September 30 | 2 PM ET

Developing Gender Effective Coaches: Addressing the Knowledge to Application Gap presented by Dr. Siobhan Rourke

Session Overview: Join us as Dr. Rourke shares insights from her research on rethinking how we coach girls and better supporting their experiences in sport. She’ll explore how coaches can build confidence for gender responsive coaching practices and how to put this knowledge into practice to create more positive sport experiences for girls.

Register here for Dr. Rourke’s session.

October 21 | 12 PM ET

Absence as Resistance: Understanding Girls’ and Gender Diverse Youth’s Refusal of Organized Sports Programs presented by Emma Bowen

Session Overview: Women’s professional sport has recently experienced unprecedented growth and visibility. While it is important to champion and acknowledge these successes, self- identified girls and gender-diverse youth’s participation in sport at a grassroots level remains far lower than their cis-male counterparts. Therefore, the advancements in professional women’s sports are alone not enough to increase uptake of grassroots sport and community recreation in self-identified girls and gender diverse youth. However, to date, much of the research surrounding girls’ sport participation is explained through a deficit model. When compared boys, lower participation rates by girls are attributed to lack of agency, resources and resilience. Considering this, there is a lack of understanding around how girls and gender-diverse youth navigate power structures within sports that expect them to adhere to gendered expectations of empowerment and development. In this presentation, I will draw upon interviews conducted with teenage self-identified girls and gender-diverse youth in Canada to explore how refusal to participate in sport may actually be a purposeful choice rooted in resistance against patriarchal systems. Furthermore, I will address what these findings can tell us about existing sport structures and how this can be applied to create more equitable and inclusive futures.

Register here for Emma’s session.

November 4 | 12 PM ET

Built to Play Soccer Program- Through the Athlete’s Camera Lens presented by Winnie Li

Session Overview: To belong is different from being included. Belonging involves feeling like you not only have a voice, but that your voice is being heard and appreciated. Winnie’s master’s thesis research explored this idea in the realm of youth sport through Girls Forward’s Built to Play soccer program. Utilizing a feminist participatory action research approach (FPAR) and the qualitative method of photovoice, the lived experiences of 4 girls participating in the program were captured. Aligning with the action component of FPAR and tenets of knowledge mobilization, their voices were amplified through various mobilization strategies to create actionable social impact and better ensure the participants felt heard by people who play a role in shaping their sporting experiences. In the two years since this study was conducted, Winnie has taken the learnings from this study and embedded them into Girls Forward’s programming in various ways to continue upholding Girls Forward’s values and mission of empowering girls as the program coordinator for Built to Play and many other programs.

Register here for Winnie’s session.

November 18 | 2 PM ET

Every Body Changes: Supporting Life-long Movement Access Through a Body Liberation-centred Approach presented by Christine Hsu and Sookie Bardwell

Session Overview: Coming soon

Register here for Christine and Sookie’s session.

December 9 | 12 PM ET

Hair, Safety, and Belonging: What Black Girls’ Hairstories Teach Us About Inclusive Sport presented by Dr. Kaleigh Pennock

Session Overview: Sport and recreation offer numerous social, physical, and psychological benefits for adolescent girls. However, numerous barriers exist, including concerns over social belonging, safety, and lack of quality experiences. These influences may be amplified in those with intersecting identities, including Black girls, who participate in sport less frequently than other youth.

Black hair serves as a meaningful and critically important site of investigation related to psychosocial understandings of sport participation. In sport and recreation, Black girls have experienced harm, maltreatment, and exclusion related to their hair and hair practices, including equipment constraints, interpersonal microaggressions, and access to programming. These experiences reflect broader structural and social conditions that have situated both Black hair and Black girls outside the traditional framings of sport.

This session introduces Black girls’ hairstories, a framework underpinned by Black feminist thought, that centres hair narratives as critical entry points for understanding identity, culture, exclusion, joy, and resistance in sport and recreation spaces. Drawing on empirical and community-based research, the session translates evidence concerning Black girls’ experiences and provide recommendations related to programming, policy, and education. Attendees will come away with practical strategies and key learnings for cultivating sport environments where Black girls feel safe, seen, and affirmed.

Register here for Dr. Pennock’s session.