada\u2019s most active community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3wL","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 04:53:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}