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2014 ULTIMATE CANADA AWARDS Spirit of the Game Award 2014


Photo: Provided by ReachUp! Ultimate Kirk Nylen - 2014 Spirit of the


Game Award Winner STORY BY: MARK AGIUS


Kirk Nylen is beyond deserving of the 2014 Spirit of the Game Award. Nylen has always sought ways to bring Ultimate into the lives of people both as a highly successful player with GOAT and as a coach for various Canadian junior national teams. With all that said however, the primary reason for my nomination of Nylen was his instrumental role in the development and establishment of ReachUp Ultimate in 2014. ReachUp’s basic objective was to bring Ultimate, physical activity and well-being to First Nations children and youth.


We know that within these communities specifically, many children struggle with inactivity and do not have exposure to sports that are widely affordable. These children rarely have access to sports that are unrestricted to specific ages and that are inclusive for


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boys and girls together. ReachUp has been successful thus far in introducing Ultimate to children and youth in First Nations communities. ReachUp engages children who, according to their teachers, never participated in physical activity, ties Ultimate and SOTG to the sacred teachings of the elders, and draws the school community together through a shared experience.


To give an example of the success of the work that Nylen has been leading, one of the schools reported that they, upon demand from the students themselves, have actually replaced soccer in their physical activity curriculum with Ultimate. Nylen has also been instrumental in forging partnerships to advance Ultimate in First Nations communities with groups such as Cancer Care Ontario, VC Ulitmate, Chiefs of Ontario, Union of Ontario Indians, Ultimate Canada, Toronto Ultimate Club and others. The list just keeps growing. And for that, and numerous other reasons, Kirk Nylen is a terrific spirit of the game winner for 2015!


Ultimate Canada Magazine - www.canadianultimate.com


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