Kids invited to Kidsport Kickoff Dec. 8th

By Rebecca Tolen

KidSport Chapter President

Rainy River KIDSPORT is thrilled to invite the community to the FUN ZONE KICKOFF on Saturday December 8th at 1:00 pm. This will be a fun, sport filled afternoon for children and youth where participants will be able to sample the variety of sports

available right here in Rainy River. Volunteers/Coaches from figure skating, hockey, basketball, volleyball, badminton, Tae Kwon Do and soccer will be conducting hands on workshops to all who come out to join in. The event will begin at begin at 1:00 pm at the Recreation Center with activities to follow there as well as at Rainy River High School, and the Rainy River Curling Club. The local Kidsport committee hopes to see 100 or more youth and there parents, show up to try something new and have some fun!

KidSport is a national program which began in British Columbia in 1993 and now includes all ten provinces and one territory. It is a national program with policies and procedures that each chapter must follow but is flexible in that each local program is tailored to meet the unique needs of its region. All Chapters are established to promote sport and enable kids to play.

The process of becoming a Kidsport chapter began back in March of this year when several people from local organizations met with Lyle Abbott, of Kidsport Ontario. KidSport Canada’s message and mission was spelled out very clearly at this meeting and the Rainy River locals strongly agreed that the benefits of participating in sports and recreation programs are endless and all children and youth should be able to participate in those programs. Through the KidSport Grant Program families are able to overcome the financial obstacles of becoming involved in increasingly costly organized sports. The Rainy River group could see that establishing a KidSport Chapter here would be a win-win situation; more children/youth could afford to participate in sport and our local sports groups would benefit by larger enrolments.

Following the initial meeting a committee was formed, all the necessary paper work filled out and this fall the committee received word that Rainy River had become an official KidSport Chapter. Rainy River KidSport was granted funding and equipment for the remainder of 2007 and has already helped children take part in figure skating, hockey and school sports. Children from the Town of Rainy River and the Municipalities of Dawson, Lake of the Woods and Morley are eligible for funding. Applications and more information are available from at the Ontario Early Years Center, area schools and the Northwest Health Unit.