15th Annual Skate For Life Anniversary

Inclusion & Community Resilience: The MVPs of Adversity

Community resilience is the ability for individuals in the community to withstand, adapt to, and recover from challenges, crises, or disruptions.

Whenever individuals are excluded from the community due to conflict, it can result in negative outcomes such as damage to skaters' reputations, division, more conflict with other skaters who were not involved in the original conflict, as well as bring about anger, hurt feelings, unnecessary stress, anxiety, and depression. And these negative outcomes have the potential to affect everyone in the community, whether they were involved in the initial conflict or not.

In contrast, however, when conflict occurs and individuals involved feel connected and included in the community, they are more likely to experience emotional support, understanding, and validation from the community - which are powerful safeguards against difficult times. Support from the community can also help individuals feel valued, accepted, and capable of dealing with adversity when they are going through it.

I rejoice in the fact that a sense of belonging & community resilience assisted with overcoming adversity in our skate communities. It makes me smile and gives me another reason to celebrate at the upcoming 15th Annual Skate For Life Anniversary on Saturday, April 26th, in Dayton, Ohio.