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Give and Go - a sports education Documentary

Give and Go Sports Documentary

2024

- 34 minutes

Canada's top athletes and sports experts explore how multi-sport participation leads to better physical and mental health, ultimately creating better athletes.

Once, sports were a seasonal pursuit—hockey, basketball, and other indoor sports were reserved for winter, while baseball and soccer took over as the weather become more accommodating.

The film examines the rise of one-sport specialization in youth sports, highlighting its dangers and disadvantages, and offering solutions to the problems it has created.

The issues with specialization in youth sports

At one time, sports were a seasonal pursuit. Hockey, basketball and other indoor sports were reserved for the winter months. As the skies cleared and the temperatures became more accommodating, skates and sneakers were exchanged for cleats, and baseball and soccer were the sports of spring and summer.

Slowly but surely, the youth sport landscape changed. Summer hockey blossomed. Conditioning camps, skating camps, stickhandling schools and other specialized entities were born and hockey became a 12-month a year pursuit. Similar evolution took place in all youth sport.

Youth sports has become big business, and has gone from offering children a chance to participate, compete and develop emotional, physical and mental skills that will help aid their growth toward adulthood, into a fantasy factory, a virtual cottage industry designed to produce professional athletes.

By funneling their children into one sport, parents aren’t allowing their child to experience a normal childhood. Their friends are their sporting teammates, and by pursuing a sport at such a cost of time and energy, they aren’t able to experience and enjoy other aspects of life. They will never hold a summer job, and are unlikely to go away to a summer camp unless it is specifically related to their sport. On top of that, the other children in the family are often left to feel alienated and unloved because so much of family life is devoted to the one child’s never-ending sporting pursuit.

A growing body of research suggests that specialization—the intense, year-round practice of a single activity at the expense of others—is dangerous for the youngest athletes, while picking a sport later on is in fact more likely to lead to an elite athletic career.

What Is the Solution?

We need to return youth sports to the mindset of the past, where there are seasons for sports. Skates are put away in the spring and exchanged for baseball mitts or soccer balls or golf clubs, or all of the above.

Less than one per cent of all youth sport participants will become professional athletes. We must break that image in the minds of parents that they are breeding the next Sidney Crosby or LeBron James and allow their children to experience all that sport has to offer them. The mission of youth sport should not be to create robo athletes pursuing the elusive goal of becoming a pro, but rather to teach kids how to work toward an objective and in many cases, how to work together as a group toward that objective. At the same time, to also recognize at a young age the value of regular exercise in pursuit of an overall healthy lifestyle.

While knowing that multi-sport athletes make for better performers and more well-rounded people, how do we get that message into the minds of parents who are convinced the only way to make their kid a hockey star is by playing all-hockey, all the time? And how do we alter the thinking of coaches who want their players devoted to the team and the sport 24/7, 12 months a year?

We will do so by talking about the campaigns being launched by national sports organizations emphasizing the benefits of playing sports other than theirs, and through the voices of key players in the industry and how they look for athletes first and sport-specific stars second. And we will also show how playing a multitude of sports growing up makes for a more well-rounded person by speaking with people who’ve succeeded in both sports and in other aspects of life while following this blueprint.

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Give And Go Sport Education aims to educate and expand opportunity for youth athletes by showcasing the value of multi-sport exposure.

Statements from our supporters

"Players who delay single-sport specialization until later in their teen years lower their risk of injury from overuse and wear and tear, as well as their risk of burnout; where sport is no longer fun for them. The “Give and Go” documentary project aligns to Canada Soccer’s message that our young players benefit by experiencing multiple sports and activities, which is better for them in the long term."

Jason deVos
Director of Development
Canada Soccer

"The “Give and Go” documentary aligns with Canada Basketball and will bring awareness to the multi-sport approach and it’s benefits in athlete development. It has the potential to be a resource for athletes, administrators, educations and parents in Canada."

