Sport for Life and Sport Calgary Deliver Meaningful, Impactful Summit

More than 250 people joined us in Calgary at the 2026 Sport for Life Regional Summit, delivered in partnership with Sport Calgary. Leaders from across the country came together at the Westin Calgary Downtown with a commitment to sharing, learning, and ultimately strengthening sport and physical activity in their organizations and communities.

The plenaries and keynotes were impactful. The sessions were well attended by an engaged audience. But what was truly inspiring to see was how much the delegates connected with each other: conversations in the hallways, discussions over lunch, or exchanges following a thought-provoking presentation. 

Unity Through Sport — In Practice

Sport Calgary not only brought together folks from the Calgary region and throughout Alberta, but they also helped build an amazing program and inspiring event; an event where recreation and sport could problem solve together, where settlement groups and sport organizations could align to eliminate barriers to newcomer participation, where researchers and coaches could find ways to put sport science into practice.

“What I saw this week was PE teachers talking to provincial sport organizations, researchers sharing data with coaches, community clubs learning from national bodies,” said Drew Mitchell, CEO of Sport for Life. “Everyone — from grassroots to high performance — working on it together. Not in silos, but as one system. That’s how change happens.”

The Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC) helped us kick off the Summit in a great way with their Speed Networking event and Research Relay social. So many people have said this was the perfect way to get things started, by intentionally getting to know each other while also hearing about what’s new and exciting in the sport research world. SIRC also helped ensure we had relevant content across the Summit’s three streams. 

And the Summit wouldn’t have been as entertaining or flowed as well as it did without our emcee Rob Kerr, co-founder of the 10-20-30 Project and the face, the voice, the beard behind Coach Santa!

Wednesday: Inclusion Takes Centre Stage

The opening keynote brought Shauna Bookal, Dr. David Legg, and Ryan Straschnitzki, moderated by Dr. Jason Ribeiro, together to talk about building inclusive sport culture in concrete terms. What does it actually take to create environments where everyone belongs? Where are we making progress, and where do we still have work to do?

That evening, Anti-Racism in Sport Canada screened Sidelined: The Colour of the Game, a 55-minute documentary examining the experiences of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Black, racialized, and religious minority participants in Canadian sport. A must-watch for anyone working in sport in Canada.

Thursday: From Ideas to Action

The Safe Sport keynote panel — Kim Gurtler moderating Dr. Kacey Neely, Dr. Joseph Gurgis, and Dean Smith — offered practical frameworks, real examples, and honest discussion about what’s working and what still needs attention. Delegates left with tools they could actually use.

Later, the session on the New-to-Canada Long-Term Development Pathway tackled a question that matters more every year: how do we make sport a welcoming place for newcomers? The partnerships, the program design, the intentional entry points that turn “you’re welcome here” into feelings of true belonging and a desire to come back.

Kabir Hosein, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Sport for Life, reflected: “We had sport organizations, settlement agencies, and community leaders in one room sharing with each other, implementing ideas on how to foster welcoming environments via quality sport and physical activity for those who are new to Canada. Stories were shared by Newcomer champions that resonated with those in the room, the conversations were very engaging and I believe each person left with knowledge that they can easily put into practice. That’s how you build pathways that actually reach people.”

Taylor McPherson and Dave Gantar shared hilarious stories and insightful anecdotes about their personal sport journeys, and what people in the room could do to encourage others. Then Jon Cornish — Hall of Famer, Lou Marsh Trophy winner, youngest chancellor in Canadian university history, and founder of the Calgary Black Chambers — closed the Summit with a conversation on pathways through sport. His message: the system we build today shapes who gets to participate tomorrow.

Elder Ruby Eaglechild helped us both open and close the event in a good way, and we were left with her wisdom and warmth as we finally had a dose of Calgary’s cold weather on Thursday evening. 

Thank You

Thank you to our partners at Sport Calgary for co-hosting the 2026 Sport for Life Summit.

Thank you to all the presenters and panellists, who shared their expertise, their stories, and their time. The quality of the conversations at this Summit came directly from the people willing to stand up front and lead them.

Thank you to our sponsors who made this Summit possible:

Diamond Sponsors: City of Calgary and Push Play

Gold Tier: Calgary Hotel Association

Stream Sponsors: ActiveXchange and Run Calgary

And thank you to our exhibitors — 10-20-30 Project, Active for Life, ActiveXchange, Alberta Ballet, Centre for Newcomers, Anti-Racism in Sport, City of Calgary, Dare to Care, Lethbridge Sport Council, Medicine Hat Sport Council, MOVE by Goodlife Kids Foundation, Push Play, Sport Calgary, Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, Sport for Life, Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC), and Whistler Sport Legacies — for bringing your work directly to delegates and making connections happen on the ground.

What Delegates Said

“The relationships and networks are great; it is a good event to get out our day to day work bubble, and to hear/learn about/exchange ideas and opportunities with people working on similar issues but in different spaces and places.”

“I felt like a student being at university again. So much to hear about and learn, and so many opportunities and new ideas to consider.”

“Very informative sessions with great opportunities for collaboration.”

“I feel refreshed and reenergized with lots of new ideas to make change in my work and personal life!”

What’s Next

Sport for Life exists to make this happen — to bring people across sectors together, from grassroots to high performance, coast to coast, and turn conversation into action. That’s what three days in Calgary looked like. More than 250 people. Hundreds of conversations. And the work that comes next.

Sommet francophone à Granby — Delivered with an amazing partner in Réseau Accès Participation. March 24-26. Different conversations, different network, same commitment to quality sport and physical literacy. If you work with francophone communities or want to be part of the Quebec sport ecosystem, this is your chance. Register here.

International Physical Literacy Conference in Toulouse, France — October 1-3. There’s still time to submit an abstract. Visit the conference page for more details.

More information for our upcoming 2027 Regional Sport for Life Summits will be coming soon.

We’re hoping to see you in Granby, in Toulouse, and at events in the future.