Whitehorse Daily Star

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LEADING THE CHARGE – Cross-country skier Natalie Hynes, right, accepts an award of excellence from Community Services Minister Currie Dixon, left, while Premier Darrell Pasloski looks on at the 40th annual Sport Yukon Awards Night held last week.

Sport Action Plan sets out seven-year strategy

A plan aimed at improving sport and recreation opportunities throughout the territory has been released.

By Stephanie Waddell on February 9, 2016

A plan aimed at improving sport and recreation opportunities throughout the territory has been released.

The Yukon government released its $15,000 Sport Action Plan last Thursday with Community Services Minister Currie Dixon noting that it sets out the goals for sport in the territory over the next seven years.

“We are committed to making sport and healthy living more accessible for all Yukoners and to increasing support for our high-performing coaches,” he said of the document developed over a two-year period.

Six guiding principles have been established for the plan which establishes the basis of how it will develop, deliver and pursue excellence in sports.

They are as follows:

• Sport promotes ethical behaviour and the values of respect, fair play and fun;

• Sport for Life, based on the Long Term Athlete Development Framework, promotes opportunities for people to participate, perform and excel in sport from childhood to adulthood, whether in the playground, the podium or the park;

• Inclusion, equitable access and sport development in Yukon’s rural and remote communities are essential elements of Yukon’s sport system;

• Partnerships and collaboration within the sport system strengthen capacity and impact sport delivery and success;

• Quality sport requires capacity and training for athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers; and

• Sustainability of our sport system demands accountability, monitoring and evaluation.

The principles underlie the plan’s goals which fall under four areas including sport participation (ensuring sporting opportunities are available to all Yukoners in both organized and unorganized settings), sport performance (combining support, resources and opportunities for individuals to improve in competitive and high performance sport endeavours), sport capacity (strengthening capacity and leadership in the system in order to foster environments that promote opportunities to participate and excel in sport), and sport for community awareness (getting out the message of the positive power of sport and its contribution to healthy vibrant, sustainable communities).

Work on the plan included extensive consultation with various sporting bodies ranging from cycling groups to the Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle to Hockey Yukon and many others.

As Cross Country Yukon head coach Alain Masson said: “The Yukon Sport Action Plan was developed in consideration of the entire sport community including athletes, coaches, officials, board members, volunteers and parents. The plan provides important direction for Yukon’s sport community and will help all Yukoners become healthier and more active.”

Released alongside the plan was the Community Recreation Planning Toolkit which is designed to help communities create their own recreation plans. The toolkits were developed with the territory’s sport and recreation branch, various sport organizations and the Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon.

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