A novel approach to supporting sport in Saskatchewan
There is a new clothing provider in Saskatchewan and it is novel. novl Athletics aims to provide the province’s soccer players — and athletes in general — with a symbol that unites and represents them, in all their struggles and diversity. In the process, novl will also support the sport of soccer in Saskatchewan through donations that assist both individual athletes and teams to achieve their dreams.
“The goal is to build up a big enough brand that we can continuously give back to the community,” said Brandon Fiske, who, alongside Aaron Beattie, founded, owns and operates novl Athletics. “As well as being an organization that gives back to the community, we emphasize that athletes should be themselves and do what makes them special and makes them stand out.”
Currently, novl’s support for Saskatchewan soccer operates in partnership with KidSport, a notfor-profit organization that strives to remove financial obstacles to children’s participation in sport. KidSport’s goal is to allow children the opportunity to play, learn self-respect and adopt healthy lifestyles regardless of their families’ financial status. “We’re putting 10 per cent of all purchases towards KidSport,” said Fiske. “At the end of every month, we sit down and look at what we have made and then donate it to KidSport. We can donate to specific cities right now in Saskatchewan and sponsor the KidSport athletes in that city.”
“Right now, a lot of our purchases are coming from Regina, so we haven’t had to expand into other cities yet, but we have had a few purchases from Saskatoon and Prince Albert as well,” said Fiske. “As we start to grow, we’re going to focus on a certain city every month and do donations that way … all the purchases in one month go to a certain location, and then, the next month, we’ll switch it up.”
Fiske and Beattie adopted that approach in order to treat all soccer players in the province as a single community. “If you buy novl, everybody’s supporting everybody in Saskatchewan,” said Fiske. “It keeps the Saskatchewan community all involved together.”
The novl team has found that Saskatchewan players have a lot in common. “Comparing Saskatchewan and a lot of other provinces out there, the others have a lot more training programs that have helped them become a little bit more skillful, but I think Saskatchewan, out of all provinces, probably has one of the best work rates,” said Fiske. “I think everyone in Saskatchewan as an athlete is very hard-working, and they just have a drive … They want to win and play hard.”
That is why Fiske and Beattie believe that their financial support can be so important throughout the province. “Not everybody is suffering from lack of funds, but I know for sure there are athletes out there that can’t go as far as they want to just because it’s expensive — to go into the right programs and get to competition is a lot of money,” said Fiske. “With our experience in the sport, we’ve noticed a lot of good talent in kids that kind of goes to waste just because soccer is expensive.” The funds from KidSport not only keep promising players in the right programs, they also allow the average player to access the limited facilities that are available for basic training. “Essentially, there’s an entire field and a quarter in the entire city for everyone to train on, so booking that time is quite pricey, and we get kicked out of it for a month during Agribition,” said Fiske. “So, it’s just the consistency of getting kids and teens enough time to develop.”
“Because of the rising costs associated with the sport, it’s becoming more and more difficult for less fortunate families to stay involved,” said Fiske. “The community is growing, so registration fees rising is just making it harder and harder for some people to continue playing, so we just want to give back to the community, and maybe help out anybody who’s struggling a little bit.”
Fiske and Beattie developed their dedication to the soccer community over a combined 20 years of experience. “We’ve been playing competitive soccer since we were very young,” said Fiske. During that time, they played on the provincial team and represented Saskatchewan in national playoffs on several occasions.
The idea to create a provincial clothing brand came to them only recently and was inspired by other lines that catered to similar athletic communities. “We talked about a year ago, and we started getting it going in May,” said Fiske. “We came together and realized that there’s an untapped resource in the province of young soccer players who are kind of looking for an identity, and we figured that novl would be a fantastic way to give these people an identity of being a soccer player and being someone who’s different.”
Despite the challenge of launching a new brand, the duo wanted to establish their service to the soccer community from the beginning. “For right now, we’re trying to keep it as affordable as possible for the community,” said Fiske. “Currently, we are already looking to collaborate with teams for team wear for tournaments such as WCP here in Regina, or any league teams that are looking for team wear. In the future, we will also be looking to release more soccer specific apparel.” “Right now, we wanted to get out that first line of hoodies that anybody can wear and support the cause. It’s called the Definition Hoodie, and on the hoodie is what exactly novl means, and, if you buy that hoodie, you’re supporting being part of the community.”