It doesn't matter whether it's baseball for teens in drug and alcohol recovery, soccer for the homeless and hard to house, basketball on Friday inside the walls of a youth detention centre, or hockey for urban aboriginal kids whose families fall below the poverty line.
Sport equals opportunity. Sport is enriching, empowering and inspiring. Opportunity doesn't mean big league money, genius ball handling or international stardom. The power of sport I'm writing about could be the very antithesis of the professional, corporate franchise that operates for profit and treats talent as commodity and fan engagement as one line on a balance sheet.
When the United Nations declared its Year of Sport earlier this decade, the reach of sport was underscored at local, national and global levels. The ability to access and participate in sports affords social and moral inclusion for anyone otherwise marginalized by social, cultural or religious barriers entrenched by gender, disability, class or other forms of discrimination, according the U.N.
Before Norm Flynn started H.E.R.O.S. in 2000, he was a kid growing up in a tough working-class neighbourhood of Winnipeg. But hockey provided him a healthy, constructive outlet to channel his energy and vent frustration. It was also validating. He went as far as the Western Hockey League.
H.E.R.O.S.--Hockey Education Reaching Out Society--began in the Downtown Eastide, another tough neighbourhood. Using hockey as a hook, H.E.R.O.S targets boys and girls who otherwise don't get the chance to play hockey. The specific sport is incidental. The power lies in sport itself and a charitable program like Flynn's and the promise of education, empowerment, skills, friendship and self-esteem.
H.E.R.O.S. summer hockey camp runs until July 9 at Britannia ice rink.
Twitter: @MHStewart
