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Do Local Good is a podcast created by United Way of the Alberta Capital Region and the team of volunteers on the GenNEXT Cabinet. We feature stories and people from the Edmonton region to inform, inspire, and invite others to join us in building resilient and thriving communities. Listen in to learn about some of the local good already happening, and how you can be a part of the force for good!
Transcript:
00:00:00:07 - 00:00:21:05
All right. Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Do Local Good Podcast, the podcast where we explore how everyday individuals and organizations within Edmonton and the broader Alberta Capital Region are making a positive impact in our community, one conversation at a time. Today, as per usual, is no different. I'm your host, Josh, and today we have a very, very special topic planned for you guys.
00:00:21:05 - 00:00:45:21
So, getting right into it. When we look at, you know, youth or young people in particular in terms of setting them up for success, you know, we as a society oftentimes fall in the trap of looking at very, very traditional success metrics, right? Career, education, success opportunities. And these things are very, very important. But at the end of the day, we have to look much, much earlier in a young person's development, ensuring they develop a sense of community, belonging, and confidence to succeed in the future.
00:00:45:23 - 00:01:06:17
Now, a very good or popular way to go about this that's been around for ages, but is gaining more and more traction every year, is through sports, recreation, physical activity, or play. Through these things, a young person can begin to develop confidence, a sense of belonging, or community to be set up for success in the future. Today, I'm joined by Euwen from BGC Bigs.
00:01:06:17 - 00:01:27:14
Welcome, Euwen. To discuss the power of play and the importance that connection, belonging, and confidence plays in setting a young person up for success. So, just off the bat here, Euwen, starting from the top, you know, for our listeners who might not be familiar with BGC - Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Edmonton and Area, also known as BGC Bigs.
00:01:27:16 - 00:01:46:19
Bigs is an amalgamation of both BGC Boys and Girls Clubs and Big Brothers and Sisters. Can you tell us more, you know, about the organization and say how activity and recreation kind of fit into that broader model or mission, you know, that you guys engage in to support youth all year round? Yeah, for sure. First of all, thank you for having me.
00:01:46:21 - 00:02:07:12
As you mentioned, they are BGC Bigs. We are an amalgamation before a between Boys and Girls Club and the Big Brothers Big Sisters here in Edmonton specifically. And it kind of allows us to have, like, a wider range of youth to serve. We currently serve about 4,200 youth in the city, not just to see the Edmonton area in the areas of Strathcona County,
00:02:07:13 - 00:02:33:08
St. Albert, Parkland County, and Lac La Biche, also Edmonton involved. We are supported by 150 staff and over 2,000 volunteers that kind of help the whole initiative, and there's different kinds of programs that we do; we’re talking community-based mentoring, school-based mentoring, tutoring, club sites, and youth engagement. That's where I come in. And, pretty much, the idea is create conversations, create opportunities.
00:02:33:09 - 00:02:48:04
You mentioned leveling the playing field and just a little bit - our goal, and our job is to create just that, opportunity for youth just to strive in whatever they can. Absolutely. Right on. So maybe just expanding on leveling the playing field a little bit, like that was one thing that really stood out to me when kind of going all through this initially, right?
00:02:48:04 - 00:03:08:14
It's a great play on words as well, but, you know, not every young person has the same access to these opportunities, these resources, these support systems, right? So, through your work and what you've done with BGC Bigs, you know, what does actually leveling the playing field look like in practice? And what would you say are some of the, you know, social and economic barriers that can prevent youth
00:03:08:16 - 00:03:25:02
you know, from participating in activities that many people, and I can even relate to this from when I was younger, at that age, take for granted? Yeah. Honestly, like, when you think about leveling the playing field, I, I like to think of, okay, where are we? What's the hope? And what's the problem? Or how do we address that in a sense?
00:03:25:04 - 00:03:41:06
Uh, truth be told, there's a lot of youth. We believe, honestly, BGC believes that every youth has the potential to succeed, but not everyone has the opportunity to be in those positions. So our goal is to strive to remove those barriers. Some of the barriers that we talked about a little bit, you kind of touched up on, is I can think of lingual.
