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The community sport sector in Ottawa has pulled together to continue to support each other this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The #MeToo movement and recent media attention on abuse in sport has highlighted the need for all sporting organizations to pay attention to creating a safe space for their players. There have been many instances over the past few years of coaches acting inappropriately with athletes, causing them feel uncomfortable playing their sport and reflecting badly on the sporting organization. These incidents have happened at the national, provincial and local level of sport. At the local level, often community sport organizations have not received information on how to deal with safe sport issues which can cause serious harm to their athletes and other staff members.

According to the United Nations, sport is recognized by many governments around the world as a major contributor to economic and social development. The UN’s Declaration of the 2030 Agenda even reflects on “the contribution sports make to the empowerment of women, and of young people, individuals and communities, as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives.”

The Ottawa Sport Council is pleased to announce the launch of the Ottawa Sport Council Foundation: 2020 True Sport Community Grant. The Ottawa Sport Council Foundation is a Charitable Endowment fund established in partnership with Ottawa Community Foundation and the True Sport Foundation with the goal of providing support to Ottawa Community Sporting Organizations.

At the Ottawa Sport Council, we believe that sport at all levels is an integral building block of healthy communities and should be available to everyone.

The Ottawa Sport Council is thrilled to announce the release of the Concussion Education Initiative video which has been developed for community sport participants. This educational video is designed to equip coaches, players, parents, board members, staff, and volunteers alike with the knowledge of how to apply the 4 R's of concussion management (Recognize, Remove, Refer, Return) in a sport setting.

With the government shut down in March, all recreational facilities were closed and both amateur and professional sporting events were cancelled. According to an analysis done for ESPN by Patrick Rishe of Washington University, the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer together have lost more than $5 billion due to COVID-19. For the first time in history the Olympics were postponed until 2021 (and there are valid questions whether that is going to happen).

Today, the Ottawa Sport Council is launching a community-wide return to play roadmap aimed at inspiring confidence, reassuring families and supporting Ottawa's active return to sport. The Ottawa Return to Play Roadmap establishes a community-wide resource that will be continually updated to reflect how Ottawa-area sport is impacted by the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

There is no doubt that sport is important for mental and physical well-being and also a major contributor to economic and social development in many countries. According to the United Nations (UN) it is well recognized by governments as a huge contributor to the empowerment of women and young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives.

The final step in the implementation of Rowan’s Law will come into effect on July 1, 2020.