THUNDER BAY — Batter up, kids! A large group of students from École Gron Morgan are going to be practicing their baseball skills in the spring after receiving a shipment of new equipment from the Toronto Blue Jays.
The French immersion school was part of a select group of schools chosen through the Jays Care Foundation out of 1,200 that had applied in the fall.
"We really saw that equitable access to sports was something missing in communities all across Canada," said Meghan Saundercook, who is the senior manager of national school programs and inclusive programs with the Jays Care Foundation.
Over $500 in equipment was sent to the school, which includes bats, helmets, gloves, balls, bases, and other Jays-branded gear for outside play.
Saundercook said it was what the school included in the application that struck a chord for them to be chosen as a recipient.
"It was really neat because the school kind of let us know in their application form about what this program would do for their kids," she said.
"It really said that they struggled to get girls to sign up for their school team, and they have lots of newcomers to Canada who are interested in learning new sports and being a part of the sports teams."
Claudia Blier is the teacher at École Gron Morgan who applied for the program. Blier said it's to help students' well-being and to find their voice within sports.
"We really want to help them build confidence, promote equity, support their mental health and all of that through physical education."
Blier said many English-as-a-second-language students are shy to try out sports.
"I see a lot of those girls don't really participate in sports and they're a little shy when it comes to signing up. So my goal is to get more girls playing baseball and feel confident doing it, even if it's something new for them, just to kind of put themselves out there."
Initially, the program launched in 2018 and targeted kids with disabilities, but when the pandemic started, the Foundation shifted gears to include all children.
The public elementary school received the equipment from the Foundation under two of its four programs: running girls at bat and Indigenous play ball.
"So we're gonna try to get some of our Indigenous students to feel confident, celebrate their success, their achievements, promote equal opportunity for them," Blier said.
"And this connects directly to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada."
With plans to start training in March, the school expects to have approximately 80 students between grades 4 and 8.
Once completed, students will receive Blue Jays-style branded t-shirts with "athlete" emblazoned on the back and official Blue Jays ball caps.
Reflecting on her own experience, Blier is excited for students to try something new.
"I was one of those kids who didn't try sports because I didn't know how to play. I feel like this is a chance to get kids who don't usually play sports, who are shy and don't want to put themselves out there, to try something and potentially have that feeling of being part of a team. That sense of belonging I think is really important."