00:03:41:08 - 00:04:06:09
Yeah. Just imagine everyone who does not fluently speak the language that is spoken here. Simulation can be really a problem. Transportation, obviously, finances, social isolation, you name it. So, in in the conversation of leveling the playing field, is how do we create opportunities for those who are in that, I guess like demographic and how do we bring those opportunities up to the forefront and what's our goal, what's our role.
00:04:06:15 - 00:04:27:23
So there's so many different initiatives, as I mentioned, all those different programs that we run. That is the main idea behind every single initiative. So that's how we kind of tackle it. So, you know, with that leveling the playing field, you know, what are some of the social, you know, or economic barriers that would prevent youth from participating in some of those activities that you see through your work day to day with the kids that you're working with?
00:04:27:23 - 00:04:48:07
See, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go real small just to kind of show how, like, how crazy this is. Yeah. Schools, sports, period. Gotcha. Say a kid takes a bus, school bus back home. Okay. Now, sports is extracurricular. Now they gotta find a way to get home. So let's say there's a youth whose parents can pick them up, or guardian can pick them up.
00:04:48:08 - 00:05:08:01
Now they have to find a way home. Now they're on the team. You gotta buy a uniform. You gotta buy, you know, shoes. You, when you travel, you got to pay for that. You know, there's a lot of different small little things that we talk about and say they even have an opportunity to do it, but they don't have a lot of social networks behind them.
00:05:08:03 - 00:05:26:22
Do they come and support them? You know, something as small as just come to support somebody while they do something that they love. That is a barrier in itself. We don't really think about it, because when we think barriers, we think, oh, you're not allowed. You don't have the money. But something as small as, who do you have to come and watch you? Honestly, I do recall this a few times. I leave, I went to Saint Joe's with a youth I was working with.
00:05:27:00 - 00:05:46:03
I just sat there and I watched, and at halftime we had a chance to talk. We didn't talk for maybe, like, a week after. He sent me a text randomly: Hey, thanks for coming. I didn't think nothing of it. I love basketball. I came to watch him play, but it's small little things that, that we don't really consider often, I think, is really, really key and really important to kind of consider as a barrier, honestly, that we address. 100%.
00:05:46:03 - 00:06:06:13
Yeah. And with that, I don't think, like, a lot of people appreciate how many moving variables and pieces like this that prevent people from engaging in those activities. Now, just switching the coin a little bit here, you know, like many people with, like, modern science and media and trends, right? Like, they see recreation and fitness as just a simple way to stay physically healthy through just general movement.
00:06:06:13 - 00:06:25:17
Right. But, you know, from your perspective and what you've seen through your work, you know, what would you say are some of the deeper benefits that this, like, activity or play, you know, can provide young people, whether it be, say, A), you know, developing life skills that could, you know, carry them forward into adulthood, right? Learning how to interact with peers, you know, emotional regulation.
00:06:25:17 - 00:06:42:01
Right. Healthy competition is a big one people talk about. A little bit curious to hear some of the things you've seen in that regard. Yeah, I honestly like fitness. I will never lie. Everybody knows you can't get me into the gym and just to go do push-ups. It's not happening. I don't know why. My mind just says no.
00:06:42:02 - 00:07:00:10
It's not fun, just not for everyone. And we all know the benefits of it, you know, physically, socially, you name it. But the fun aspect is what gets me to the gym. So, for example, we used to go to Kinsman a lot downtown. Oh yeah. And we would, let's just go on a rowing machine, you know, for an hour, and you don't realize how much you're burning up.
00:07:00:10 - 00:07:28:06
So that got me thinking about how do we address conversations with that directly going at them. Fitness in itself, recreation, sports, you name it. There's a task, a goal, and the means in between. And all of that comes with preparation, practice, working together. You name it, so many elements in fitness, in sports, but the one of the best thing, I think, that really speaks to youth is it gives you almost like it's kind of social media.
