Tag: women’s hockey

athletes

Go Sports Ball!

Diane Harper1 Comment

I’m writing this on my way to the Ottawa-Montreal hockey game. It has been an exciting season and series, and I can only hope that there will be one final game after tonight.

The Ottawa Charge celebrates a win at centre ice. Note the painted logo. It’s a big deal – really!

I didn’t expect to become such a big fan. I had watched Hockey Night in Canada as a kid because that was the only option in my two-channel, one TV household. A girls team was formed when I was in high school, but I wasn’t allowed to join. Later, I became a hockey mom for my son’s sake; but that wasn’t about the brilliant hockey – sorry kiddo!

As a feminist and a Canadian, I celebrated the achievements of Canadian women at the Olympics and other international tournaments. I was proud to see the achievements of some of those stars after their playing days ended.

I should have cheered even more for the dedication of those women who played for years with minimal sponsorship and no salaries, and only the occasional tournament to hone their skills.

But suddenly, women’s professional sports are having a moment.

The atmosphere at games over the three years of the PWHL’s existence has been phenomenal. It’s almost as much fun to watch the excitement of young girls dreaming of playing professionally as it is to watch the pros themselves. Attendance is skyrocketing (I expect a new playoff attendance record will have been set by the time you read this).

When the season ends, there will be options for the first time in my life: I can go to professional soccer games here in Ottawa, or follow the new basketball team in Toronto. New mixed team configurations in both traditional and para-sports are drawing my attention to things like curling, speed skating and athletics too.

Of course the women earn a pittance compared to their male counterparts, but there have been some modest moves towards parity in certain sports, and there is definitely a sense that the PWHL Players Association will be negotiating aggressively for more lucrative contracts now that they are a proven commodity.

Maybe that’s part of the reason so many of us older women are such fervent fans. We fought so hard for equality in our careers that we want to do what we can to help advance the careers of others.

I know for a fact that many of us are there celebrating a future our fourteen-year-old selves couldn’t have imagined.

fitness

See her name! #InTheNews, #Molson

Sam B1 Comment

For years, many women’s hockey players’ hair has covered their last names on their jerseys.

Now, Molson’s sponsorship of the PWHL will move player names to the bottom so they’re visible on the ice.

“We covered our name so hers could be seen.”

See the full news release here.

While we were on the blog were very happy to see this news, it also started a conversation about athletic women and long hair. Surely short hair would be easier and more convenient. Why do so many women pro-athletes have ponytails?

It’s either long hair you can pull back in a ponytail or short hair, it seems. Those are both practical choices.

But hey, given that many of them do have long hair, let’s design uniforms that make the names of women athletes visible. Thanks Molson.

fitness

Professional Sports, Fans and Gender -Some Thoughts

amandalynnstubley

What’s the relationship between people who love to do sports and people who love to watch or follow sports? It’s definitely not a one-to-one relationship. I think especially in the North American context, professional sports fandoms are identities unto their own, and they don’t necessarily connect to someone being an athlete themselves.

For me, I have loved watching hockey ever since I was in Grade 5, when the Vancouver Canucks surprised everyone and went to the finals of the NHL (to be wiped out in four straight, alas!). I loved the energy cheering together and I remember waving a white towel whenever I could, joining in with fans everywhere on the BC coast.

I have continued my hockey-loving life, despite never having a chance to play hockey. At my age, and in my coastal community, there was no ice to skate on in our town, the nearest rink being a 40-minute drive to the next town. I would have loved to play hockey, I think, but I really had never heard of girls doing it, and I certainly didn’t have access to it.

photo of woman and teenage boy in front of a glass divider separating them from the ice at a hockey rink.
My son and I about 5 years ago, ready for playoff season!

I have relished my life as a casual fan. It’s not like I track the stats of players, but I do enjoy learning from my 18 year old son who does keep track of some stats. And I have enjoyed many mother-son hockey games over the years, we’ve enjoyed watching the Canucks play in North Carolina, Ottawa, Buffalo, Toronto and Vancouver. It’s awesome. I have particularly enjoyed junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League, as we live in a town where we’ve had the joy to watch young NHL stars come develop.

I also love watching the women’s hockey teams play when it’s actually on TV and covered (so basically during the Olympics). But honestly, it never really crossed my mind that the pathway for girls in hockey is so much narrower and shorter than for boys. For boys, there is a well developed junior hockey system in North America and parts of Europe. There are university scholarships. There are professional leagues in many parts of the world.

For girls, the options seem to be far fewer. There are scholarships, I understand, and there are national teams. Surely, though, the training supports are minimal compared to those available to the multiple tiers of development for boys’ and young men’s leagues.

Honestly, as a casual fan, somehow the gender imbalance in pro-sports had barely registered in my mind until recently, when I heard stories of women’s soccer teams arguing for parity in funding. The totally limited options for girl-hockey-players really never crossed my mind until I started hearing news stories about the new women’s Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) being developed.

A woman and a man smiling at the camera, wearing almost matching green shirts.
Sometimes I even get my husband to join me in cheering on the hockey team!

The other day, a friend posted news about knowing a woman who got drafted to the PWHL. He has a daughter who plays hockey. It hit me – this is BIG. There is no logical reason that male athletes should earn professional wages whereas women shouldn’t. It feels like a bit of an awakening. And I guess I’ll be looking to get myself some PWHL tickets!