Hi everyone!
It’s time for the next edition of our President’s Corner. As always, the goal of our President’s Corner is to give you a glimpse of what’s happening within the Club and behind the scenes, to inform you about what our Board of Directors is working on, and share what we discuss at our monthly meetings.
Athlete Success
At the June meeting of the Board of Directors, our Executive Director and Head Coach Richard Johnston highlighted the success of our high school athletes at OFSAA this year. There were some stellar performances and personal bests, and athletes captured 14 medals, including 4 gold!
Our athletes carried their success into the Ontario Championships in Toronto, capturing over two dozen medals across the U20 and open categories. Congratulations to all! We look forward to seeing their successes continue at the Canadian Track & Field Championships on June 22-26 in Langley, B.C.
Don’t forget that our Twilight meets are happening this summer! We look forward to seeing our athletes and their fans at our Twilight meets this summer, every Wednesday this summer until August 10th!
Safe Sport
As you might have read in our April President’s Corner, in May our President, Jenn Dumoulin, participated as a panelist at the Sport for Life Summit (Ottawa Summit). The focus of the panel, and really an entire day of the conference, was Safe Sport. Jenn provided a summary of her participation and reflected on the Summit during the Board meeting:
- The first thing that we need to think about when we talk about Safe Sport is… what exactly do we mean by “Safe Sport”? The definition of Safe Sport is evolving as our understanding of safety in sport deepens. Until recently, for example, it may not have included or emphasized PPE, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, that became really important.
- When is sport safe? At its most basic level, sport is safe when it is free from BAHD behaviours (Bullying, Abuse, Harassment, and Discrimination). But this is not enough to ensure safety in sport. Sport is safe when it takes place in properly maintained facilities, using the proper equipment and when it is overseen by trained coaches and officials. Safety is sport is also a social and economic issue; sport should be inclusive and welcoming to athletes, coaches and volunteers from diverse backgrounds.
- There is no single solution to achieve safety in sport and it cannot be achieved by one person alone. We all have a responsibility to make sport safer.
Putting Lessons Learned into Action
Our Club and Board are committed to encouraging a supportive sport environment and respectful workplace that is free of all forms of harassment, abuse and sexual misconduct. This is articulated in our Vision, Mission, and Values and our Statement of Expectations.
We would like to acknowledge media coverage in May of a historical complaint by a former Ottawa Lions’ athlete against their former coach. We understand that this can be very difficult for our members and alumni. Should they be needed, a list of local mental health resources can be found on our website.
We firmly believe in the work that we are doing as a Club and as a Board to ensure that our athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and all of our staff have a positive sport experience. We’ve come a long way together, although, of course, there is more work to do.
A few initiatives that we’re working on at the moment include:
- An independent review of the Club’s Policy on Harassment, Abuse and Sexual Misconduct and complainant handling procedures;
- Increasing the profile of and formalizing our equipment donation program (Did you know that we take in spikes?); and
- Developing and implementing a key dates calendar to recognize important dates and events that matter to the diverse communities that we serve.
That’s it for this month! Please reach out to share your ideas or let us know if you are interested in helping out with the Club.
Jennifer Dumoulin
President, Board of Directors
Ottawa Lions Track & Field Club
(prepared jointly with Zeena Rashid, Secretary, Ottawa Lions Board of Directors)