The Montreal Community Cares Foundation partnered with former professional athletes and business leaders to host a full-day youth summit at Maison Principale in Montreal’s Saint-Henri borough, Sunday.
The event brought together youth, educators, parents and coaches for impactful discussions and interactive workshops aimed at inspiring and shaping the next generation of leaders.
To reinforce that message, Denburk Reid, the creator behind the event, says he enlisted the help of internationally reputed writer, storyteller and brand manager, Justin Kingsley.
He was among the keynote speakers who addressed a large crowd of young athletes.
“We all have a superpower, we all have something or two things that we’re particularly good at that we care about,” Kingsley began to explain. “I want to try to help those young people connect with what it is, that special insight of them that they like doing.”
Reid said the young participants get to interact with speakers learn about the options ahead of them whether they want to continue playing sports or consider a different career like business.
“We just open up their minds and their eyes to see and to be exposed to these different people,” Reid said. “They have a great opportunity to network with them, ask them whatever kind of questions that they want to ask them.”
In addition to getting youth to think of the years beyond the game – key themes around good study habits, mentorship and resilience were explored throughout the event.
One of the participants said, hearing entrepreneurs share their experience helped ease the stress about school.
“I heard a lot of the entrepreneurs talking about how they didn’t do well in school, but they still succeeded – obviously grades matter to me – and obviously it stresses me out a lot, but when they told me that, it kind of eased tensions a bit,” she said.
Another participant said, “I feel like mentorship is one thing that I’ve always thought about but never really dug into, and I feel like this is something that I could potentially look into if I want to become successful in the near future.”
Reid said young people can learn a lot of life skills from sports.
“Sports teaches the youth to be resilient. You get knocked down; you got to know how to get back up. And we’re trying to give them the tools in their toolkit to be successful in all areas, not just on the sports side, but also on the athletics side, in the academic side,” he said.
Kingsley said he was also trying to help young people find their passion.
“There’s a saying that says, ‘find something you love doing and you won’t work a day in your life,’ and it’s 100 per cent wrong,” Kingsley said.
“It’s finding something you love doing, and you’ll work every day in your life, but you’ll be happy. And that’s the real key thing here, is finding something where you’re useful and where you feel fulfilled and you feel happy. So, if I can help any of these young people to discover that within them, I’ve done a good job,” he added.
With plans already in the works to redo the Power Sports Summit next year, Reid says they’re not waiting around – they’re already geared up for their next event, a walkathon fundraiser scheduled on June 15.
