Tag Archives: Arnold Boldt

Never Give Up once again full for spring offering

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The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame continues to deliver the inspiring stories of our inductees to students across the province through the Never Give Up program.

The program debuted in 2011 and was such a success that it developed into an annual offering. While the involvement of Ted Jaleta has been one of the hallmarks of the program, the involvement of other sports figures from Saskatchewan has been essential to its success. All of these individuals have overcome obstacles and hardships. They truly understand what it means to “never give up” and serve as positive role models.

The program is available to Grades 4-8 in schools throughout Saskatchewan. We are fortunate to have the support of SaskTel as our presenting sponsor once again. This year’s program will focus on various subject areas in the Grades 4-8 Saskatchewan Curriculum dealing with identity to showcase how sport contributes to self-identity. It will also highlight our feature inductees and Saskatchewan athletes who have made significant contributions to sport and society.

The presenters for the spring of 2023 are Arnold Boldt OC, Colette Bourgonje, Lisa Franks, and Colleen Sostorics.

The spring offering of Never Give Up will run from May 16 to June 16 with all 10 sessions full with students from across the province. This spring’s offering of the program sees Never Give Up delivered to schools in Dinsmore, Humboldt, North Battleford, Raymore, Regina, Saskatoon, Viscount, Wadena, and Wilkie.

Since 2011 Never Give Up has reached more than 20,000 students across Saskatchewan. In the past two years alone, the program has reached 41 communities, with 4,051 students taking part in 2021 and 2022.

Award-winning program returns this fall

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The fall 2022 edition of Never Give Up kicked off Tuesday afternoon with our first virtual presentation.

Inductee Arnold Boldt connected with three classes from Grades 5-8 from St. Augustine Community School in Regina to begin this latest five-week offering of this Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame educational program.

Never Give Up is an education program targeting at-risk students in Grades 4-8 which focuses on answering the question: what makes a person a “hero”? By discussing the concept of a hero, Never Give Up allows the students to understand that heroes are different for everyone and often they take the form of positive role models throughout each person’s community. Never Give Up is administered virtually and involves SSHF inductees who have overcome obstacles and hardships to achieve their own personal goals in sport and life. The students benefitting from this program represent a range of diverse life experiences and thus, so too do the presenters who currently include war refugees, amputees, and Paralympians.

This year the SSHF is happy to have inductee Ed Staniowski taking part for the first time. After spending parts of 10 seasons in the National Hockey League, Staniowski joined the Canadian Forces and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Joining Staniowski are Boldt, Lisa Franks, and Colette Bourgonje who were among the presenters when Never Give Up was offered this past spring. In total 1,134 students took part in Never Give Up in the spring of 2022. These four presenters all have unique and engaging stories to share with students across the province. All 10 Never Give Up sessions have been filled this fall.

Never Give Up earned a pair of esteemed awards this past June. The SSHF was honoured with the Museums Association of Saskatchewan’s MAS Award of Merit – Institution (under $50,000.00) for 2022 for Never Give Up. The program was also honoured with the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage’s CASH Award of Excellence.

The SSHF is grateful to have sponsorship support from SaskTel in order to make this program possible.

SSHF wins national sports heritage award again

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The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (SSHF) has won the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage’s CASH Award of Excellence for a second straight year.

This year, the SSHF was honoured for their Never Give Up education program at the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage (CASH) Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 1.

Never Give Up is an education program targeting at-risk students in Grades 4-8 which focuses on answering the question: what makes a person a “hero”? By discussing the concept of a hero, Never Give Up allows the students to understand that heroes are different for everyone and often they take the form of positive role models throughout each person’s community. Never Give Up is administered virtually and involves SSHF inductees who have overcome obstacles and hardships in order to achieve their own personal goals in sport and life. The students benefitting from this program represent a range of diverse life experiences and thus, so too do the presenters who currently include war refugees, amputees, and Paralympians.

Never Give Up really hit its stride in 2021 when Covid-19 required that all education programming be conducted virtually. Over the course of 24 sessions (six weeks in May/June and six weeks in October/November), the program reached 35 different communities and a total of 2,047 participants. The SSHF is grateful to have sponsorship support from SaskTel in order to make this program possible.

Inductees Arnold Boldt, Lisa Franks, and Ted Jaleta, along with Colette Bourgonje – who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this fall as a member of the Class of 2021 – shared their inspiring stories with students across the province.

Colette Bourgonje delivers a Never Give Up presentation to a class in 2021.

In 2021, the SSHF won the inaugural CASH Award of Excellence for their exhibit Prairie Pride: A History of Saskatchewan Football.

The CASH Award of Excellence was created to recognize and celebrate the achievements of CASH members. Projects were eligible to be nominated from four categories: museum, events, communication and collection.

The CASH Award of Excellence was evaluated by the Awards Selection Committee using a point system.

CASH is comprised of 70 members and is a national association of institutions, organizations, and individuals dedicated to the preservation of Canada’s rich sports heritage.