As training camp opens for both the Prince George Spruce Kings and the Prince George Cougars this week, the players need to be aware of the increasing advocacy work by players, often with - but sometimes against - the wishes of their teams and their leagues.
In Prince George, both teams have been excellent community partners, making their players available for various elementary school programs, as well as other local fundraisers. At their home games, they've been gracious hosts, providing space for various non-profits to promote their initiatives and they have donated 50/50 proceeds to amateur sports and other worthy charities.
On the player level, the recent example set by Myles Mattila to speak out about youth mental health is a model for upcoming players to follow. As Mattila discovered, athletes - even amateurs still in their teens - can use the spotlight they are in to raise awareness on various issues. Being a great athlete starts with being a great person, which means caring about more than goals, assists and trophies.
Fortunately, there are many heroes throughout sports history for junior hockey players and other athletes to admire for their social advocacy. A stumbling block, however, for their teams and their leagues is that some of these fine examples are remembered for championing difficult or unpopular causes.
Mohammed Ali fought for civil rights and religious freedom. He was willing to go to jail and lose several years in the prime of his career to oppose the Vietnam War. Half a century later, his bravery inside and outside the ring are praised but he paid deeply for not only refusing to compromise his beliefs but for using his considerable soapbox to speak loud and proud about the issues that mattered to him. He was despised by the white establishment for the audacity to challenge the status quo and to bring politics into sports.
History is far more kind to Ali's noble defiance than it is to Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan for their refusal to address racism for fear it would cost them valuable endorsements. Full marks to the Canadian Football League for its current Diversity Is Strength campaign, launched in the aftermath of the Charlottesville tragedy.
That stands in stark contrast to the reluctance of the National Football League (as well as the NBA, Major League Baseball and the NHL) to offend their white, Southern audiences with a similar stance. Worse, the NFL has blackballed quarterback Colin Kaepernick, its teams colluding to refuse to sign the free agent to a contract, for having the nerve to go on one knee instead of standing for the Star Spangled Banner last season.
More NFL players have joined his protest against racism and police brutality. Last weekend, 10 members of the Cleveland Browns did so including, for the first time, a white player. A group of other players, including another white player, remained standing but placed a hand on the shoulder of one of their kneeling teammates in respect of their protest.
Many people remember the two black U.S. Olympians - Tommie Smith and John Carlos - raising their gloved black fists while standing on the medal podium during the 1968 Summer Olympics. Far less remembered is Peter Norman, the white Australian on the podium with them. He joined Smith and Carlos in wearing a badge in support of the Olympic Project for Human Rights.
Smith and Carlos were kicked out of the Games but enjoyed long athletic careers back in the U.S. and history has smiled upon them for their defiance. Sadly, Norman was ostracized back in Australia, where he wasn't chosen for the 1972 Australian Olympic team and wasn't invited to attend the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. History eventually recognized Norman, when the Australian Parliament formally apologized to Norman in 2012, six years after his death.
Clearly, fighting racism does not belong solely to people of colour, just as opposing sexism is not just for women.
Athletes protesting social injustice or speaking out about troubling issues is not easy. While Mattila's advocacy work earned him a Twitter shoutout from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June, no discussion of youth mental health is complete without a frank and difficult look at youth suicide.
Athletes, from the rich and famous professionals to the lesser-known amateurs, should not shy away from these challenges. Henrik and Daniel Sedin have been devoted supporters of Canuck Place, Vancouver's children's hospice. How wonderful it would be to also hear them speak out in favour of child vaccinations, speak out against child abuse and protest about the number of children living in poverty in B.C. It would be even better if they would single out Indigenous children in their social justice efforts.
Players with the Spruce Kings and Cougars don't need to wait until they make the NHL before making a difference, as Mattila has clearly shown. It would speak to their integrity if, for example, one or a group of them were to tackle something more than the warm and fuzzy work they already do with the team's blessing. It would be so gratifying to see a junior hockey player lead a campaign for more funding and support for girls in sports or to advocate for teenage female victims of sexual assault and harassment. It would be even better to see their teams and their league get behind them.
Junior hockey players enjoy celebrity status in Prince George and in communities like it across the country. They have the potential to do so much good, to demonstrate that they may play a boy's game but they eagerly accept the responsibility of being young men and embrace the opportunity to be more than just hockey players.
-- Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
