Co-founder and President
Pour 3 points
Fabrice Vil
Woman of Distinction 2020
Inspiration Award
Presented by
Would you like to participate to the online award ceremony on March 18, 2021?
Passionate about basketball since his childhood, Fabrice Vil turned to coaching at the age of 16. Born in Anjou to parents who put education first, Fabrice charted an unerring course from Jean-de-Brébeuf College to the University of Montréal, where he earned a law degree before passing the bar exam to become a lawyer.
Early on in a promising legal career with the firm Langlois Kronström Desjardins (now Langlois), Fabrice Vil decided to take the leap into social entrepreneurship in order to work full-time with young people. Convinced that a coach, much like a parent, can positively influence the course of a young person’s life, Fabrice Vil founded Pour 3 Points (For 3 Points) in 2010.
“You can’t change the world part-time,” he says, taking his inspiration from Breakfast Clubs founder Daniel Germain. The about-face came as no surprise to many who saw the dedication and fighting spirit he had shown throughout his life.
Pour 3 Points, named for the longest shot in basketball (riskier but more rewarding), works to transform sport coaches into life coaches with the skills to guide young people in their development both in sports and at school. By training coaches, the organization creates “multiplying agents” who have a direct impact on the youths’ success, so much so that some participants have gone from bottom of their class to the top!
The organization has grown from its roots providing homework assistance to 57 young basketball players into an army of 54 coaches working with over 650 young athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds in 20 Montréal and Laval high schools by 2019.
In that time, Fabrice Vil has racked up numerous responsibilities, honours and awards. He sat on the boards of the Kanpe Foundation, Culture Pour Tous and the Institut Mallet. He received Brébeuf College’s alumni award – social engagement category (2012), a Black History Month tribute (2014) and the Award for Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Quebec division (2015). In 2012 alone, he was named Socially Responsible Youth Leader by the JCCH, Lawyer of the Year – Pro Bono/Social Engagement category by the Young Bar of Montréal and Montréal Engagement Youth Ambassador by the Forum jeunesse de l’île de Montréal. Fabrice Vil was also a finalist in the global Echoing Green fellowship program (2013).
In addition to helping young people achieve success through sports and school, Fabrice Vil has become one of Quebec’s most influential voices on equal opportunity issues. He has a media presence as a columnist for various outlets like Le Devoir, contributor to the documentary Briser le code (2020), corporate speaker and workshop facilitator.
References :
https://www.ledevoir.com/auteur/fabrice-vil
https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/article/2018/05/07/fabrice-vil-l-entrepreneur-social-qui-lance-pour-3-points/
