MAPS 2025-2030

Manitoba Action Plan for Sport

2025-2030

What is the Manitoba Action Plan for Sport (MAPS)?

• A five-year plan for the future of sport in Manitoba
• Identifies areas of priority
• Facilitates collaboration within Sport Manitoba and its sport partners

• Produced by Sport Manitoba in consultation with sport community
• Aligns with the Province of Manitoba's sport policy

About Sport Manitoba

Sport Manitoba is the leading planning, programming, and funding agency for the development of amateur sport in Manitoba. Our goal is simple: we aim to ensure every Manitoban has access to the resources they need to achieve their full athletic potential, and we do this every day by developing the skill sets of Manitoba’s athletes, coaches, volunteers, and officials. The Province of Manitoba supports and enables us to achieve this vision. Sport Manitoba is a non-profit organization. Revenue generated is reinvested into amateur sport and community programs across the province.

Learn moreabout our organization

Mission

Vision

Values

About Sport Manitoba

Our facility, in the heart of the Exchange District in Winnipeg, is home to a fitness centre, a medical clinic, athlete training centre, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, sport offices, conference rooms and meeting spaces, a print shop, three full size basketball courts, and 1,200 square feet of netted space complete with padded walls. Our sport partners and their memberships, along with the general public, use our facility every single day.

Take a virtual tour of our facility.

Manitoba Sport Structure

Sport Manitoba

Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) + Sport Partners

Sport Manitoba collaborates with and relies on PSOs and Sport Partners to funnel information to the local sport community.

Clubs + Community

Coaches

Athletes

Parents

Officials

Volunteers

Consultations

MAPS requires feedback from the provincial sport community. Sport Manitoba held six (three remote and three in-person in Brandon and Winnipeg) consultation sessions to learn what Manitobans want to see prioritized in sport over the next five years.

Who We Heard From

Identified Priorities for Action

The consultation influenced the development of three overarching priorities for action:

Strengthen Sport Partner Delivery

Enhance Athlete Development

Foster Safety and Equity

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Foster Safety and Equity

Within each priority for action, we've developed three areas of focus.

Reduce barriers to participation

Promote safe sport framework

Advance an inclusive culture

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Enhance Athlete Development

Improve coach and officials opportunities

Focus on sport development in rural and northern Manitoba

Align funding with Long Term Development (LTD) model

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Learn about the Long-Term Development (LTD) Model

Strengthen Sport Partner Delivery

Streamline sport organization model

Support partners with growth opportunities

Boost volunteer recruitment and retention

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Challenges and Opportunities

The need for new and/or enhanced sport and recreation infrastructure and equitable facility access was a recurring theme that emerged in the consultations. While we recognize the importance of addressing these issues, we acknowledge that our organization does not have the mandate to fully tackle this challenge. Governments, municipalities, non-profit organizations, and the private sector all play key roles in this space and the path toward a successful outcome is complex and requires significant investment. Rather than identifying this theme as a measurable priority, we will use our position as a collective voice for amateur sport to advocate for improvement and growth in this area. Another significant challenge is that our ability to directly reach athletes, parents, coaches, officials, and volunteers across the province, including rural and northern communities, remains limited. We want to use our organization's influence to advance MAPS priorities, but we cannot do it alone.

What Next?

• Using MAPS, Sport Manitoba develops an annual business plan, including specific actions that contribute to the advancement of each area of focus within the three priorities for action.
• The business plan also outlines measurables that will indicate whether the organization was successful.
• The measurables are evaluated on an annual basis and will be reported in Sport Manitoba's annual impact report, which reflects on the previous year's achievements .

• Broaden access to quality sport opportunities by connecting sport partners with opportunities for grants, funding, and media exposure.
• Facilitate alignment amongst stakeholders to create a connected sport system.

Creating a culture where all participants, regardless of background, feel safe, respected, and valued. The focus is to ensure access to programs and opportunities for individuals from diverse groups and removing barriers to participation. We strive to offer fair and inclusive opportunities for all participants, while actively preventing maltreatment through clear policies and education. We promote respect to create a welcoming environment where everyone can thrive and contribute to sporting communities.

• Attract and retain knowledgeable and caring people by promoting the positive benefits of involvement in sport.
• Adopt sophisticated and innovative tools and supports, including AI and digital platforms.

• Implement clear, measurable accountability standards for organizations and leaders within the sport system.
• Shift toward governance modernization to ensure the system's sustainability and relevance.
• Address environmental and ethical concerns to attain sustainable and fair operations.

