The Black & Indigenous Coach Mentoring Program is in its fourth year and coach mentees in the program continue to do good things in sport. Beginning in October of 2020, the program has supported Black (African Nova Scotians) and Indigenous (Mi’kmaw) participants interested in coaching with the opportunity to learn the essential skills to become a successful coach.
This program is led by Mark Smith and Ann Dodge and supported by Sport Nova Scotia, the Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic and the Department of Community Culture & Heritage. The program was created to address the lack of coach representation in the provincial sport system. Over an 18-month professional development journey, the program supports and empowers coaches who are motivated to pursue coaching certification (NCCP) in their chosen sport.
The journey involves classroom and interaction during games and practices where mentors attend to observe. Mentors and mentees connect monthly to discuss whatever the mentee wants to in addition to the once per month online sessions. Goals range from building confidence through regular meetings and participation in workshops to earning NCCP certification. Some mentees simply want to become more confident in helping out through coaching in their community to pursuing opportunities to coaching provincially.
This latest cohort of coaches boasts five coaches who have had coaching success this past year. Duan Ash led the Auburn Drive girls basketball team to the provincial high school Division 1 basketball championship in February. Sarah Gloade, Shaniya Vance, Christian Bernard and Jasmine Smith participated as coaches at the North American Indigenous Games hosted in Halifax in July, working with the sports of swimming and volleyball, respectively.
“We are excited to see our coach mentees taking on leadership roles and contributing to the sports they love,” said Smith.
“There continues to be underrepresentation across the sport sector in our province and the program is slowly but surely having a positive impact on the confidence level of our coaches. The young men and women who take part in the program are motivated to learn the necessary skills required to be a successful coach.
“Through open and honest conversations and safe spaces to have those conversations, mentors and mentees build a relationship that allows them to dig into a variety of topics specific to finding a place in coaching that allows them to feel comfortable and confident in their coaching abilities and develop strategies to address the challenges that athletes and coaches who come from marginalized communities face in sport.”
To date, 31 coaches have participated in the program with a new cohort scheduled to begin in September of 2024.
