Female focus at college playoffs
By Medicine Hat News on February 26, 2020.
The current generation of female athletes will be front and centre these next two weeks at Medicine Hat College, and the next generation will get a front-row seat – and in some cases, even closer than that.
With Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s volleyball finals this weekend and women’s basketball finals March 4-7 at the Snake Pit, local organizers figured there was no better opportunity to promote being active to area girls.
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It’s a great experience for the girls that are playing and the girls (from the community),” said Dragana Vukovic, an ex-Rattlers basketball player and Alberta Sport Development Centre Southeast coordinator. “
We are using our voices to speak up and encourage more girls to find their path in sport.”
Vukovic is running Fill it With Females, which gets girls 10 to 17 years old to attend the ACAC awards ceremonies tonight and March 4 at the college. Meanwhile, the Females in Action, Moving and Empowering group is expanding its Get Benched initiative to include every one of the 22 playoff games, allowing dozens of young girls to sit on the bench alongside college athletes.
If that wasn’t enough, a pair of seminars are planned with a focus on female sports. Ex-Rattler and current national beach volleyball team member Megan Nagy will lead “Live Your Potential – Become a High Performer” Saturday morning, with Panthers track coach Sonya Brown talking about practice planning March 6.
“The theme of my speech (Wednesday) is ‘feel the fear and do it anyway,'” wrote Nagy, who will speak during tonight’s awards, via text message Tuesday. “Being able to see failure as a teacher and using fear to understand that your goals are big and worthwhile!”
For budding athletes like Valentina Cabello, the message is already well-received. The 14-year-old at Notre Dame Academy helped her club volleyball team to a first-place division win this past weekend at a tournament in Okotoks and knows the benefits of sports.
“My friends are pretty active, we all play volleyball together, most of them,” she said. “It’s pretty important (to be active).”
Statistically, she’s not in the majority. Research from Canadian Women and Sport shows two per cent of girls aged 12 to 17 get the recommended hour of daily physical activity. Only one out of every four coaches nationwide is female.
Anyone interested in signing up for Fill it With Females or the seminars should email
dvukovic@mhc.ab.ca, while anyone wanting to participate in Get Benched should email
terpet@medicinehat.ca.
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