From May 20 to June 3, buying a pair of shoes for yourself can also mean giving a pair to a young person who needs them.
For every pair of New Balance shoes purchased online or in store from Brainsport, New Balance will donate a pair to Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track & Field.
Derek Rope, a member of the Pasqua First Nation, founded Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track & Field in 2001 after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan. Rope was a middle-distance runner with the Huskies and recalls he and his brother Kelly usually being the only visibly Indigenous competitor at track meets the team participated in.
“There were only a handful of (Indigenous) athletes that did USport track and field prior to 2000 that we would be able to name. You would not necessarily use both hands — certainly not all your toes — to count those athletes,” he recalls. “There was a gap in participation or access for Indigenous youth in the province in the sport of track and field.”
Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track & Field is trying to bridge that gap by working with Indigenous communities to improve awareness of and access to track and field. This includes hosting track meets in Indigenous communities and mentoring interested coaches so they can operate sustainable track and field programs.
“What we don’t like to do is parachute in and out of a community, do a weekend clinic and that’s it,” Rope says. “What we want to do is focus on sustainability: How do we ensure that we are providing tools to meet the goals that they have? And how are they equipped to support that? And that’s different for every community.”
Before the pandemic, Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track & Field started its first youth track and field club: Running Wild Athletics based out of Saskatoon. This club is open to youth from all backgrounds and has a large number of Indigenous participants and coaches. There are opportunities for people who are trying track and field for the first time and coaches can help athletes with significant potential get access to the training and support programs they need in order to compete at the highest level.
Since 2001, Rope has seen the number of Indigenous track and field athletes across the province grow significantly. The first track meet Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track & Field hosted had 89 participants. Before COVID, the organization’s last track meet grew to an event with 600 athletes. And it’s training coaches at an impressive clip — 19 last month alone.
Even as opportunities for youth — including Indigenous youth — to get involved in track and field have grown, Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track & Field knows there can still be barriers to entry. That’s where initiatives like Brainsport’s Buy 1 Give 1 event come in.
“Access means having the proper footwear and the proper equipment and the proper tools to do the sport that you want to do. And, with track and field, shoes are pretty foundational,” Rope says. We know that people fall on tough times sometimes and we want to be able to assist athletes that may not be able to afford a new pair of shoes or times are a little tight. We don’t want lack of shoes to be the reason that someone doesn’t participate.”
We look forward to seeing you in-store or head to our website to buy your pair of New Balance shoes. The promotion also applies to shoes purchased at the Saskatchewan Marathon Expo on May 28.