As the youth look forward to heading back to school, they intend on sharing a memorable camp experience with their peers. Working On Excellence Grind2Shine (WOE G2S) presented their first annual weekend camp for the youth ages 8-17, in hopes to promote unity, awareness, and equal opportunity. The Camp was comprised of various sports, arts, and wellness activities for the youth to engage and interact with their peers, community members, coaches, and industry professionals. Special guest appearances included TSN Sports Anchor Kayla Grey, Canadian Kick-Boxing Champion Jason Battiste, and Toronto Firefighter Doug C.
“We took the idea and decided to make it 100% for charity to help the youth in danger of these injustices. ”
The 3-day camp experience highlighted the importance of community outreach and providing an inclusive environment for the youth. At the forefront of this social impact project was Toronto Professional Athlete Myck Kabongo and Professional Strength & Conditioning Coach Seamus Egan-Elliott. The two had been working collaboratively over the years and have developed an authentic relationship, given their genuine interest in enriching their community, it only made sense for them to present the idea of the WOEG2S camp. The focus was for the camp to be accessible to all youths regardless of their financial means and providing an infrastructure for bringing people together from different walks of life.
GRIND 2 SHINE
Photo by: @capturedbyma
“A major goal was bringing people together from different walks of life and learning about each other, in addition to learning a new skill sets ”
Day 1
On the first day, campers were selected into groups and appointed to coaches (Drew, Hussein, Benson, Juice, Seamus, Jelani, John, Pavel, Stephen and Myck). Following group selections, campers then started their sports activities including football drills, basketball skills and development, and hockey fundamentals. After a full rotation of sports activities, the groups then broke for lunch which, was provided by the neighbourhood’s favourite Square Boy Restaurant. After lunch, former Canadian Kickboxing Champion Jason Battiste joined the group and for one of his motivational speeches.
FIGHTER’S MENTALITY
Jason Battiste spars with Coach Pavel Barber.
“In life,the real winner is the one who crosses the finishline last, becasue that person will learn how to win in the end. ”
Jason spoke on his boxing career and life experiences throughout his journey as a Pro Athlete, imparting his knowledge and wisdom for campers. Following his speech, Jason spent the afternoon teaching campers fighting and boxing tactics along with a strength and conditioning competition. Jason owns a boxing fitness club called New Frontier Fitness, where he offers a variety of 1-on-1 training options for athletes across various fitness levels.
Campers then got the opportunity to practice yoga and mindfulness with Toronto Yoga instructor Jia. After the high-intensive drill stations, it was good for campers to mellow down before the end of their first day. To wrap up the first day of camp, Coach Myck announced the raffle winners for his autographed NBA game-worn San Antonio Spurs jersey. The selected winner for the grand prize was Isiah from the Toronto Top-Tier basketball club.
Day 2
Following the first day of camp, coaches relayed a powerful message on the importance of leadership, hard work, and consistency. Each group showed a unique display of those themes. Day 2 the environment of the camp was a bit more competitive as groups went head-to-head in drills at each station. Groups then broke for lunch that was provided by Toronto’s Own Black Classic Juice Co.
In the afternoon, Toronto Firefighter Doug C. Doug imparted his wisdom for the group of campers along with some of the challenges he faced earlier on his career. The campers were moved by his speech and intrigued so following Doug’s Speech, there was a Q&A portion. Doug highlighted the importance of teamwork, sacrifice, and passion, in correlation to point of emphasis for the day of camp. To commence the end of day 2 coaches announced the raffle winners and camp all-stars. The winner for the grand prize was Mohammad Alsamaneh (smiley) who took home an official game-worn OVO Basketball jersey donated by Coach Hussein.
TEAMWORK
Doug shares his story on becoming a fire fighter.
Day 3
The final day of camp was special as the media crew of TSN were in attendance to capture the unique camp experience. Sports Anchor and Reporter Kayla Grey had the opportunity to share her story for the campers and coaches. For those who aren’t aware, the sports industry is predominately run by males and for Kayla, she has carved a unique path for herself, as well as millions of visible minorities. Kayla spoke on the importance of representation for women in the professional industries and climbing the corporate ladder being a person of colour within the industry. Sports gives people a universal platform that has a global reach and for this generation of upcoming athletes its imperative to fully equipped them with the tools that will influence great leaders of tomorrow. To wrap up camp coaches had an awards presentation to honour all campers for their hard work, dedication, and efforts. Each camper took home a prize but most importantly, a valuable experience to remember. WOE G2S has hopes to bring a 2nd annual camp next summer!
“Being a person of colour in my industry gives hope to millions of women out there who look like me. ”
GRIND 2 SHINE