Values

LeadershipHolding ourselves accountable for our actions and results InclusionMaking sport safe, welcoming, and accessible for all ExcellenceAchieving personal growth and athletic potential RespectTreating everyone with dignity and fairness

Sport Manitoba

Our role

Sport Manitoba is responsible for the development of MAPS, including leading the consultation process, analyzing feedback to uncover key themes and priorities, and creating the public report. The organization relies on effective collaboration with the PSOs and sport partners in order to connect to clubs, schools, athletes, coaches, officials, parents, and volunteers. We do not run sport programming -- rather, we provide funding and resources to the organizations that run sport programming, such as Manitoba Soccer Association, Basketball Manitoba, etc. Our role is to support and help them grow and become better at what they do.

LTD Framework

It is important to understand LTD, a Sport Canada model we've adopted here in Manitoba. Science, research, and decades of experience all point to the same thing: kids and adults will get active, stay active, and even reach the greatest heights of sport achievement if they do the right things at the right times. This is the logic behind LTD. The introduction to sport stage is where individuals, especially children and youth, learn what sport opportunities exist and learn and develop fundamental movement and sport skills that allow them to participate for a lifetime. These Active Start, FUNdamentals, and Learn to Train stages develop physical literacy the foundation for those who choose to pursue elite training in one sport or activity after age 12. The Train to Train, Train to Compete, and Train to Win stages lead to competitive and high-performance sport to allow children and adults to perform to progressively higher levels of competition and provide elite training for those who want to specialize in one sport and compete at the highest level. Active for Life stage is about staying physically active through lifelong participation in competitive or recreational sport or physical activity.

• Provide safe sport toolkits, resources, policies, and complaint information to our sport partners to help create a healthy, supportive, and respectful sport experience, free from all forms of harassment and abuse.
• Expand education and awareness about the behaviour dos and don’ts in sport.

Organizational capacity can be built by supporting sport partners with administrative improvements and communications. This involves addressing governance challenges through the establishment of clear policies, structures, and accountability. These methods strengthen human resource strategies by improving recruitment, training, and retention to cultivate a skilled, diverse volunteer base. A robust training strategy helps bridge education gaps to promote continuous learning. Aligning the system with support will enhance efficiency by streamlining processes and fostering effective collaboration at all levels.

Mission

An athlete-centered Sport Manitoba leads and supports sport for life through access, participation, and excellence in sport by all Manitobans.

• Enhance community sport participation to strengthen community development, including advocating for the economic and social benefit of sport and its power to bring people together.
• Address geographical limits to participation that lead to lack of coaches, officials, and opportunities for sustainable training and competition.

Vision

We envision creating the best sport communities through initiative and leadership and by establishing a supportive environment that will enhance the abilities of all Manitobans.

PSOs + Sport Partners

Their role

PSOs are independent, member-based organizations with their own boards, staff, governance structures, and financial management. They represent many athletes, dedicated coaches, officials, and volunteers, and are the key drivers for the growth and development of their sport in Manitoba.PSOs were given the opportunity to contribute to the consultation of MAPS and are responsible for aligning their sport with the plan's goals over the next five years.

• Increase investment in the development of coaches and officials to support a strong, safe, and sustainable sport sector.
• Support coaches and officials’ access to mental health resources.
• Prioritize mentorship programs and opportunities to retain and advance skill development for sport participants.

• Transform the culture of sport in Manitoba by promoting diversity, inclusivity, and the value of sport in sport programs and initiatives.
• Learn and understand sport’s role in reconciliation.
• Promote the positive impact of sport for new Canadians.
• Promote gender equity in sport.

We can enhance athlete development by establishing coaches and officials, making training and retention more accessible through targeted outreach, financial support, and flexible learning opportunities. Additionally, we reinforce the need for sport partners to design programming that strengthens athlete development, including in rural and northern communities, through a growth-focused strategy. This approach ensures that participants, regardless of location, have opportunities to excel and thrive in their sport.

• Prioritize sport opportunities for underrepresented groups through alliances in our community, including accessible sport organizations.

• Analyze growing costs of participation to identify efficiencies and savings to create more economic opportunities and solutions.
• Mobilize the sport community to prioritize inclusivity and accessibility for all.

• Shift emphasis from policies and procedures to athletes, parents, and participants and quality programs and services.
• Share LTD models and principles with the community to encourage sport organizations to adopt them.
• Maximize the impact of our investments to create a cohesive, supportive, and successful high-performance ecosystem.