{"id":23326,"date":"2019-03-21T18:30:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T22:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23326"},"modified":"2019-03-21T18:31:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T22:31:06","slug":"sport-scraps-the-changing-face-of-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/sport-scraps-the-changing-face-of-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"SPORT SCRAPS: The Changing Face of Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ron Weese<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity. Inclusion. Integration. Segregation.\nImmigrants. Newcomers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words that are often charged with emotion, underpinned\nby human rights and based on both philosophy and sociology. They are also being\ndiscussed at length in sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora Sport Plan identifies \u201cthe Participant\u201d as\na key focus of attention and within this focus of course is the recognition of\nthe growing diversity of our residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport Aurora has done significant research into the\nchanging demographics of our community as part of our Sport Plan role. This\nresearch is essential in order to complete the \u201cenvironmental scan\u201d of our\nlocal society and then make suggestions based on facts about what kind of\nservices and opportunities exist and what are needed for our changing\npopulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research suggests that by 2030 immigration is\nprojected to account for all of population growth. In Aurora, we now know that 1,850\nnewcomers settled here between 2011 and 2016; 31% from China, 13% from Iran and\nabout 11% from the Philippines. We know that almost 30% of our residents were\nborn outside of Canada and that of the entire population, just under 50% are\naged 45 years or older. While Agencies of all kinds work to embrace and include\nnewcomers, what is sport to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consultations have taken place with stakeholder groups\nand experts relative to sport and diversity such as the Canadian\nCentre for Diversity and Inclusion, the Cities of Markham and Richmond Hill,\nthe Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, Immigrant Services in\nNewmarket and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, our partner at Sport for Life\nhas published \u201cCreating Inclusion of Newcomers in Sport and Physical Activity\u201d.\nThere is no shortage of resources, no shortage of information on engagement and\ncertainly there is a changing demographic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommendations for this changing face\nof sport are clearly stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Town of Aurora should undertake\nsimilar research to Town of Markham to ensure that a full understanding of the\nneeds and interests of the diverse residents in Aurora are known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport Aurora and the Town of Aurora should\npartner to develop a Diversity Program & Service Framework that will\nsufficiently support all Town sport and recreation programs and initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport should implement \u201cTry-It\u201d sport days\nthat offer free opportunities for newcomers to engage in local sport\nactivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training should be delivered through the\nCanadian Association for the Advancement for Women in Sport Workshop – M<\/em>aking Healthy Connections with Racialized\nCommunities \u2013 <\/em>as a\nstand-alone training for the following target groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Town of Aurora recreation staff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport Aurora staff and volunteers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activate Aurora staff and volunteers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local Sport Organization administrators\n(and coaches who are interested in participating) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise training workshops from the\nCanadian Center for Diversity and Inclusion are available that provide\ndiversity and inclusion fundamentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, who builds an inclusive sport\nenvironment in Aurora? Our volunteer-driven, sport Organizations have the will\nbut do not have the resources for this. They are busy providing sport services\nand have enough to do keeping costs low and delivering high-quality experiences\nto those who look to them for sport participation. Engagement of newcomers who\nmay have language and other cultural barriers to overcome, is a difficult task;\none that requires special knowledge and skill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport Aurora\u2019s view is that sport and\nhealthy physical activity includes everyone. If it doesn\u2019t, we as a Community\nare not doing what we should for the changing face of sport. It is time for all\nof us to learn how to be more inclusive and engaging, so every Auroran has\nequal opportunities to experience the benefits of sport and physical activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about the Culture and Diversity\nrecommendations in the Sport Plan or how you can get involved, please Contact\nUs at <\/em>www.sportaurora.ca<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ron Weese Diversity. Inclusion. Integration. Segregation. Immigrants. Newcomers. Words that are often charged with emotion, underpinned by human rights and based on both philosophy and sociology. They are also being discussed at length in sport. The Aurora Sport Plan identifies \u201cthe Participant\u201d as a key focus of attention and within this focus of course […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-64e","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 10:11:08","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\/23326","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=23326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}