By Victoria Cha
Two Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) sporting events are showcasing the potential for student-athletes to represent and raise awareness for their communities.
While the TMU Bold hosts a variety of theme games, athletes and teams are leading their own initiatives to go a step further. This year, the efforts of at least two Bold athletes are reflected in special themed nights advocating for communities personal to them.
For their Jan. 24 matches against the Guelph Gryphons, the Bold women’s and men’s volleyball teams hosted Pride Night, which saw the teams wear TMU Bold pride shirts before the game and on the bench. The women’s team wore pink ribbons in their hair—while some Gryphons players wore rainbow ones—and the men’s starting lineup got the community involved by throwing some of the shirts into the crowd.
Before the game, members of Singing Out—a Toronto-based 2SLGBTQIA+ non-profit choir established in 1992—sang the Canadian national anthem.
What makes Pride Night even more meaningful for players is that the event was organized by men’s volleyball assistant coach Lhexen Rabit, who played as a libero on the team from 2018 to 2023.
“That’s what I wanted to put into the players and put into the culture, as well. Just creating a safe…and welcoming environment for the team”
Originally suggested by Rabit when he was still a student athlete and part of the TMU Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), Pride Night has now become an annual themed event for the volleyball programs. He said he was inspired by seeing other schools like McMaster University host similar initiatives.
“This was my first big idea that I really wanted to execute,” said Rabit. “I’m just really thankful for everybody who came. It’s pretty cool. I’m part of the community myself, it’s just nice to have this going again.”
The SAAC is a council of student athletes representing all varsity teams. Its purpose is to strengthen communication between the athletic administration and student athletes to promote community involvement and participation. Rabit was the SAAC’s co-chair from 2021 to 2023.
While celebrating pride and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community are important to Rabit, he also hopes that Pride Night sheds light on the necessity to honour all identities.
“I know this is about pride and the LGBTQ community but sometimes it’s about celebrating our differences,” said Rabit. “That’s what I wanted to put into the players and put into the culture, as well. Just creating a safe … and welcoming environment for the team.”
Pride isn’t the only thing the Bold are celebrating during games this year. On Feb. 8, while taking on the Waterloo Warriors, the women’s volleyball team will host their Every Child Matters game.
Similarly to Rabit’s part in organizing Pride Night, this themed game came to fruition with the help of third-year outside hitter Adyson Wilson.
“We do a themed game every year and I really wanted to do something the past few years for Indigenous people, because I’m Indigenous,” said Wilson, who is Ojibwe and from Rainy River First Nations in Treaty 3. “We have been talking about doing an Every Child Matters game and we wanted to give back in some way, not just have a game.”
At the game, raffle tickets will be available for purchase for a draw that offers participants a chance to win an Indigenous beaded art piece made by Wilson herself. Proceeds from the raffle will be donated to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
The beaded piece consists of a medallion with the TMU Bold logo and a lanyard in beads of white, blue, yellow and orange.
“Typically, a medallion and a lanyard like that, if I were to sell it, would be like four hundred, five hundred dollars. So it’s pretty special that we get to raffle it off at a game,” said Wilson.
“Our initiatives and community engagement [are] so great because I feel like I’m giving back”
Wilson commended TMU for its commitment to turning a simple suggestion into a full-fledged theme night for one of her team’s games.
“I think, as athletes, we forget how many people go out of their way to support us. But I’m so glad that [at] TMU, our initiatives and community engagement [are] so great because I feel like I’m giving back,” said Wilson.
For Rabit, these initiatives carried out by the Bold’s own athletes aim to make students feel represented and celebrated by the school—as Pride Night explicitly aimed to establish.
“That was our main goal with the SAAC. We can provide a platform for students to do the same thing,” he said. “If they really care about a certain type of community, they have the platform to … create initiatives and develop that.”
Rabit and Wilson hope fellow students and athletes jump in on a mission to make TMU a safe, welcoming space by organizing events that represent their own communities.
“I think the next step is just influencing other people to do the same thing and keeping the initiatives going. It’s going to be part of the culture now,” said Rabit.
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