| WINNERS OF
2003 WOMEN AND SPORT BREAKTHROUGH AWARDS
Ottawa, ON.- The Canadian Association for the
Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS)
has honoured five individuals and organizations with its 2004
Breakthrough Awards. The annual awards recognize exceptional
accomplishments that break through traditional barriers and
pave the way for girls and women to participate in sports
and physical activity at every level. This year's winners,
who range from people involved with community level programs
to people working at the national level producing television
broadcasts, were recognized for their activities in the year
2003.
France St-Louis - Individual Provincial/Community
Award
At the age of 40, France St-Louis retired from the Canadian
Olympic Program to launch her own hockey school and to develop
the sport-school program for women's hockey. During her twenty-year
sporting career, she dominated in two sports: lacrosse and hockey.
A five-time world champion and recipient of numerous individual
awards, she has made an immense contribution to women in sport
and particularly to women's hockey.
Currently the honorary president of the Montréal Axion
Hockey Team of the National Women's Hockey League (WNHL) she
is also the assistant coach of Québec's Women's Junior
Hockey Team (under 18). Continuing her dedication to the sport
of hockey, she has been acting as the official spokesperson
for Women's hockey in Québec since 1999. A teacher by
profession, she is the head coach of the Women's Sport Schools
Program at the De Mortagne High School in Boucherville. During
the summer, France operates her hockey schools and makes a point
of employing young women hockey players to work with her. Her
dedication to the young female athletes who take part in these
hockey camps is remarkable. She assists families with decisions
about scholarships and their future in hockey. She will drive
long hours to see their games the next season, making a point
of visiting the dressing room, and encouraging the young players
to continue working hard and to play with drive, determination
and dedication. She has been and continues to be an inspiration
to young female athletes and hockey players in Canada.
Ceilidh Royals Girls Softball Association - Organization
Provincial/Community Award
Since it began in 2002, this Nova Scotia organization has seen
girls softball grow from the initial group of 20 young girls
playing to four teams now in operation, Mite, Squirt, Peewee
and Bantam. It was initially started by Janet MacIsaac, a mother
with three children of her own, when she saw that the girls
softball program had died out. She re-introduced the sport at
the Squirt level, and drew players from across several small
communities. Parents assisted with fundraising, and after several
bottle drives, tag days, and ticket sales they had raised enough
money for some equipment, uniforms and provincial registration.
In its first season, the team had to travel long distances
to find other teams to play, yet managed to play enough exhibition
games to prepare for provincial championships. They placed
fourth out of eight teams that first season. In 2003, all
the current players wanted to continue, and others wanted
to join. They created both a Squirt team and a Peewee team.
More fundraising took place to purchase new equipment, and
to pay for registration and travel expenses. Both teams had
fine seasons, and after much hard work placed second provincially,
in their respective divisions. The girls have been inspired
by seeing other girls teams well supported, coached and equipped,
and the community has rallied around them to encourage girls
team sports. They are excited to have quadrupled their membership
to begin the 2004 season with teams in four different age
groups.
Kathy McAdam - Media Provincial Award
Kathy McAdam has had a dramatic input on female hockey, not
only in the lower mainland of British Columbia, but throughout
the entire province. She has been working for hockey teams in
BC for more than 30 years and has been a keen observer and solid
supporter of the women's game for more than 15 years. From 1999
to 2003 she wrote regular columns about female hockey at all
levels for BC Hockey Now, giving voice to the growing numbers
of participants. She has followed and written about the Canadian
Women's National Hockey team providing consistent and comprehensive
coverage. Traveling throughout British Columbia to tournaments
and events, she has done her best to provide media coverage
for female hockey. She has developed relationships with players,
officials and administrators in the community that have helped
expand the coverage of female hockey.
She helped the NWHL Vancouver Griffins hockey team develop
its media relations plan, and her support in building relationships
between the team and local media was invaluable. Her support
of the UBC women's varsity hockey team brought media attention
to the possible cutting of the program and she helped to rally
public support for the continuation of the team. Involved
as a parent volunteer, she was also a member of the board
of directors of the Richmond Girls Ice Hockey Association.
