I recently had the opportunity to be interviewed for a project by Vanessa Perrin and really enjoyed the reflection I had on the spaces I work in and I would like to highlight them!

For me, it's important to highlight a shift, based on both professional and lived experience, towards #AlternativeDisputeResolution that needs to exist in the sport system. I am so appreciative that the #SafeSport organization I work with understands and is open to this approach.

My experiences as an athlete, #coach, administrator, board member, researcher and consultant contributed to the #values, #conflict and conflict skillset I have in the sport system. Like so many others, I feel so interconnected in community across all my roles and I want to acknowledge how our experiences and relationships show up and shape the system we are apart of.

Name: Samantha Heron
Occupation: SafeSport Consultant, Inclusion Incorporated (Consultant, Program Coordinator, Social Media), OneAbility (Operations and Program Coordinator)

1. Were you involved in sports as a child?
A: I was involved ‘casually’ in sports as a child and I HATED it. I was involved in dance, field hockey, swimming and equestrian. I largely struggled to enjoy sport because I didn’t feel naturally skilled in any sport (which is a huge reason why I love creating opportunities to build sport skills with PowerPlay, the multi-sport program for girls ages 6-9). It was not until I joined rowing at the age of 12 that I felt like I was on the same playing field as everyone else – we were all learning and bumbling through a new skill.

I ‘specialized’ in rowing and spent time on the junior national team, representing Canada a few times at the U19 level, and then rowed on scholarship at the University of Michigan for the start of my undergrad.

2. What job titles do you have?
A: I currently work as a SafeSport consultant and specifically spend time establishing conflict management systems, facilitating conversations/mediations, and introducing Alternative Dispute Resolution to the SafeSport space. I also am a consultant / coordinator for Inclusion Incorporated (specifically for the social media team and as a coordinator for PowerPlay, a multi-sport program for girls ages 6-9) and I manage operations for OneAbility, an adaptive sport and recreation collective in Victoria, B.C.

Occasionally, I spend time contributing to research and am currently exploring collaborations on a few chapters with some amazing partners in the sport community.

3. Would you say sports influenced what you do as a career?
A: Yes, for multiple reasons. First of all, sport introduced me to some of my closest friends, mentors, inspiring individuals that I feel so grateful to work with, and a multitude of opportunities that have impacted my education, work, and sense of community.

I never planned to work in sport and often time sport exists as a medium for me to practice a professional skill set. Specific to SafeSport, I was a complainant in a major case years ago that first introduced me to the SafeSport system (or lack thereof of one). This motivated me to pursue my education in Conflict Analysis and Management, where my values align strongly with the values of Alternative Dispute Resolution. The Safe Sport system needs to incorporate a human centered approach that preserves relationships and creates time, energy and cost efficiencies for all who want to access a safe and fair sport system.

4. What is a professional goal of yours?
A: As mentioned above, the current SafeSport system is incredibly litigious with policy supports SafeSport cases for Maltreatment that SHOULD be addressed through this system. However, we don’t support governance, practices and policy that create opportunities for a human centered, relationship focused approach that emphasizes moving forward in a way that introduces preventative structures and new norms for existing in community.

My professional goal is to support organizations and individuals in accessing practices and systems that allow them to align with ADR. It’s been fascinating to watch the relief and sense of agency that many individuals get when they understand they have an option to address conflict and concern that won’t damage their status, relationships or access within a community that is important to them.

5. Who ideally is your target audience?
A: First and foremost, the people who require conflict management support, whether that is a complainant, respondent, or leadership within a sport organization. It’s important all individuals feel heard, supported and informed on what can be a challenging, and currently inefficient process.

Second, I welcome any opportunity to share this work with individuals and organizations that have a larger impact on our sport system as they have the power to listen and then impact wider change.

6. Are there any upcoming announcements or exciting projects in the works? A: Stayed tuned ;)

7. Hardest part of being a safe sports consultant?
A: Part of the role is as a ‘policy pusher.’ Many individuals acknowledge how limiting policy can be in the ability to pursue a SafeSport concern, and further that the practices aligned with policy require extensive time to reach any sort of action or sanction, that doesn’t fully create opportunities for conflict transformation OR fit the norms of the community under the policy’s umbrella.

In these spaces, it can be challenging to perform a role that is limited by policy. We always want to do more and extend care, however we are required to act within the bounds of a SafeSport policy.

Further, we exist in the space where there is limited knowledge of the jurisdiction of SafeSport. SafeSport is not meant to address cases that should be referred to a criminal justice system and supporting individuals to navigate the real fear in pursuing other systems is challenging and emotionally draining.

This is why I strive to shift the landscape to incorporate human centered, relationship focused ADR that minimizes litigious processes.

8. How do you manage several hats within the sport and DEI sector?
A: Wearing several hats serves me incredibly well. Having the knowledge from my previous career and research in the para sport space, and current work in the diversity, equity and inclusion space allows me to understand the experiences of groups that are often marginalized in the sport world. We know that it is often marginalized folks who are most at risk for harm within the SafeSport system; the knowledge and connections built in the DEI space allows me to address SafeSport gaps appropriately and efficiently, or folks to the appropriate support in a meaningful way.

Lastly, I LOVE the work in the adaptive sport world – it is innovative, community focused and full of like-minded individuals. I find balance, happiness and new perspectives in this space.

9. How do you measure success within your role as a Safe Sports Consultant?
A:
One of the things I reject from my time working in the performance / development sport specific space is the metrics and KPI’s we put on our roles, and roles for athletes typically don’t represent everyone’s definition of success. Instead, these KPI’s become a check mark to ensure funding exists.

To me, in SafeSport, success is the number of individuals or organizations who report having access to a fair, efficient and respectful process that enables agency and community building.

In all my other spaces, success is measured by the quantity and quality of opportunities for accessing inclusive (sport) spaces as well as the JOY I feel in these spaces.

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