00:07:28:06 - 00:07:47:00
You know how it gives you that instant gratification. Oh, 100%. You get a lot of instant feedback. If you do something wrong, you pinch your back, you put your nerve, you know? I mean, if it's too heavy, if it's too high, it's too much or too loud, you get that instant. It's kind of like it's, it's a way to talk, in my opinion, is a way to talk to youth the way they understand today's world by using a different metric.
00:07:47:00 - 00:08:04:05
So, for example, I've used basketball as a way to talk to youth about you are going to fail. Oh, right on. One, one youth was like, I like Allen Iverson. I'm like, I'm happy you like Allen Iverson. And I was like, do you know Allen's average in his career shooting? You know, we researched it. I don't know the exact number.
00:08:04:05 - 00:08:25:09
So please do not call me buzz, around the 40s. But the idea was he missed more than half the shots he took, but he never was afraid to shoot another shot. Yeah, wow. So that, that should be your mentality. You, me, your favorite player, best player, still didn’t make half the shots, but it doesn't take away the greatness. You know, just conversations like that, that you kind of use sports and fitness to bridge between the reality and what they're doing.
00:08:25:15 - 00:08:44:09
And I think a lot of youth are like, oh, I haven't done that. Well, what if I can or can't? We both don't know until you try it. I'm going to be right here. Let's do it together. If we can, then we'll scaffold it. So that, that's been kind of like the, if I will, the simple way to measure how we use fitness as a way, as a tool to talk to youth and mentor them.
00:08:44:10 - 00:09:05:14
No, that's great, right? Like, even on the Nike T-shirt, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, right? So, no wrong. The age-old saying - just do it. You know? Yeah, 100%. Yeah. With that, though, you know, you mentioned confidence and success. You know, do you think we sometimes underestimate, you know, how powerful it can be for a young person to see their own progress kind of throughout that journey and receive that recognition, right?
00:09:05:14 - 00:09:24:18
Like, even something as simple as just verbally, you know, telling a student or a kid as a coach or a mentor, you know, a community leader, that they've “earned it.” That can change the trajectory of a young person's, you know, life entirely. Do you think that's sometimes underestimated? I can 1,000% say it's underestimated, and I'm not even making this up.
00:09:24:18 - 00:09:45:06
You can fact-check me on this one. I have used that exact example and those exact words literally this past school semester with a student who was struggling with attendance, with not all being engaged in class at all. It was a behavioral class, mind you, but still, I use basketball. I don't know the use of basketball because the ball is a Holland Trotters ball, you know, colorful. Oh yeah.
00:09:45:06 - 00:10:03:15
And those shoot a lot of times, kids would play 1V1, but then they didn't want to play me 1V1. So we do free-throw contest. I'm like, fine. Truth be told is they had a lot of work to do to make. But over time and over time, about maybe you're not shooting it
00:10:03:15 - 00:10:15:16
Right. Let me show you how to shoot it. Right. I will let you take a camera. I'll say, I hold the ball the way you about to shoot. Before you shoot it, I'll take a picture. I make sure not to include face in it. Then I readjust and I take a picture and say, what's the difference between these two?
00:10:15:21 - 00:10:34:08
I'm talking about elbow all the way out versus tucked in. And now I'm like, if your elbow's pointing out, where do you think the ball is going to go? If I was pointing this way, where is the ball gonna go? Yeah. And said, I never thought of it like that. And, as weirdly enough as a correlation, as he got better in basketball, he gained more confidence and started coming to school more.
00:10:34:10 - 00:10:53:23
Wow. There was a day he was upset about his outfit. He want to go home and change. And I said, can you come back because I want to see you after lunch? Says, we'll see. So, but I want you to come back. He says, okay, you have my word. I'm come back. It's okay. He left an hour later, finds me for a thing.