During her years of involvement, McAdam has taken every opportunity
to promote and support female hockey, through her contacts
in the media, the professional hockey community and all levels
of the sport, to provide a place for the women's game. She
has made significant ongoing contributions to the hockey community
in British Columbia.
Deb Sanderson, Sportsnet - Media National Award
For years Deb Sanderson has been one of the top sports production
executives in Canada, and she has been a trail blazer for women
in senior television production positions in Canada. Currently
Director of Live Events for Rogers Sportsnet, Deb oversees Canada's
busiest producer of live sporting events. Her portfolio includes
NHL and Junior Hockey, NBA Basketball, Soccer, Lacrosse, Baseball
and many other sports. She sets editorial direction, hires producers,
directors and commentators and makes sure over 200 hours of
live event programming goes to air flawlessly on Sportsnet's
four regional feeds.
Prior to her current position, she was Managing Producer
of the Pacific region, building production capacity in Sportsnet's
most successful area and lobbying successfully for added focus
on British Columbia. Her passion for developing sports has
raised the profiles of lacrosse and soccer on Canadian television.
She lobbied for more coverage of lacrosse and is a major factor
in the National Lacrosse League's success. Another of her
major projects was the 2001 FIFA Under-19 Women's Soccer Championship.
The championship game of that tournament remains the highest
rated broadcast in the history of Rogers Sportsnet. She continues
to be an avid supporter of women in sports broadcasting, encouraging
and promoting other women to assume visible roles in sports
television in Canada.
Pioneers and Founders of Women's Interuniversity Sport
- Marion Lay 'Herstorical' Award
The Marion Lay Herstorical Award honours the long-term positive
influence of an individual, group or organization whose herstorical
contribution has broken down barriers to equal participation
in sport and physical activity. In December of 1968 a group
of women developed a proposal for the conduct of national championships
under the auspices of a new organization - a Canadian Women's
Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CWIAU), to bea parallel Union
to that of men's activities. These representatives of the existing
four Intercollegiate conferences saw the initial and primary
role of the CWIAU to develop a system for the management of
national women's intercollegiate events. One year later, in
December of 1969, the new group placed their proposal before
the then Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU), in
Toronto. The CIAU accepted this new national intercollegiate
governing body, and the CWIAU was recognized by the Universities
and the Fitness and Amateur Sport government agency.
The founding members of the CWIAU were Marilyn Pomfret, UBC,
Pat Lawson, USask., Pat Jackson, USask., Pat Davis, Waterloo,
Anne Hewett, Toronto, Mary Lyons, York, Mary Keyes, McMaster,
Gladys Bean, McGill, Barb Mullaly, UPEI, and Lorraine Thurrott,
Moncton.
From this time forward through until the 1978, the CWIAU
was the governing body of women's intercollegiate sport representative
of all the Universities in Canada. In 1978, the CWIAU and
the CIAU amalgamated to be representative of a single national
sport body governing intercollegiate sport in Canada.
Today, the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) is responsible
for the women's and men's interuniversity sport championships,
manages the basketball, volleyball, swimming, field hockey,
ice hockey, cross country, track and field, wrestling, soccer,
and rugby national championships. Largely because of the work
of these pioneers, the CIS of today has progressive policies
including a mandated 50:50 gender composition on its board,
the mandated representation of both genders at the AGM in
order to receive two votes/institution, and an equitable number
of participation opportunities for men and women. The current
CIS is a gender equitable organization, promoting the opportunities
of women in sport.
These women who had the foresight to create more and better
opportunities for women at Universities are, indeed, pioneers
and went well beyond the norm at that time. Young women today
represent half of the CIS's menu of services and sport offerings
and reap the benefits of the dedication of these founding
pioneers for women's sport in Canada.
CAAWS established its Breakthrough Awards in 1986. They honour
individuals and organizations whose accomplishments push the
limits and enhance the participation of girls and women. Recipients
of the awards since then represent a virtual who's who of
Canadian women and men who have challenged traditions and
empowered girls and women to participate more fully in sport
and physical activity.
This year's awards will be presented at appropriate gatherings
across the country, and will be presented by CAAWS Board and
staff members. Visit www.caaws.ca
for more information on this year's winners, and a list of
previous Breakthrough Award winners.
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