St. Catharines university basketball coach, teams are ‘All For Change’

To honour Black History Month, Brock University men’s basketball coach Willy Manigat hit the court with Brock Sports to come up with a theme for February.

In the end, they went with “All For Change,” with Manigat helping to craft both the motto and an accompanying logo.

“The world needs change. It’s not even necessarily limited to just Black History Month; it’s a global issue, especially since the killing of George Floyd. An injustice for one is an injustice for all,” Manigat told Brock News.

“We all need to change. It’s about allyship and allies who will fight for change. Fight for us, and for everybody. If I can do something to help others see we need a change for the better then maybe we can affect change — a change for all.”

The Badgers (the university sports teams) are raising money for the University’s Black/Indigenous Heritage Student-Athlete (BIHS) bursary through proceeds of an ‘All for Change’ T-shirt and tickets to varsity home games.

The bursary aims to support student-athletes who demonstrate financial need and is not centred around athletic achievement.

The ‘All for Change’ T-shirt, designed by Manigat, is black and features a global symbol of fighting oppression: a raised fist. The fist is made up of hearts with ‘All for Change’ written on the front. A Brock Badgers logo is featured on the back.

An impressive $10 from each shirt sold will go directly towards the BIHS bursary.

Brock Sports is hosting two “Black History Month Awareness” basketball games on Feb. 3 and two hockey games on Feb. 4.