Freestyle Alberta - Freestyle Alberta Safe Sport Improvements

Freestyle Alberta’s project aimed to educate athletes, volunteers and officials. The main outcome of this project was to increase the awareness of recognizing maltreatment, understanding SafeSport policies, and knowledge of the reporting process and available resources for members.  The project was divided into two parts:

• A Females in Freestyle Workshop was held in Calgary for girls, women and non-binary individuals. The workshop provided an opportunity to play an open night of sports and also Safe Sport Education. Some role models from the Canadian Halfpipe team also attended as special guests.
• An Officials Training Workshop was held in Calgary which aimed to introduce Safe Sport and the UCCMS to officials and volunteers involved in the Freestyle community.

Learnings from this project:

• The organization learned that a robust marketing and communication plan is needed to support being a Safe and Welcoming Sport.
• The importance of having this front and centre for our members is paramount in creating the appropriate sports culture.
• The importance of hosting the two face-to-face workshops enabled us to reach the athlete, officials and volunteers directly, share stories and open the lines of communication in a way that online learning cannot. Future education, workshops and communication will be needed as policies are implemented.