The Standing Tall Initiative is a year-round recognition program that invites schools, clubs, and youth organizations to use their platforms to help build better citizens, stronger communities, and confident young leaders.

 

Developed by KW Titans CEO David Schooley, Standing Tall is designed as a scalable, repeatable initiative that can be adopted by professional, semi-professional, and high-level sports organizations across all sports.

 

Standing Tall is grounded in a simple belief: that the teachers, coaches, mentors, and community leaders who shape young lives each day should be empowered with meaningful tools to recognize and reinforce positive behaviour.

 

Through Standing Tall, leaders are provided with complimentary family-packs of vouchers which they can award to young people who demonstrate the values of leadership, character, and citizenship.

 

“Sport has a responsibility that extends far beyond competition,” says Schooley. “Standing Tall challenges sports organizations to recognize character in real time. When we reward integrity, kindness, resilience, and leadership, we help shape better people.”

 

Standing Tall is not a one-time promotion, contest, or giveaway. It is an ongoing initiative designed to be used whenever positive values are demonstrated.

 

While academic achievement and athletic success remain important, Standing Tall intentionally looks beyond grades, rankings, and scoreboards. The initiative encourages the recognition of behaviours such as leadership and accountability, teamwork and resilience, acts of kindness and inclusion, volunteering and community service, and efforts that build confidence and self-esteem in others. By recognizing these behaviours as they happen, sport becomes more than entertainment — it becomes a powerful force for positive reinforcement.

 

WRSE (Waterloo Region Sport & Entertainment), the parent organization of the KW Titans and Kitchener Panthers Baseball, has committed to putting Standing Tall into the hands of educators, coaches, and mentors — empowering them to create thousands of meaningful moments of recognition for youth and families.

 

“A family pack of tickets isn’t just access to a sporting event,” Schooley adds. “It’s a shared family moment of validation and pride — a memory tied to effort, integrity, and leadership, experienced together.”

 

Through Standing Tall, the KW Titans are encouraging sports organizations of all sizes and disciplines to embrace intentional, values-based recognition.

 

The Standing Tall Initiative empowers educators, coaches, and mentors to:

 

• Sign up for KW Titans tickets (at kwtitans.com under “Community”)

 

• Intentionally recognize positive character traits

 

• Inspire young people to rise to the challenge of being their best selves

 

Standing Tall is intentionally adaptable, allowing organizations to align the initiative with their own culture and community, while maintaining the purpose of using sport to elevate the next generation.