McGill students Jared Saks, U3 General Management; Ari Soberano, U2 Marketing; and Daniel Viner, U2 Finance; spent November 16th leading a day of sports activities at St. Gabriel, a local Montreal elementary school. The Tribune caught up with these students to pick their brains about the event, specifically what went into its execution, and how sports can be a powerful learning tool for youth.

McGill Tribune: So how did this whole idea come about?

Daniel Viner: For one of our classes, Social Context of Business, we were tasked with doing something that would benefit a community in the Montreal area. So we found a school called St. Gabriel’s that we thought would be right for this activity, and we love sports, so we decided we’d create a day of activities and sports, and connect it to a theme of ‘following your dreams.’

MT: Can you give me a basic idea of what you did for this event?

Jared Saks: There were about 60 kids, grades four to six. Kids were split into different teams, by colours, and we had  bracelets [that say ‘follow your dreams’ on them] for each team to identify [with]. We did dodge ball, soccer, [and] a game called ‘flicker ball’. We did British Bulldog, and some relay races.

Ari Soberano: They got a little tired during the day, so we wanted to [have] one rotation that could kind of be more relaxed. My games were more of sitting in circles and whatnot… ‘two truths and a lie,’ the ‘follow the pattern’ game… just to give a break [from the physical activity] throughout the whole day.

JS: At each of our stations we had sort of an underlying theme that we wanted to teach them. At one station, we wanted to teach them about teamwork, how it’s important in sports, and how you can use that in your life to follow your dreams. We talked about passion, we talked about determination.

DV: Also, we created a big banner that we left there, and that all the kids are going to sign, that says ‘follow your dreams.’ They’re going to hang it up in their gym on the wall, and it’ll always be there to remind them of the day. At the end of the whole day of activities, all the kids were given a little piece of paper, and they had to write down one word out of passion, determination, and teamwork. Then [they had to] write what that meant to them and the significance of it.

MT: So what made you choose sports as a vehicle to teach the kids about these values? 

JS: I think I can speak for all of us when I say that sports have been something that’s been very important in all of our lives. I know from my experience—I played hockey my whole life. I see the importance of teamwork, and I see the importance of passion. Whatever you want to do in your life, sports [are], like you said, a very good vehicle to learn these values and really drive you.

MT: So you said this started as a project for a class, and that the point is to create something that lasts. Have you thought about whether or not you’re going to do more work like this?

DV: The gym teacher, Shelly Sharp, already asked us—she said she runs a cooking class once a month at the school—if we’d be able to come in to help out [by] just playing with the kids. So I think it’s not necessarily the idea of continuing on the event, but just continuing a presence or an involvement.

JS: At the same time, I think we were also planning on speaking to our professor. Although we’re not in the class next year, we wanted to see if there [might] be students who could maybe do it again.

MT: How were the kids’ reactions to the activities?

JS: I think the kids liked us a lot. [When I introduced myself, I said,] “My name’s Jared Saks, and I’m 21 years old,” and all the kids went “Whoa, you’re 21! Whoa, you’re so old!”

AS: The kids loved the wristbands, every five minutes, the kids pretended to lose their wristbands so they could get a different colour.

MT: What did you find that you learned from this experience?

DV: Small acts of kindness really can make a difference. [The kids] might not remember us in a month, two months [from now], but just the fact that every time they walk in the gym, they’re going to see [‘follow your dreams’] up there, hopefully, somewhere down the road, they’re going to remember what they took from the experience.

JS: The level of happiness that kids had doing our event is something that I really think I’ll never forget.

AS: The fact that parents came out and supported their kids and supported our event made me learn that people really are involved in this school, and people really are involved in this community. That’s really going to shape these kids and hopefully put them on the right path.