In this edition, we highlight six Black Canadian women who have opened doors in winter…
KAITLYN’S SPORT STORIES: AUGUST 15, 2025
In this edition, we catch up on a new initiative between the PWHL, Tim Hortons, and Barbie. We also take a look at Vancouver‘s celebrations around hosting a WNBA Canada game and recap the impact of Victoria Mboko‘s exciting National Bank Open win. Lastly, we share our personal highlights from the Point Goddess women’s celebrity basketball game.
bARBIE honours hockey and tennis stars with new dolls
Tim Hortons has partnered with the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) to launch limited-edition Barbies inspired by players Sarah Nurse and Marie-Philip Poulin. The launch was celebrated with a fully pink Tim Hortons restaurant location in Toronto, bringing out big names from the hockey world. The dolls are available at select Tim Hortons locations, on TimShop.ca, and through the PWHL website. For every doll sold at Tim Hortons and online, $5 will be donated to Grindstone Award Foundation, with the PWHL matching donations for dolls sold through its online store. The Grindstone Award Foundation provides funding for young female hockey players who have the passion to play but may face financial challenges.
This initiative is a great step toward a continued partnership with Tim Hortons, and perhaps demand from this launch will spark future opportunities for individual PWHL team-branded Barbies. We know we’d definitely buy one!
If you’re looking for another inspiring Barbie, tennis star Venus Williams is also being honoured with her own doll, available now on the Mattel website. Venus’ Barbie wears a recreation of her 2007 Wimbledon victory look- a win that made her the first woman to benefit from Wimbledon’s equal prize money. In 2005, Venus was a vocal advocate for pay equity in tennis, meeting with French Open and Wimbledon officials to push for change. Both tournaments achieved equal prize money by 2007.
VANCOUVER SHOWS ITS COMMITMENT TO WOMEN’S SPORTS AT HISTORIC WNBA CANADA GAME
The WNBA will be making Canadian sports history tonight in Vancouver, British Columbia, with its first-ever regular season game played outside the United States. Vancouver is more than ready to celebrate. Here are some of the initiatives leading up to tip-off:
- Vancouver-based, queer-owned upcycled clothing brand Peau De Loup (PDL) has released a WNBA collection.
- Canadian brand Peace Collective has dropped new pieces to celebrate the Vancouver game.
- Women’s sports brand Togethxr is hosting an in-person watch party in Vancouver with a special Canada WNBA game version of its famous “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” t-shirt. Tickets are still available here for free.
- WNBA team Toronto Tempo connected with locals during a community pick-up event featuring Vancouver women’s basketball organizations, complete with an Indigenous blessing and song.
- The WNBA, the City of Vancouver Parks Board, and three-time WNBA champion Swin Cash brought the game to the community through the “Line ‘Em Up” initiative- painting the WNBA 3-point line on five outdoor courts, including one in Stanley Park.
The game tips off tonight at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST. Tickets are still available here, and fans can tune in via WNBA League Pass or on TSN.
2025 belongs to rising tennis star victoria mboko
What a year Victoria Mboko is having. In the National Bank Open (NBO) finals in Montréal, Québec against Naomi Osaka, Mboko showed toughness and focus in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 win. Her performance made her the second youngest woman– behind THE Serena Williams– to defeat four Grand Slam Champions in a single tournament, a feat Williams accomplished in 1999. Mboko also became just the third Canadian to win the NBO singles title, joining Bianca Andreescu (2019) and Faye Urban (1969).
Her WTA players ranking has skyrocketed, starting the year at No. 333, she now sits at No. 24 following her NBO victory. She’ll be one to watch at the upcoming US Open, taking place August 18 to September 8.
toronto community unites for POINT GODDESS celebrity game
Last week, the Girls Forward team attended the Point Goddess third annual women’s celebrity basketball game. Point Goddess is an organization dedicated to the holistic development of young female athletes through basketball training and development, workshops, mentoring, and its annual celebrity game.
The event continues to grow each year, with a youth empowerment game segment featuring young girls who are both competitive and encouraging toward their teammates. We saw plenty of familiar faces, including Ainka Jess, founder of She’s4Sports, and Brey Johnson, head coach at Lay-Up Youth Basketball Foundation and founder of OTG (Off The Grid) 3×3, who both received awards. A good friend of Girls Forward, Kayla-Marie Williams (who helped us celebrate our rebrand event in Toronto) co-hosted the day. We also met new faces from the Toronto and GTA women’s sport scene.
The stories of the week show girls in sport and physical activity that:
- The PWHL, now entering its third season, is an inspiring league creating positive change for both kids and adults alike. The recent Tim Hortons and Barbie initiative with the league perfectly highlights this impact.
- Vancouver’s enthusiasm for the arrival of the WNBA Canada game demonstrates that the league can establish a meaningful presence in Canada beyond just one city. It shows that other cities, aside from Toronto, could one day successfully support a WNBA team.
- We are witnessing one of Canada’s next women’s sports stars in real time. Victoria Mboko’s recent achievements at the National Bank Open, along with other major tournaments just days away, give young girls a new role model and inspire them to imagine what’s possible for their own athletic journeys.
Kaitlyn’s Sport Stories Recap are written by Kaitlyn Lehbert, a passionate and driven sport advocate for girls and women. Kaitlyn holds her Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Brock University. Learn more about Kaitlyn by clicking here!
Have a sport story you want to share? Contact info@girlsforward.ca and it may get featured in Kaitlyn’s next feature.
Related Posts
