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LEAD FORWARD LUNCH & LEARN WEBINAR SERIES
‘For the Girls, by the Experts’
The Lead Forward Lunch & Learn Webinar Series is a national virtual learning initiative created to bring together researchers, practitioners, community leaders, coaches, educators, and organizations who are working to create more equitable, inclusive, and positive experiences for girls and women in sport and physical activity.
Made possible through the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada, this monthly webinar series will provide opportunities to learn, connect, and collaborate with others across the sector while exploring the research, lived experiences, and emerging conversations shaping the future of sport.
The Lead Forward Lunch & Learn Webinar Series will run from July 2026 to January 2027.
series at a glance
📅 When: July 2026-January 2027
💻 Format: Monthly virtual learning sessions
🎤 Who it’s for: Researchers, practitioners, community leaders, coaches, educators, and organizations working in sport and physical activity
🎟️ Registration: Flexible pricing tiers available from $10-$50 to support participation across the sector
WHAT TO EXPECT
Each monthly session will provide participants with practical insights and tools they can apply within their own communities, organizations, and areas of work.
Throughout the series, participants will:
- Translate research into practical, actionable strategies
- Explore emerging issues and timely topics in sport and physical activity
- Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing across the sector
- Highlight research and lived experiences through an intersectional lens
- Gain tools and approaches to support more inclusive and empowering environments for girls and women
webinar SCHEDULE
Join us for a series of conversations featuring researchers, practitioners, community leaders, and sport advocates who are working to move the sector forward.
August 19 | 2 PM ET
Beyond the Bench: Intersecting Gender and Disability in Sport. Lessons from Women in Para Ice Hockey presented by Kaitlyn Guernsey
Session Overview: Para ice hockey is a fast, physical, mixed-gender disability sport, and in Canada, women are significantly underrepresented in it. This session draws on a 2026 MA thesis from Western University to ask why, and what sport organizations can do about it. Using feminist disability theory and an intersectional lens, the research gathered qualitative data from women para ice hockey players in Ontario through interviews, season-long observations, and autoethnographic reflection from the presenter’s own experience as a nondisabled woman, coach, and trainer in the sport. The findings are directly relevant to anyone designing, delivering, or evaluating programs for disability and mainstream sports that have women and girls participants.
Three themes anchor the session. The first is belonging. Women in the study described para ice hockey as one of the few spaces where their disability did not mark them as “other”. An unspoken understanding among players reduced the isolation many experience elsewhere. The second theme is barriers in three areas: structural, attitudinal, and systemic. The third theme focuses on the benefits that the women shared. The research also explores the presenter’s own journey learning to intervene in moments of sexism and ableism in sport, drawing on reflective practice as a form of coaching activism.
Throughout the session, research findings will be translated into practical conversation. Participants will engage in structured reflection activities, hear directly from the women’s own words, and leave with strategies to make their programs more equitable, whether they work in disability sport, women’s sport, community programming, or youth development. The session is designed to be equally useful for grassroots coaches, national program designers, and researchers working at the intersection of gender, disability, and sport.
Register here for Kaitlyn’s session.
September 16 | 12 PM ET
Creating Belonging: Culturally Responsive Coaching For Black and Brown Girls in Sport presented by Cherokee Washington
Session Overview: Designed as an engaging learning environment, this webinar combines evidence-informed learning, reflections, and coaching tools to teach participants about culturally responsive leadership approaches in athletic environments. Grounded in cultural sport psychology, EDI knowledge, and coach–athlete relationship research, participants will engage through reflections, group discussions, and facilitated dialogue exploring belonging, cultural safety, and culturally responsive coaching for Black and Brown girls in athletics. The session moves beyond awareness to support practical action toward more equitable sport experiences and stronger coach–athlete relationships between intersectionally marginalized girl-identifying athletes and their leadership staffs. Through exploring elements of the coach-athlete relationship and the 3+1Cs model, participants will learn the inner workings of how successful dyads operate by acknowledging individual factors such as cultural differences, connectivity, and more. Further, participants will learn to become more than just allies in sport spaces, but rather accomplices and co-conspirators in order to protect, support, and acknowledge Black and Brown girls in sport. While centered on Black and Brown girls, this knowledge can be used to support safer, more inclusive, and relationship-centered sport environments that benefit and can be altered and utilized to fit the nuanced experiences of all participants (including other gender diverse populations) with care and intention.
Register here for Cherokee’s session.
September 30 | 2 PM ET
Developing Gender Effective Coaches: Addressing the Knowledge to Application Gap presented by Siobhan Rourke
Session Overview: Coming soon
Register here for Siobhan’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.
registration options
We believe learning opportunities should be accessible to people across the sport and physical activity sector. Explore the pricing tier that best reflects your role:
Blue Tier – $10
For students, Girls Forward parents/guardians, community members, and REAL Role Models
Yellow Tier – $25
For teachers, sport coaches, and employees of grassroots organizations
Purple Tier – $50
For employees for corporations, for-profit organizations, NSOs, PSOs, school boards, and university workers & professors
*Sliding scale pricing and subsidized tickets are available. If cost is a barrier, we don’t want you to miss out! To request a subsidized ticket, please email srourke@girlsforward.ca
Explore the Series & Register Here
Join us as we learn, connect, and share knowledge with others across the sport and physical activity sector. Together, we can continue building more equitable, inclusive, and empowering experiences for girls and women.
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