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Leading By Example: Consent Education for Athletes

​Our Leading by Example Sports Program offers athletes the opportunity to become community champions in areas such as positive masculinity and consent culture. 

Our Male Allies Educators drop the puck at a Kitchener Rangers game, 2022.

Consent Education for Athletes 
SASC’s Male Allyship Program offers athletes the opportunity to develop leadership skills to stand up against sexual and gender-based violence, to better recognize how words and behaviours impact women and girls, to combat negative stereotypes about what it means to be man, and to provide opportunities for discussion in an open, supportive environment. Our team works regularly with the Kitchener Rangers and has also provided training to athletes and staff at Hockey Canada. 

Leading by Example Sports Program 
We expanded our successful OHL Onside (OHL ONSIDE Program - Ontario Hockey League) curriculum into a comprehensive 3-session program with hands-on activities and engaging discussion. This Leading by Example Sports Program gives athletes, coaches, and athletic staff the opportunity to engage in discussions and activities in an open and supportive environment, facilitated by our Male Allyship educators. The curriculum has been created specifically for male-dominated sports teams. It includes interactive and engaging learning activities that are tailored to an athletic context, acknowledging the nuances of sport culture. Learning activities focus on reflection and self-discovery as participants engage in content through safe, supported discussion. 
We are pleased to be able to offer Leading by Example to minor league teams, school athletic teams, community sports leagues, semi-professional teams, and professional athletes on a sliding fee scale.

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Leading by Example Sports Program – Ages 16+

 Learning Objectives: 

• Provide athletes with an open, supportive, and accountable space to discuss issues related to sexual violence and gender-based violence. 
• Promote an understanding amongst athletes of the ways in which the unhealthy stereotypes of masculinity contribute to sexual violence and gender-based violence. 
• Provide athletes with healthy counter-narratives of masculinity. 
• Encourage critical reflection about what makes a healthy relationship. 
• Build athletes’ capacity to become peer leaders and allies in their communities. 

Program Outline (each session is 2 hours): 
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Session 1: Healthy Masculinity 

• How stereotypes of masculinity impact ourselves and others 
• Redefining masculinity 
• How language, actions, and behaviour impact ourselves and others 

Session 2: Consent and Healthy Relationships 

• The basics of consent 
• Creating a culture of engaged consent 

 Session 3: Bystander Intervention 

• How to recognize and interrupt harm 
• Allyship and leadership skills 

For more information about our sliding fee scale, or to book your team, please contact our Public Education Manager – [email protected] ​

Leading by Example Sports Program – Youth (ages 11-14)

In 2023, the Rangers Reach (Kitchener Rangers Community Fund) awarded our team with a community impact grant to fund the Leading by Example Community Expansion Project. The goal of this project was to meet the growing needs of youth athletes in Waterloo Region as we adapted the Leading by Example Sports Program to engage in conversations of consent and healthy masculinity with youth athletes between the ages of 11 and 14. 
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 The continued commitment from the Rangers Reach (In the News with SASC - Sexual Assault Support Centre Waterloo Region) provides capacity for our skilled sexual violence prevention educators to facilitate this youth program across Waterloo Region at no cost to teams.  

Program Outline (each session is 75 minutes): 

Session 1: Consent and Relationships  

• Participants can identify the core aspects of authentic consent and the role it plays in personal and community relationships 
• Participants can identify harmful behaviours and discuss the causes and consequences of harm on both an individual and societal level 

Session 2: Identity and Allyship  

• Participants will examine modern constructions of masculinity and discuss healthy alternatives that allow room for individuality and compassion  
• Participants will identify and practice key steps in allyship to create a safer and more welcoming community for everyone 

 Session 3: Leadership and Preventing Harm  

• Participants will employ key strategies in preventing harm and discussing the impact of harms identified in previous trainings 
• Participants will define what it means for them to be a leader in a changing culture 
•  Participants will acknowledge what steps can be taken on both a personal and team level to ensure these changes happen 

For more information or to book your youth team, please contact our Public Education Manager – [email protected] ​

Testimonials

"It was truly a privilege for our team to have the opportunity to participate in the program, those discussions will have a positive impact on decision making now and down the road. The active participation platform and workshops is a great method to challenge critically thinking on those topics, truly enjoyed the discussions. Thank you once again, and hopefully we can get the program as a mandatory session to minor hockey associations."  

• Randy Rudavsky, Kitchener Minor Hockey Coach 
  

 “I appreciated that the facilitators were very knowledgeable, comfortable, and ‘tuned in’ to the issues. I also appreciated that [the facilitator] used very current, inclusive, and sometimes even difficult language to get her point across.” 

• Leading by Example Sports Program participant 
  

 “I learned that any action is better than none. I also learning how to be sensitive to others on the topics. You’d think that my own experiences would help guide me in doing the right thing – but I didn’t realize how uneducated I was until this training – even with having gone through similar scenarios myself.” 
 Leading by Example Sports Program participant 
 ​“The facilitators knew what they were talking about and had many great examples that I felt confident in asking questions.”  

• Leading by Example Sports Program participant 
  

Contact Us

Have questions about our programming for athletes? Contact us at 519-571-0121 x826 or email us and we will be happy to chat with you! 

Contact Us