As a “Boomer” who grew up in “Industrial Cape Breton” with families supported by coal miners and steel workers I am grateful for the role of sports in communities in which I was formed and in the community in HRM where my children and grandchildren have the opportunity to grow through their participation as athletes and coaches in sports that included paddling, soccer, figure skating, hockey, rugby, Canadian football, volleyball and skiing.
They have been fortunate to travel to National and Provincial Competitions and training sessions across Canada and in the United States. One of the most impactful aspects of their coaching experiences, to me, was a sincere desire to reach out to young athletes and provide, when possible, support for athletes who had to work harder to play and compete with physical, developmental, social and financial challenges. Just one of the pressures my “coaches” had to address in team sports was the tension between giving the athletes who were not yet as skilled in the sport an opportunity to get “on the court, in the boat, on the field, on the ice,” during competitions when the important desire to win needed to be carefully balanced with fairness to all. I don’t doubt that this is an increasingly difficult dilemma for coaches, particularly as our society seems in general to be more inclined to favour “individualism” over “community”. Some of the feedback from my coaching family is the importance of the “grace moment” when the less skilled athletes on the team indicate to the coach that they wish to stay on the bench for this shift or event to get a chance for a win for the team today. As adults, I see in the work my athletes/coaches do in their professions as continuing their experience of the value of community and providing a coach's desire to enable participation for people who face financial and life experience challenges. They “coach” and work to address their clients' need for efficient and functional housing, reliable and affordable transportation, restoration and refurbishment of rental accommodation, and skills to enable their growth as skilled electricians. GO TEAM!