00:10:54:01 - 00:11:13:03
I told you I'll be back. Whereas early on this semester, he wouldn't do that. So what we did then, as a metric of recognition of the work that they've done, you need gratification. Otherwise, we wouldn't do the things that if you worked out for four years, you never felt good, you stop doing it, you know? 100%. So one of the things that we did was we gave him backpacks for all the youth who kind of exerted themselves in it.
00:11:13:09 - 00:11:30:22
And one of the things that we said is, I didn't give this to you. You earned it. Go home, show the work that you earned because of the effort that you put in with the goals that you reached, and this is a manifestation as to all the work that you did. So 1,000% is underrated. I've seen the first face. Right on.
00:11:30:22 - 00:11:54:11
Oh yeah. With that, though, you know, there's the notion of competition, right? You know, competition through sports and activity, it can definitely motivate people on one side of the coin. But, you know, it can also sometimes, I think, discourage, you know, participation if it's approached the wrong way, you know, in the sense that, like, an individual would say, constantly compare themselves to others opposed to personal growth, you know, like the only thing that matters is, you know, I'm better than yesterday, that really healthy mindset.
00:11:54:13 - 00:12:11:17
So I guess in your, you know, work in programs, how do you promote healthy competition where people feel, you know, supported and included and maybe regardless of the fact they might fail or lose along the way? I'll say that's a good question, because I feel like a lot of, a lot of times we think competition, we think conflict. 100%.
00:12:11:17 - 00:12:31:07
Right. And, it, I like to frame it as it is conflict, but not with someone else, with, between the objective and you. Yeah. And how do you manage that? The way that we've tackled so far is you are your own opponent. So some of the things that we do is, I'll tell youth, I'm taller than you.
00:12:31:09 - 00:12:54:10
You faster than me. You might be small. It doesn't matter. You are going against you. And the only way you pass this program, for example, is by effort. So instead of looking at the outcome, we'll look at the means to get to the outcome, which is effort. Resiliency, never given up. So prime example is - I use an app that has these workout, AI-based fitness things in it.
00:12:54:11 - 00:13:11:12
That's what I always tell the youth. Every time you break your own record, I give you point. You gain five points, you win, you win something. So it's the idea of make your own goals based on you are, who you are. No one else. As long as you achieve those goals and you keep working towards them, that is enough growth.
00:13:11:12 - 00:13:31:14
And I think through that metric, you will see a different kind of confidence that has nothing to do with anybody else except you. Right on. Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned technology. That’s a pretty cool point. One thing I definitely snagged on to, you know, and originally looking at this, and it's neat because the work you're doing, it isn't just necessarily limited to, you know, the traditional physical activities of running and jumping, right?
00:13:31:14 - 00:13:49:05
Like youth can participate in all that stuff, which is great. Kind of that more, like, you know, fitness and recreation-based activity. But also on the other side of the coin, these technology-driven experiences, like apps and VR, which is super cool. You know, youth today, I think even our generation, we grew up being plugged into absolutely everything, right?
00:13:49:10 - 00:14:12:09
Whether it be through learning, communicating, things of any nature. So how do you balance those more traditional forms of activity, right, with some of those newer, more innovative approaches, right? And how would you say with that - how important it is to meet youth exactly where they are, right? Like, you want to encourage them to push themselves and go outside of their comfort zone, but you don't necessarily want to bend someone until they break.
00:14:12:09 - 00:14:34:13
So how do you leverage technology in that regard? You know, technology was where the fun came in. So, the AR one is kind of like, imagine there's an iPad and it's camera-based. So you can see yourself in it. Yeah. And there's these weird little AR tools around you that you gotta maybe dodge or touch or something like that.
00:14:34:15 - 00:14:54:09
And so this idea of, let me make you focus on this while you move your body in real life, in real time. And the more you do that, the more we can actually jump on the treadmill, because I can show you how to translate from this to that. At the end of the day, treadmills are not bad, but workout gyms and all that, it's not really for everybody.