Dawn Smyth
Director, Domestic Development
Canada Basketball

"We believe this project can raise awareness for the multi-sports approach we have been promoting for years at Baseball Canada. Baseball Canada recognizes the value for all baseball players to be involved in other sports during the other months of the year. Being exposed to different coaching methods, leaning new skills, make additional social connections are some of the benefits of being involved in other sports at the Learn to Train andTrain to Train stage of development. There is urgency in educating parents and stakeholders about quality sports programming and we believe this documentary could be an excellent vehicle.

...We are looking forward to be involved with this project."

André Lachance
Director Sport Development
Baseball Canada

"As presented to us, the “Give and Go” documentary aligns with AFL’s promotion of the benefits of a “multi-sport” approach amongst parents of children involved in sport. Namely that children who engage in many sports and activities at an early age are more likely to remain healthy, suffer less repetitive stress injuries associated with early specialization, avoid sport burn-out, and are more likely to remain active for life."

Richard Monette
Managing Director, Active for Life
Active For Life

"I’d like to express my support for this project and my conviction that this film will raise awareness of the advantages of multi-sport participation for Canadian youth."

Richard Way
CEO, Sport for Life Society
Sport For Life

"This project will provide young people and their families the critical information needed to enhance the athlete's well-being, and allow them to prosper both on and off the field of play."

Graham Brown
President and CEO
U Sports

"Throughout the years, research has continued to showcase the importance of multisport participation and it is important that we continue to raise awareness about its benefits. Young children who are involved in more than one sport are more likely to stay healthy and to stay active for a longer period of time. As leaders in the sport community, it is important that we create an environment where multi-sport participation is encouraged."

Lorraine Lafrenière
CEO
Coaching Association of Canada

"We envision a Canada free of serious injuries, with Canadians living long lives to the fullest. Emerging research suggests a relationship between sport specialization and injury risk. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends delaying specialization and giving youth at least three months off per year from any particular sport. The Give and Go Sport initiative aligns with Parachute’s mission and will help to promote healthy physical activity."

Pamela Fuselli
President and CEO
Parachute

"We are aware of the growing literature regarding the benefits of avoiding early sports specialization and are pleased to collaborate in the ongoing discussion in conjunction with other community partners. We see the value in the Giveand Go project in supporting young athletes in their enjoyment of and safe participation in sport of all types."

Dr. Scott D. Howitt
President RCCSS(C)
The Royal College of Chiropractic Sports Sciences (Canada)

"I would like to express my support for this project and my conviction that this documentary film will raise awareness of the advantages of multi-sport, physical activity, and recreation participation for Canadian youth.Throughout the years, research has continued to showcase the importance of multi-sport participation and it is important that we continue to raise awareness about its benefits. Young children who are involved in more than one sport are more likely to stay healthy and to stay active for a longer period of time."

Elio Antunes
President and CEO
ParticipACTION

"A foundational principle of the revised Health and Physical Education curriculum is that it is most effective when delivered in a healthy school and when students’ learning is supported by school staff, families, and communities. Where public messaging can support broader awareness of multi-sport participation and align with the aims of Physical Education delivered in schools then Ophea sees benefits for students."

Chris Markham
Executive Director and CEO
Ophea

"As presented to us, the “Give And Go” documentary aligns with our Respect in Sport offerings and our stance on the benefits of a “multi-sport” approach amongst parents of children involved in sport. Specifically, that children who engage in many sports and activities at an early age are more likely to identify, communicate and encourage healthy interaction with adults, individuals in authority and fellow sport participants. We also believe that the documentary will help youth and parents understand what would be considered normal and acceptable behavior across the broad amateur sport spectrum and to question and/or leave sport activities and organizations that do not engage in these behaviours."

Wayne McNeil
Co-Founder
Respect Group Inc

Contact Us

Send us a message, leave a comment or ask a question. We look forward to hearing from you.

General enquiries

Mark McGuire, Executive Director

mark@giveandgosport.ca

Media Enquiries

Bob Duff, Senior Writer & Editor

bob@giveandgosport.ca

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