Steel City Sports, Giving Hearts

Steel City Sports has partnered with local group ‘Giving Hearts’ to collect non-perishable items as a means of helping to support local food banks and shelters in the Sault.

“Investing on our community and paying it forward are character attributes that we as a sports organization attempt to instill in our young student-athletes,” relayed Jeff Giovanatti, who is one of the directors for Steel City Sports.

Steel City Sports includes the Steel City Ignite volleyball club and the Steel City Slam basketball club.

The Steel City sports clubs have been training since September in cohorts of a maximum of 20 participants as they wrap up the 2020 portion of the program.

Normally, the clubs would have teams that compete throughout Ontario and into the United States but COVID-19 has prohibited that from happening.

“We felt as an organization that we had to connect with local health officials as well as our provincial sports organizations to offer programming in a fun yet safe environment especially in terms of minimizing the risk of COVID-19,” Giovanatti pointed out.

“I think Algoma Public Health has done a tremendous job to educate us and our community has done a great job to follow the guidelines and recommendations. We see it in our programming, as the kids in our programs have adjusted to the new norms and expectations, which include self assessing with a parent or guardian before attending a session, having their temperature checked upon entry, as well as hand sanitizing and wearing masks while in public areas.

“Being able to be active has provided an outlet for our youth to have fun, improve their fitness level as well as develop their skills in the sports they love. As data suggests an increase in mental health concerns due to the ongoing pandemic, we as a sports organization felt that it was necessary to be able to provide programming to impact our youths emotional, psychological and social well-being in a positive way.

“On behalf of the organization, we can’t thank all of our coaches enough for the additional time and effort they have taken to enhance the safety of our sports bubbles.

“And now as the holiday season fast approaches, rather than being critical of what we don’t have or can’t do, such as tournaments, games etc., our coaches and players felt the obligation to be grateful for what we do have, and to instead shift our thinking to help others who may be less fortunate than us at this time.

“Partnering with ‘Giving Hearts’ was an easy fit as our mission values are the same, serving the community of Sault Ste. Marie. It’s a great opportunity for the kids in our club, from ages six to 19 to help support others in the community,” added Giovanatti, who is a local educator.

Meantime, anyone in the community who is interested in helping to support this campaign can do so via e-mail, [email protected].

Contact-free delivery and drop offs can be arranged.

The collection will run through until Thursday, December 17.

As for volleyball and basketball, any parents interested in having their child participate in 2021 programming offered by Steel City Sports beginning in January can e-mail Giovanatti via [email protected].

More information on the program is available via www.steelcitysports.ca.