By Tom Peters, freelance writer
Young newcomers and vulnerable teens in Antigonish are being offered an opportunity to break down social barriers and develop life-learning skills through a program offered in partnership between Sport Nova Scotia and the YMCA in Antigonish.
The Y-Active Youth Sport Program, a series of six-week try-it sport sessions, is available free to youth between the ages of 12-17.
Sport Nova Scotia’s Maria Fraser, an equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility sport navigator working in partnership in Antigonish with town and county recreation departments, said the program was kick-started when Sport Nova Scotia was looking to make funding available for vulnerable teens in the Antigonish area.
“I put some feelers out to a variety of organizations that would be able to work and collaborate to get a program off the ground,” she explains.
It was the YMCA’s YREACH Program that stepped in to take on the task.
According to a Y website, “The YREACH Program provides information, orientation and settlement/integration support to immigrants, refugees and their families of all ages who are new to rural Nova Scotia.”
The Y-Active Program, which has offered two six-week sessions this past year, with a third planned for this winter, has been organized in partnership with Antigonish YREACH facilitator, Desmond Hembrey.
Fraser, a St. Francis Xavier University grad with a background in sports as a player, coach and organizer, said Hembrey’s role in the Antigonish school system is to support newcomers.
“A sort of one-person welcoming committee, he gets the word out about the program basically through his connections and his association and relationships he has built with new families in Antigonish,” says Fraser. “So Desmond is key. He already has a relationship with the families. They have trust in him and he is very able in articulating how the program is laid out, where the kids need to go and what time and what kind of clothing they might need.”
Supporting Desmond is another Antigonish Y employee, Laia Torrent.
“She has a sports background and leads sports’ skills sessions. We have done things like soccer, volleyball, floor hockey, basketball, gone for hikes, done some pickle ball. They also watched the Atlantic University Sport men’s soccer championship final that was hosted by St. F.X.,” Fraser adds.
Through her connections with community organizations and recreation departments plus funding from Sport Nova Scotia, Fraser has been able to gather required sports equipment for participating youth plus book time at local recreational facilities for the activities.
One such facility is the new Antigonish Scotiabank Mini-Pitch that opened last June and is managed by the county recreation department. The mini-pitch, free for public use, has a sport tile surface with side panels, soccer goals and basketball hoops and additional space for free play. It is designed to be accessible and inclusive for families, children and youth of all abilities.
Fraser says the Y-Active Youth Program has a nice mix of various sports and venues in the community.
“Basically, we give them (participants) an introduction and help them with the basic building blocks so they may want to try out for a school sport team or, in future, they may want to visit some of the recreation facilities.”
