Winsport hosts nearly 200 girls for the EmpowerHer Sport summit

EmpowerHer Sport Summit Olympic athletes and coaches attend symposium at WinSport aimed at helping the next generation of women excel in sports.

On Saturday WinSport hosted the fourth annual EmpowerHer Sport Summit to help women navigate the “unqualified aspects of sport.”

The summit focused on the details that can help athletes elevate their game, whatever their game happens to be.

“Often, the sport programs are focused on the skills that we can control in our training, in our lives, with our nutrition,” said organiser Reid Brodie. “We rarely take time to address the skills that leaders require.”

“Some of the conflicts we face in sport,” said Brodie.

There were over 180 female athletes, primarily from Alberta, aged 15-25 in attendance. The one-day event included guests speakers, workshops and focus groups.

“I’m hoping they can take some great connections and conversations away. I hope that they learn a little bit more about themselves and how their interactions and their presence with their teams in their sports organizations have an impact on everyone around them,” said Brodie.

Advocates for women in sport

Among the presenters were Olympians, coaches and other advocates for women in sport. 17-year-old Scarlett Trefiak has attended all four summits and takes what she learns here on the volleyball court.

“It’s so cool to learn all of their experiences and all of the struggles they have gone through in their careers,” said Trefiak.

“When you're trying to navigate all these challenges and having all these role models and leaders to say that they've been through it, too, and how they've gone through all these different situations is really impactful.”

Among the Leadership RoundTable Mentors was Kindred Paul, who represented Canada at the 2024 and 2020 Olympic games in Water Polo.

“There wasn't a huge women's water polo program in Edmonton when I was growing up, so I didn't necessarily have a lot of mentors, and I think I learned a lot of lessons, maybe the hard way,” said Paul. “That they can kind of learn that through someone else and then have an easier path to reaching those levels is really exciting for me.”

She points to dealing with coaches who “are a bit tougher” or “don’t share the same values” and conflict with other teammates. Paul stresses younger athletes might look at older athletes who reach the podium and think there were no bumps along the road, but she says that is far from the truth.

“I think you're never going to skate by unscathed with adversity. You're going to hit it and you kind of realize, okay, no, this is a normal process. Like, let me tackle it head on. It's huge for young athletes, especially young women,” said Paul.