00:14:54:09 - 00:15:11:19
They can look intimidating. So the way we kind of balance the two is we meshed the traditional, if you will. Yeah. And the AR. And the way that we did it is, you pick whatever it is that speaks to you. If you're more technological, be my guest. If you want to come and be on elliptical, be my guest.
00:15:11:19 - 00:15:31:09
So the way we did it is for technology. It was points-based. For every, let's say, 30 points you got, which is really hard to get 30 points, multiply it by five. That's the points that you get. The goal is to get to 5,000. But, you know, if it's traditional, for every second you spend is one point on the, whether it's a stationary bike, treadmill, or elliptical.
00:15:31:14 - 00:15:53:06
But you pick your own poison. Was beautiful about that is the youth. I'm not gonna lie to you. I never once thought we'd be into the traditional. Yeah. Fully immersed. Really? I had a youth who had 78 minutes on the treadmill by themselves. No distractions. They weren't scrolling, just 78 minutes, just dead silent. And it got me thinking. I'm like, I only wonder what they're going through.
00:15:53:06 - 00:16:12:04
Like, I can last 25 minutes. I’d get bored, neither could I. Yeah, but, you know, someone that young and to do that. So, it's scaffolding, is one of my favorite words in terms of education. Because not everyone's the same. We’re all different. Certain things speak to us. So I think it's really important to know what language, almost what binary code, really hits you.
00:16:12:04 - 00:16:27:21
Oh yeah. And you use that as a metric to, to understand, to learn somebody. And if you can do that, you can entice a relationship. If you entice a relationship, you can entice them to do things that they're uncomfortable with because we'll do it together. You're not doing your own. You don't want to do elliptical. Okay, I’ll do treadmill right next to you.
00:16:27:23 - 00:16:45:14
Let's do it together. How long you want to go for? I think we can get 12 minutes. Let's do 12 minutes together. You done? Cool. You earned these points. I didn't do nothing. I get nothing. But you gain this. So that's been kind of some of the ways that we try to use this and that talking to you that don't really like fitness all the way through.
00:16:45:14 - 00:17:09:08
But I really keen and interested into it. So it's been, it's been fun, to say the least. Absolutely. Yeah. That dichotomy, I think, between, yeah, the physical side, but also the technological side. It's, it's neat even comparing it to myself. I was always the athlete outdoors, and my brother was always a kid gaming indoors. So, you know, with that, one really neat thing is, do you find some of the youth who might be very hesitant to, say, participate in the traditional physical activities off the bat,
00:17:09:10 - 00:17:25:19
they're more, I guess, likely to gravitate towards those after time if they're kind of warmed up through, say, the technological activities first? How about this - I'll tell you what happened later last week. Yeah. Wednesday. Are you familiar with a game called Food and Water? No, I'm not. It's, it's the best hide-and-seek game for adults. I'll tell you why.
00:17:25:21 - 00:17:42:17
The way we do it is, it's great in the room. It's more for indoors. Yeah. So we will take a, a pilon? What's it called? A hula hoop. Put it down. The seeker is not allowed to leave the hula hoop, and everyone else gets to hide wherever they want in the room. So once you pick your spot, everyone else can set up.
00:17:42:17 - 00:17:59:03
But we did it in our fitness room. But we have yoga mats and gymnastic mats, so they get to put their mats after I select where I stand. The rule is I close my eyes and put my hands up and I count to 30. But before I do, say food and water, everyone has to come and touch your hand and then go find a spot to hide.
00:17:59:05 - 00:18:15:12
My God. So I'm not allowed to leave the hula hoop. I can only, I can pivot, I can move around in it, but I can't step out of it. And I have to know for sure that, Josh, you are behind that couch. I can't guess. I had to see something that I know for a fact is you. If I can't find anybody, I yell food and water.
00:18:15:12 - 00:18:35:22
Once again, I'll close my eyes. Now I count from 25 down. You have to leave where you're hiding, touch my hand again, and choose a different spot from the last spot. The amount of running that they do when you open your eyes. But what's fun about that is they're working out. Yeah, right. But number two. Then what, what, what we did is we kept lowering the time until 10 seconds.
