Derek Hemsley — FP Coach Education & Curriculum Development Lead
Meet Derek Hemsley, our Coach Education & Curriculum Development Lead. When Derek talks about coaching at Free Play, he doesn't talk about wins and losses, he talks about being a cheerleader for every kid who walks through our doors.
🚨 Breaking News: Darnell Nurse Faces Intense Media Scrutiny! 📰
Live footage from St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School in Edmonton Alberta Canada shows Darnell Nurse being grilled by grade 3 to 6 students before, during, and after a game of ball hockey that ends in a disputed 4-4 draw.
More Than a Game: Daytona Homes Wolves
The U17 Wolves soccer team are ready to begin their season — and it all starts here in Episode 1 of More Than a Game: Daytona Homes Wolves. Free Play for Kids and Daytona Homes Edmonton come together to launch a new chapter of teamwork, mentorship, and community.
Adam van Koeverden and Friends visit Free Play for Kids Wolves U17 Soccer
Adam van Koeverden and a host of other MPs join the Free Play for Kids Wolves U17 Boys soccer team for some training drills and a scrimmage at the East Soccer Centre in Edmonton, AB Canada.
‘Parentemonials’: Lisa
Ilya discovers basketball, gets better at soccer, and makes new friends in his first year of the Free to Play program. He even plays with kids that bullied him last year, all while building confidence in the after school program that exposes him to a bunch of new sports.
‘Parentemonials’: Catherine
When Catherine’s family arrives in Canada from Colombia, everything feels different. A new language, new systems, new routines — everything. But there is one place her son Johan instantly feels at home, and that is our Free to Play after school program.
'Parentemonials': Sean
Before Free to Play, Le-Sean was a polite and quiet kid. Today, his dad watches him "chat up a storm", try new things, and come home eager to share stories and challenges from his day!
‘Parentemonials’: Ryan
Ryan is a teacher, coach, and parent with two kids in their very first season of Free Play for Kids—and the impact is already clear!
‘Parentemonials’: Laura
Change is hard for most of us — guilty! But changing schools at a young age can be quite dramatic as Laura finds out for both her young ones. However, after joining the Free to Play after school program, a shift is evident in Grayden. 👀
‘Parentemonials’: Raphaeleta
La-Sean not only gets access to play with kids his own age, he is learning and exploring more off-screen sports, leading to more activity! 🏃🏽♂️➡️
Wolves Athletic Club — Iranzi
When caring coaches create safe spaces for young people to grow and learn through sport — magic happens. Iranzi's soccer journey with the Wolves has empowered this young man not only in athletic pursuits, but in life.
‘Parentemonials’: Halim
We love that Halim is exposing his son Ibrahim to a number of sports at their young age. And thrilled to have Ibrahim part of our Jr Wolves to evolve as an athlete, teammate, and young person ❤️
‘Parentemonials’: Juan
“We are not seeing Elias being a, shy guy anymore …” is always a desired outcome of children that play on our Wolves Athletic Club teams, or participate in Free to Play after school programming.
‘Parentemonials’: Ronan
Ronan is a recent newcomer to Canada moving from Hong Kong in just August of this year with his family and two children. His eldest Giselle participates in the Free Play for Kids after school program at McKee Public Elementary — the round school! Ronan wants his children to be exposed to various sports, and to get stronger physically.
‘Parentemonials’: Mesia
Mesia is a parent of 5 children, with 1 in Free Play for Kids, as a newcomer to Canada just over a year ago. She shares with us the benefits her son, and entire family enjoy as a result of her child attending the Free Play after school program at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School.
JAELYN
“Playing sports is one of the very few things that I love to do,” Jaelyn Lega says. “They teach you a lot about your wellbeing and your mental health.”
Jaelyn Lega’s love of basketball goes beyond just enjoying playing the game casually. Most of the kids warm up by shooting three-pointers or playing one-on-one with their friends. Not Jaelyn. She can be found off to the side, practicing form shots, working on her overall game.
DAGANE
“It means a lot to me actually helping all these kids participating in Free Play itself. Like I know I'm part of something…. I'm part of an actual movement. I'm helping kids.”
KAYDEN
Kayden and Richard learnt about Free Play through Thorncliffe, and since signing Kayden up, Richard has seen Kayden develop through much-needed socialization with his teammates.
"He is learning more about sports and how to work as a team, which I think he was lacking in previous years.”
NARGIS
Junior Coach Nargis Attaiee loves hockey.
Until just months ago, she had never held a stick.
“When I came here, I didn’t know what hockey was! When I started playing, I started having fun. It was really, really fun. That was something very, very different for me.”
NIKA
Svitlana Ivanchenko came to Edmonton from Ukraine in 2005.
“I was looking for a good life,” she says. “ And so I left looking for a better place to live.”
Svitlana played lots of sports in Ukraine, and she saw the benefits of sport as a young person. “It did teach me a lot of good things that I could use in the future,” she says.
However, opportunities to play closed off as sports programs began operating on a for-profit basis. Now in Canada, Nika jumped at the chance to sign her daughter Nika, a fourth grader at St. Francis of Assisi, up for Free Play for kids when her school let them know about the program.