Power of Play

Play and sport can be deeply social forces that shape who feels welcome, who is seen as belonging, and who is pushed to the edges. In this session, we explore the transformative power of play: how play can build community, create openings for joy and identity, and also reveal the rules about who gets to participate.

We’ll hear from three speakers whose work and lived experience show how play matters across different settings. John Nsabimana, a UNICEF Goodwill Canada Ambassador, reflects on soccer as more than a game: a source of connection and a right to play shaped by his experiences growing up as a refugee after fleeing the Rwandan genocide. Dr Lindsey A Freeman (SFU Sociology and Anthropology) brings an ethnographic lens to women’s soccer, focusing on the everyday moments in which gender and identity surface in players' relationships and experiences. Rachel Ramsden (UBC School of Population and Public Health) shifts the conversation to early childhood, examining the important role of outdoor play in children’s everyday experiences, and how integrating risky play can be a mechanism for resilience in childhood.

Across these perspectives, we can ask: What does play make possible? Who is encouraged to play and under what conditions? How can we treat play as an open space for learning, agency, and social change? 

Preceding the panel, from 4:00-4:50 pm in the Coach House, Green College leading scholars Alexi Rodríguez-Arelis and Germaine Koh will introduce participants to an optional embodied problem-solving game: think a cross between Scrabble and rugby.

This event is open to the general public and does not require registration (but please note that our seating is limited). A reception in the Piano Lounge, Graham House, will follow this event. 

John Nsabimana was born in Kigali, Rwanda. In 1994, during the Rwandan genocide, John was one of over one million Rwandan refugees who fled the country, eventually ending up in Uganda, where he spent the next 11 years of his life in a refugee camp. In 2004, John arrived in Canada on a United World College Scholarship and attended the Lester B Pearson United World College of the Pacific. While living in the camp, John experienced UNICEF’s work in action, including the many life-saving services UNICEF and its partners provide for children in need. From that point, John decided that supporting UNICEF would always be a priority in his life. Since 2008, John has served and continues to serve as a UNICEF Canada Ambassador. As a UNICEF Canada Ambassador, John has been the featured guest speaker at several of UNICEF Canada’s fundraising galas. He is a passionate advocate on social media and has also supported UNICEF’s efforts through his work with Kiwanis and Rotary International. John works for the Government of British Columbia in the Ministry of the Attorney General. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Child and Youth Care and a Master’s degree in Public Administration, both from the University of Victoria, and has completed the Program on Forced Migration at the University of Oxford.

Dr Lindsey A. Freeman is a writer and sociologist interested in endurance, hapticality, atomic and nuclear cultures, and poetics. Her most recent book, Running, is about practice, love, queerness, and long-distance running (Duke University Press). Lindsey is now working on a book about women’s professional soccer, queer joy, and how hard it is to care about things. She also continues to write and think about running practices and culture.

Rachel Ramsden is a research coordinator at the Outside Play Lab and a PhD Candidate in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Rachel leads research projects in BC and across Canada that aim to support children’s outdoor and risky play. She has a particular interest in understanding how outdoor environments facilitate children’s play in early childhood, focusing on healthy built environments and community planning initiatives that include children. Since welcoming her daughter last year, she’s continually rediscovering the magic of children’s play alongside her curious toddler.