00:18:35:22 - 00:18:54:01
And the rule was, for everyone that lasts, you all get to go home with a snack of your choosing from the canteen that we have. Wow. But number two, if you do get caught, you have no option. Going back into the game by doing ten jumping jacks. So you have decisions. So it's almost like, you know, I grew up on go to school or else there was no conversation.
00:18:54:01 - 00:19:11:07
Yeah, done. Go play sports or go do this, is no conversation. But then I figured, you know, if you give youth different ways to engage, to make sure that they don't feel left out, I'm not asking you to be the smartest. I'm not asking you to be strong. I'm just asking you to come and have fun as much as you want until you're over it.
00:19:11:09 - 00:19:31:05
There was seven kids that participated. Not one got caught. So we had seven kids doing the same game for half an hour, you know. So now it's fun, it's engaging, it's exciting. And they're more likely to do that because it was fun, not because it was good. So is this fun element that comes in. And that is how we've seen youth more gravitated towards those things.
00:19:31:07 - 00:19:47:15
And I get to sit down and chill. Still held my breath. All I got to do is close my eyes and count, you know? I mean, that's not me. Any adult can do that. But the kids have fun. And it was a high-engagement game, and I want to play every single time. So that's been kind of like the, the, the sneaky way of getting them to do something traditional.
00:19:47:20 - 00:20:16:00
Oh, 100%. And I think, to your point, even like disguising these things is, yes, fun. At the same time, you're kind of blanketing over that rigid activity, which helps all the time. Now, before we end off, you know, Ewin, really want to wrap up here with a feel-good story. Okay. So, you know, without sharing any names, you know, if you're comfortable and willing, could you tell us perhaps about kind of, you know, one young person, say, that might have, you know, gone through the program, you know, where were they at when they first came through your doors?
00:20:16:00 - 00:20:38:08
You know, maybe. What challenges did they experience along the way, and what was the success they kind of had through that program, you know, at the end? I don't know what you said - there's a key word that you said that really clicked. One. You specifically, one, of the sites I was working out of, there was a youth that I try not to listen to diagnosis that youth have. I know, sounds very counter-intuitive.
00:20:38:09 - 00:21:00:15
Yeah, but sometimes you don't want to trick yourself as to who... this is who I'm coming into. It's nice sometimes to know nothing about them. 100%. This time it was shared to me that this specific youth has ODD. Oppositional defiance disorder, I believe it is. Okay, so my goal, my job was to engage these youth in this class as much as I can.
00:21:00:17 - 00:21:16:23
That way, they'll be more attached to school so that I can come to school more. I set them down in the gym to talk about who I am and what I was. Let's say out of ten kids, one said, don't talk to me. That's the youth I'm talking about. Wow, set way over there on the side. Tried to, you know, find a different way to approach them.
00:21:16:23 - 00:21:34:05
I don't want to talk to you. Like, you know what? They ain't guessing. You know. You’re telling me how you feel. Yeah. So I, you know, I left to be. What I've learned over time is, if you have peers and your peers are having fun, you're more likely to join in. So, although this is one out of the nine youth, I mean, 90% is pretty good.
00:21:34:05 - 00:21:52:21
But the idea was, give this youth a chance because why not? So over time, we will play games like tag. I know tag has no place in the fitness world, but there is if I'm it and I don't pick sides, and if I tag you, which I will, you get to do ten jumping jacks. So now you got to run, you know.
00:21:52:22 - 00:22:09:00
Yeah. So it was little things that, that we kept doing, and slowly I’ll engage with them and say, hey, just so you know, you can join in any time you want. Doesn't have to be today. You can join anytime you want. The conversation went from not having any to being given excuses as to why they’re not, you know, my back hurts.
