Sports for Social Impact

Serene Porter is a Halifax-based multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, and facilitator from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory (Mohawk Nation) in Ontario. In her work as an art therapist, as well as in the Integrated Learning workshops she has developed and delivered, Serene has helped people of all ages to explore healing and creative expression through art, nature, and cultural c...

In this episode we explore the immense power that athletes have by using their voice to talk about challenging issues in society. From Simone Biles talking about mental health at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, to Lebron James speaking out on social injustice, to over 300 British Olympians and Paralympians signed a letter to United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on the government to...

Val de Falbaire is the founder of Precious Plastics Mauritius and one of the IOC Young Leaders (2019-2020). Val grew up with sport and had a career in swimming and triathlon for about 15 years. In 2014, he was elected by the Mauritius National Olympic Committee as a Young Change-Maker and started his project called AgingWell which is focused on tackling the high levels of diabetes and obesity in M...

Ryan Pelley currently leads Commonwealth Sport Canada’s SportWORKS Program, which integrates sport development and sport for development programming to promote individual and community social development, and build national sport system capacity, throughout the Commonwealth. He  grew up in a small community on the northwest coast of British Columbia. The town of Kitimat is on the traditional...

Sport is key for social inclusion of all people. It has been identified as an important tool for breaking down barriers such as language, religion, gender, ability and borders to create a more inclusive society. Special Olympics (SO) Singapore is part of a global inclusion movement using sports, health, education & leadership programme to end discrimination against and empower people with inte...

Genuine youth engagement is hard to come by. That is no different in sport. In this episode I chat with Ugnė Chmeliauskaitė from ENGSO Youth on how to engage and empower youth outside of sport, but also in and through sport. We also take a look at sustainable development in and through sport, and how youth are uniquely positioned to contribute to sustainable development in their communities. Ms. U...

Sports have a power to inspire. It has the power to capture the imagination and attention of the public and draw their attention to important issues in our society. Sport can be used to advocate for changes in our society through activism. In this episode, we explore how 4 young people in France are using the sport of swimming to create a conversation surrounding cigarette butt pollution.  Ch...

Identified by the United Nations as an important tool to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal #4, Quality Education, sport can be used in multiple ways to facilitate progress towards this goal. In this episode we explore how sport can be incorporated and used in school curriculum's to teach Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) lessons.   Jesse Lovejoy is the director o...

Sport can be used as a tool for inclusion for all members of society if used correctly. However there remain many barriers for marginalized communities to participating in sports, especially members of the LGBTQ+ community. In this episode we take a deeper dive into ways that sport can be used for inclusion, what some of the barriers are for people entering sports, and how we can start addressing...

Under the leadership of Peace Nobel Laureate Prof Yunus, the social business movement has been tackling global challenges, across all industries, for the past 40 years. Who is Prof Yunus? What is social business? What does it bring to the sport table? How to get involved? This episode aims to give you the why and how of sport and social business. Abby Smith is the Community Manager Yunus Sports Hu...

Sustainability and climate action has become an important topic, especially for a lot of young people. This month my guest is Courtney Burk as we talk about sport & recreation and sustainability. Courtney is a graduate of Renaissance College (2017) and is currently working on her Master of Science in Environmental Management at UNB, studying wildlife connectivity. She has always been an enviro...

Sports can contribute to developing important life skills such as leadership and qualities that go along with it; such as empathy, responsibility and time management. In the very first episode of Sports for Social Impact, David speaks with former classmate Ryan Cobb on how sport can foster leadership qualities in athletes. Since graduating from the University of New Brunswick's Leadership school,...