ProMotion Plus, a provincial non-profit organization whose mission is to promote access and opportunity for girls and women in sport, in partnership with the BC Games Society, presented a Leadership Award at the Cowichan 2018 BC Summer Games. The award recognizes, and celebrates, those who have supported girls and/or women in participating more fully in physical activity or sport.
This year’s recipient, Stan McKinlay, is a well-known name in softball, having unselfishly given hundreds of hours of his time to girls in our community. Stan’s strong belief that sports skills are life skills has fueled his commitment to giving opportunity to girls to play and learn; from grassroots house players all the way to A level players. He has taken teams to the BC Championships over a dozen times, coached teams at the Canadian Championship level, and this past weekend was his fifth appearance at the BC Summer Games as the coach of the Zone 6 girls softball team.
His dedication to helping girls learn the game of softball for no other reason than true enjoyment and the desire to empower girls to be the best they can be, is truly remarkable. The softball community describes him as more than a coach; he is an advocate and an ambassador for girls in sport. As the girl’s biggest cheerleader, he is the first to say “It’s never just about winning and losing, it’s about developing the confidence to understand that if you prepare yourself mentally and physically, always giving 100%, any goal is achievable.”
Although only one award could be given, the award nomination committee also wished to recognize two others for outstanding contributions to girls and women in sport; Dano Thorne, and Chris Mann.
Thorne, a lifelong Cowichan Tribes member with a long connection to soccer, created the Native Indian Football Association in 2001. NIFA, a soccer development program for first nation’s youth, uses a holistic approach based on traditional methods and technical skill development. Thorne has had great success mentoring and coaching female teams, including coaching the Team Canada Indigenous Female gold medal winning team at the World Indigenous Games in Brazil in 2015. Thorne continues to head NIFA and works as the Cowichan Tribes Recreation and Sports Director
Mann, a name synonymous with women’s football, founded the Cowichan Women’s Football League in 1984. The league started out with just four teams that had little knowledge of football, with Mann taking on it all; coaching, managing equipment, coordinating the league, refereeing and preparing the fields. As the league has grown he has continued his support, and it now has an annual championship boasting participants from all over North America. Mann continues to encourage girls, having recently started a new league introducing football to the younger divisions, girls ages 12 -15.
For more information about Promotion Plus, please visit the website at http://promotionplus.org/home/