00:22:09:00 - 00:22:25:18
I'm like, okay, it's okay. Yeah, next time your back feels good - you're still more than welcome to. There was all this room of, like, you can still join - the door's not closed - anytime you change your mind, you can still join. Halfway through the semester, I'd say, hey, you know, I just join for, like, five minutes, okay? Yeah. Five minutes is
00:22:25:18 - 00:22:43:11
good. But really touched us the most was towards the end, the mental health therapist that was in the school pulled us aside and said, this youth really loves fitness. Wow. All of a sudden. And what we used to say to them was, “I don't want to see how heavy of reps you do,” because there's a fitness gym.
00:22:43:11 - 00:23:00:22
Sometimes I tell them, hey, do whatever activity you want, but I know you've shown me effort if your face turns red or if you start sweating. Yeah, this youth specifically. So if you're not doing it on one of those, you're not trying. Yeah. But the amount of times you saw a red face, why? Because they were motivated to win a water bottle
00:23:00:22 - 00:23:26:06
that I said, I want every youth to get a water bottle because you earned it. So it was this really feel-good story of the conversation became easier just to have with his youth specifically, and the fact that he even shared our interaction and something that he had no interest in to the mental therapist. To me, that, that alone was a feel-good story of relentless, just kind of like engaging was everything.
00:23:26:06 - 00:23:42:07
There was no special skills needed. I didn't buy this youth something fun. I didn't promise some big... it was a $15 water bottle. You know, 100%. But that spoke so much more volumes in terms of, like, it got back to a mental health therapist that was willing to share those things to a point where he would come in and says, can you give me a challenge?
00:23:42:07 - 00:24:02:18
Because what youth will do is they'll ask for extra challenges, for more points, and I’m like, “Okay, what do you want to do?” I want to throw a 12-pound ball. How about you do it 50 times? 50? I'll do with you. Yeah, we'll do it together. It became that conversation where he would be down for any challenge I threw at him. And it was a feel-good feeling.
00:24:02:18 - 00:24:16:00
It was not just for the feeling, like, I want you to know, it wasn't done for the feeling, but it's nice to see the end of a program with a specific demographic of kids and see how far they've come. To me, that's just one of the few, the one early on I mentioned about the basketball kid. That's another one.
00:24:16:05 - 00:24:33:22
All from the same class, two different metrics. But the success was seen in the same classroom, just looked differently based on where the kids are at. So, to me, that's, that's one that really resonates with me until this day, 100%. Yeah. And I think it's refreshing to hear, too, these programs, you know, they are living, breathing. They're not just some, you know, intangible, theoretical thing.
00:24:33:22 - 00:24:59:04
They do actually have lasting impacts in terms of, you know, giving these youth a sense of community and belonging and setting them up for success in the end. So, that's all our time today, Euwen... thank you so, so much. A huge thank you to, to Ewin and, you know, BGC for taking the time today to, to discuss the power of play and the importance that sports, recreation, and physical activity, you know, plays in setting young people up for success.
00:24:59:06 - 00:25:14:15
A huge thank you to BGC Bigs as well for continuing to do local good in the community and lending you out to us for the day, as always, because ultimately, the end of the day, you know, you know, making a better community starts with empowering the next generation, right, of young people and setting them up for that success.
00:25:14:17 - 00:25:36:12
For our listeners, guys, you know, your digital handshake for the week, in light of today's theme of episode, I want you to think back to a time, you know, when, when you were young. Think about a volunteer, a coach, a mentor, a community leader, you know, that inspired you to relentlessly pursue success, you know, throughout your life. I want you to think about how you can put on those shoes, pay that forward.
00:25:36:17 - 00:25:52:17
Find someone young or a youth in your life where you can do the exact same thing for and empower them to live boldly for the rest of their lives. If you guys liked today's episode, make sure you like, subscribe on whatever platform you're listening to. Keep your ear to the ground and continue to listen to new episodes. Once again, I'm your host.
00:25:52:17 - 00:25:55:16
Josh. Until next time, do local. Good, everyone. Thank you.