An Ontario Non-Profit Founded In 2013, Now Based In Toronto
Everybody Plays. That's The Whole Idea.
Play should be easy, and it should be for everyone. We've been at that since 2013. One wall, one park, one classroom at a time.
It Started With A Piece Of Chalk.
Markham, 2013. A few friends playing street hockey get told to clear the road. Again. They drag two steel nets to the nearest schoolyard, and one of them, sick of hauling the second net, picks up a piece of chalk and draws a goal on the wall.
It worked. And it raised a question we're still asking: what other spaces could become places to play, without waiting for a new facility?
That chalked goal became Sportswalls: painted courts on the blank walls schools already own. The first Sportswalls went up at St. Henry Catholic School later that year, and in 2014 we began working with students there.
What We Got Wrong
We Painted The Walls. Then Nothing Happened.
The first walls went up and we thought the job was done. It wasn't. Kids walked right past them. Teachers didn't know what they were for. A court is useless if nobody knows how to play on it.
So we went back and taught them. Basketball math, outdoor gym class, recess games, intramurals. The walls filled up.
That lesson shaped everything that followed. Moving & Learning puts movement inside the lesson, and GANP Saturdays gives people an easy way into community play.
What The Idea Became.
From one chalk goal to schoolyards, classrooms and Saturday games.
A Note From The Founder
I never set out to start a non-profit. I just didn't want to carry the second net. More than a decade later, I still believe what that piece of chalk taught me: nobody should be priced out of playing, and you don't have to be good. You just have to show up. Thanks for being part of it.
What We Believe
A Wall Can Be A Court. Anyone Can Play.
Play can begin with what a community already has: a wall, a park, a classroom and someone willing to invite people in. GANP makes those first opportunities easier to find and easier to join.
2013 To Now.
- 2013
The First Sportswalls
Painted courts go up at St. Henry Catholic School.
- 2014
Into The Classroom
In-school programming begins at St. Henry.
- 2016
Jumpstart Supports The Next Step
Jumpstart funding supports GANP's in-school programming and Sportswalls at St. Henry Catholic School. More Sportswalls go in at Toronto Catholic schools.
- 2020
Moving & Learning
Lockdowns send kids home with fewer places to move. We build movement-based reading, writing and math activities for use at home and in classrooms.
- 2024
GANP Saturdays Launch
Free community pickup games begin at Sorauren Park in Parkdale. Volleyball and pickleball. All free, all welcome.
- 2026
60+ Pickleball Joins Saturdays
Seventeen Sportswalls installed to date. Moving & Learning continues in classrooms. GANP adds a second Saturday session for adults 60 and older.
Where We’re Going.
More free games. More active school days. More blank walls turned into courts. That is how GANP is working to make Ontario the most active province in Canada.
Our Model
Run It. Learn From It. Help Others Run It.
GANP starts local, learns from real programs and turns what works into tools other communities can use. Four steps, on repeat.
1. Run It
We deliver the program ourselves. Sorauren Park is where GANP Saturdays took shape. Seventeen schoolyards are where we learned how Sportswalls work in practice.
2. Learn From It
We record participation where we can, review delivery costs and note the problems that affect the program.
3. Improve It
What didn't work gets fixed or cut. The first Sportswalls taught us paint alone isn't enough. Now every wall comes with games and a plan.
4. Help Others Run It
We turn what we learned into simple tools: equipment lists, game plans, lesson packs and safety steps. We are developing and testing these so a school, city or neighbour can run the same programs.
A Play Leader pathway is being tested before it is offered more widely.
GANP, In Brief
- Legal name
- Get Active 'N Play.
- Founded
- 2013, in Markham, Ontario.
- Founder
- Mark Ucieklak.
- Status
- A registered Ontario non-profit, not a registered charity, so gifts are not tax-deductible.
- Serves
- Ontario, based in Toronto.
- Contact
- Get in touch.
See What Showing Up Added Up To.
The short version, in three numbers. The 2025 Impact Report has the rest.
Backed over the years by the Government of Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Jumpstart and ParticipACTION. Welcomed into the Toronto Catholic, Peel, York Catholic and Halton boards, and the neighbourhoods of Toronto Community Housing.
