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Links from this article:\nX Movement\nDeena Douara Karim

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X Movement aims to energize schools through Aussie sports, proactive engagement, and a supportive environment.

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Some kids are sports people, and some are not. Or so we assume – a notion X Movement is looking to challenge.

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When Kaela Bree and her X Movement team go into schools across the GTA, they engage entire school communities in dance, sport, yoga or Tai Chi, infused with encouraging affirmations and life skills. While focusing on K-12 students, they also involve teachers and parents whenever possible.

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By creating a level playing field through unfamiliar Australian sports, proactively engaging inhibited students, and promoting a supportive environment (“good on ya mate”), they aim for 100 per cent participation and enjoyment – more often met than not, says Bree, who is originally from Melbourne.

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Bree says North America’s hyper-competitive activity model contrasts with Australia’s sporty approach that emphasizes participation, which is a guiding principle for the company.

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X Movement is a marriage of the physical – represented by co-founder Emile Studham, a former semi-professional Aussie football player, and the mental, represented by Bree, a former actress.

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What she and Studham shared and inspired their business nine years ago (when it was first known as Aussie X) was a drive to positively impact youth and to “revolutionize education.”

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“Energy,” perhaps, is the best way to describe what they aim to transmit and evoke.

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“I want them to be as excited when they see the X as they are when they see McDonalds’ golden arches,” explains Bree.

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For her, the business is truly personal and runs deeper than P.E.

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Bree had tumultuous teen years in Australia, where she struggled to deal with the impacts of childhood abuse. “On the surface I was a straight-A student, I was great at all those small things, but underneath I was suffering in self hatred, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal tendencies. I felt very lost in darkness.”

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Her drive to find her way out of those feelings – through therapy, life coaching and, most importantly, deep introspection – led her to the realization that she was happiest around children and wanted to help them develop the tools that she was just starting to learn – how to separate facts from stories we tell ourselves. It led her to X Movement and continues to inform the company’s values.

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While the business started as a sports program, it has since expanded to include X Impact – their emerging non-profit focused on Northern Ontario and communities affected by youth suicide; X Performance, which brings energy into the workplace; and the upcoming X Life – web games designed for classrooms to promote movement and well-being. Bree explains that X Life helps teachers meet their daily physical activity standards while also putting an emphasis on inquiry-based learning, reflection, and self-regulation – “a big part of what we do.”

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Bree says X Group – which encompasses X Movement as well as the other initiatives – has been into over 2,000 schools already and they are seeking corporate sponsors to help them get X Life into every school in Ontario within the next six to 12 months.

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And after that?

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“The next step is to turn it into a multinational empire. I want to energize in some shape, way, or form every school in the world. This is my life mission and my life purpose.”

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She’s aware of the skepticism and has a ready response: “I appreciate your caution but I’m doing it anyway.”

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As she describes it, Toronto was an ideal place to launch the empire and, indeed, their lofty vision became a business with the help of Toronto’s School for Social Entrepreneurs and expanded with support from Dragon’s Den’s Jim Treliving.

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“I absolutely love this city…. It’s such an incredibly diverse place for young entrepreneurs. It’s literally the reason I have so much confidence.”

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Bree says it’s a supportive community where you can pick up the phone and find someone in the city who will help.

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“It’s big enough but small enough at same time. You have access to resources but it’s small enough to feel like you’re part of a community … People are up to incredible things here. There are a lot of young forward-thinking people doing things differently – that’s the nature of Toronto.

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“You can create anything if you want it bad enough.”

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by Deena Douara Karim

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Reposted with permission from Entreprise Toronto

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