A local group calling itself “Spirit of the Game” is helping underprivileged children get into organized sports.
Photo contributed
A group of Osoyoos residents are establishing a foundation that aims to remove the financial barriers that keep some children out of organized sports.
“It hit me when I saw the money I was spending on my kids in soccer and through the hockey academy at the school,” said Mike Campol, who is spearheading the initiative. “I realized that there were a lot of kids that don’t have that opportunity.”
Campol believes that children between the ages of six and 12 learn valuable skills from organized sports such as teamwork, leadership, confidence and respect.
On the other hand, children from underprivileged families often find trouble as teenagers and onwards, Campol says.
“I feel strongly that organized sports really lays that foundation and gives you the skills you need to avoid that,” he said. “So the idea was to give these kids an opportunity to get involved, whether it be baseball, soccer or the hockey academy at the public school.”
Along with several other local residents, Campol has registered Spirit of the Game Society as a non-profit organization aimed at helping less fortunate children get involved in sports.
Others involved include Richard Langsmith, Cam Bissonnette and Gene Lockerby, but Campol has been reaching out to others active in the Osoyoos sports scene such as Coyotes owner Randy Bedard and teacher Dean Rowland, who runs the hockey academy.
One of the aims of the society, Campol said, is to direct 100 per cent of the money raised through donations to helping children.
Money to operate the organization itself will be raised through annual funding partners, which will cover the cost of a website, donation software and other expenses.
Campol, who is general manager at Spirit Ridge Vineyard Spa and Resort, plans to work with different sports organizations in Osoyoos and Oliver to establish criteria and to look at what the Spirit of the Game Society can offer in the first year.
The society will aim to assist with league fees and equipment, Campol said.
Initially, the program will operate in Osoyoos and Oliver, but Campol hopes that it can be expanded throughout the South Okanagan in the next few years.
The society will have its first board meeting in the near future and will determine what its fundraising goals will be.
Campol said he’s looked at other similar organizations, but the problem with some is they have high overhead and they spend a lot on marketing.
Spirit of the Game Society will be more of a grassroots effort, he added.
He’s confident that in Osoyoos where there are so many community-minded people the initiative will work.
He notes, however, that the society won’t be able to brag about the individuals it helps because it never wants to expose the people who are underprivileged and thereby stigmatize them.
“We’re very excited,” he said. “We’ve been chomping at the bit because we’ve had all these ideas and we’re ready to go and all these people want to get involved and help out. But until we got our business number and not for profit status recently we were just sitting and waiting.”
Richard McGuire
Special to the Chronicle
