On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, I’m excited to share my experience as a female across a few different sports, and why it’s important that we continue to push limits as women in these fields, although we have come a long way.

 

My journey wasn’t easy. I started out playing hockey in my small town in northern Ontario where the girls’ team had only just begun. In order to get a more competitive environment, I had to move to the Toronto area in Grade 9 to live with another family. Moving away in high school was just the first leap in my story; much like many of you, leaving home at a young age was a tough decision but that was my first big step towards my dreams.

 

I played hockey for four years in a new town with a new host family, but in Grade 10 I had committed to Syracuse University to play Division 1 hockey. Probably for a lot of you, getting a Div. 1 scholarship of some kind is a goal; for us girls it can come early, but it can happen late, so don’t stop pushing for those dreams. Of course it was an honour and a privilege, but I was motivated to continue proving my worth in the sport on the daily. 

 

My next big leap came when I moved to Syracuse for four years. During my career at Syracuse, we won our first ever conference championship, leading us to the Elite 8 NCAA tournament. In my junior year, I was chosen to be the captain of my team. Leadership in female sports can be hard. It’s important as women that we continue to lift each other up, challenge each other, and elevate our potential together. At this point in my career, I realized I was more than just a hockey player. I was there to be a leader not just to my teammates but for the rest of the athletes on campus

 

As my athletic and academic career came to an end at Syracuse, I was looking forward to playing professional hockey in Europe. But because it was 2021, COVID caused some unique complications in that process, and I decided to pursue my academic career instead. I applied to a master’s program at the University of North Carolina that was pretty tough to get into, but much like yourselves, I just pushed through all those tough applications, and I ended up getting into the program.

 

When I was leaving Syracuse, my hockey coach made a joke and said, “Why don’t you try rowing or something?” So, I called the rowing coach and got myself a try out – little did she know, I had no idea what I was doing. The first time I sat in the boat, I sat the wrong way. You know you go backwards in those things – I had no idea. But that year, I learned how to row, completed my first year of my masters, and was named the ACC Newcomer of the Year.

 

That part of my career moved fairly quickly, and then I kind of took another leap of faith when the Canadian national team called and wanted me to move to British Columbia. I had never been to British Columbia before, and I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I first moved here. I took the year 2022 to figure out what rowing was all about to get my feet under me, and luckily enough, by 2023 I was representing Canada on the international stage.

 

Leading into the Olympic year, I was ready to give it all for my dream. I had thought it would be in hockey, but now I was very sure we could make it happen for rowing. I was selected as the spare at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which sounds like a great thing. But at the same time, being a spare isn’t exactly where you want to be; you want to have a seat in the boat and you want to be on the start line. Unfortunately for me, but also fortunately for me, I did have the full experience at the Olympics, but I didn’t get to race. Of course there is a little part in my stomach that still has fire – which will burn at the 2028 Olympics. Throughout the Paris Olympics, it was my job to be a support to all my teammates. There were nine of them – there’s a coxswain and nine in the boat – so I was the 10th girl.

 

When the girls did win the silver medal at Paris, of course I was crying, but I wasn’t actually on the podium – the first thing the girls did when they got off the podium was come running to me. At that moment I understood how special it was to be part of a team; not only a team where we have great success, but a team where we can be supporting each other constantly, empowering each other, lifting each other up, but also wanting to take their spot – and that’s OK.

 

It's really important that we all know – not only as females, but males have a huge part in this as well – whenever we want to seriously achieve our dreams, we need to be supported by tons of other people. Surround yourself with people who want to push you as much as you want to push them

 

So, on National Women and Girls in Sports Day, I want to encourage you girls and women to write down your goals – even if that means changing sports, moving across the country or understanding a new role. You are more than able to do it.