Waterloo Warriors proud to continue efforts towards gender equity

Waterloo, Ont. (via Waterloo Warriors) - It's part of the university's DNA and it's organic.

This is the description that emerges consistently in discussions with leaders and participants in the University of Waterloo's athletics programs with respect to fulsome and consistent support for women athletes and coaches.

That effort is particularly noteworthy with International Women's Day this Sunday, with the theme that an equal world is an enabled world.

"A top priority continues to be creating a culture that provides opportunities for women across all areas of our department," says director of athletic and recreation, Roly Webster, who is in his sixth year with the Warriors.

Webster stresses that this support flows not just through the men's and women's varsity athletes, but throughout the entire student body.

"This is an inclusive, supportive culture with a strong sense of community," he notes. "And that means Warriors are all of us, not just 600 student-athletes. We want everyone on campus to feel they are a Warrior, and therefore feeling the sense of community."

Within the varsity athlete community, mutual support is encouraged and a favourite story for Webster was when the women's soccer team won a playoff game in a shootout, and members of the football team carried the goalie off the field on their shoulders.

A powerful anchor for the school's gender equity efforts in athletics is the United Nations' HeForShe initiative. Impressively, Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur is one of only 30 impact champions as leader of one of the 10 global universities in that group.

"I am honoured to have been hired full-time for the Warriors," explains Dollee Meigs, associate coach with the women's hockey team, joining in August 2019. "I am proud to be a role model to the student-athletes on our team and work on developing them into outstanding students on and off the ice."

 "There has been a positive movement in providing more support for female student-athletes over the last few years," says Meigs.

Another example is Kate Bickle-Ferth, head track and field coach, who points to the HeForShe program at UW as evidence of the commitment to support females at the school, including athletes and coaches.

"The support for female athletes is obvious and I think continues to grow," she says. "And while mine is a part-time, volunteer position, I have been given lots of options for coaching development," so that too points to efforts to promote female coaches. Bickle-Ferth led 13 of her athletes to the national championships in Edmonton this weekend.

"The general evolution toward support for female athletes and coaches is evident," she says, "and is part of the culture."

She notes that there were no female coaches when she competed as a long sprinter for Waterloo in the 2000's.

"The athletes on our team are special," she adds. "They come here for the academics, so when they compete it is for the love of it."

Webster puts the equity initiative in a wider context, pointing to extensive research, consulting and planning to guide the effort, including enhancements to numerous facilities.

"We feel we should play a huge role in the student experience," Webster explains. "Therefore we must engage all members of our stakeholders to identify what is important to them and tie it to the student experience and well-being."

In all of the facility updates being made, a top priority remains making the spaces more inviting, inclusive and safe for all.

Meigs aspires to be a head coach but she likes where she is in that trajectory. "Shaun (Reagan, head coach) is a great mentor and he knows the importance to having a woman in this role."

Further enhancing her coaching experience, she runs an on-ice program for youth team coaches under the guidance of Brian Bourque, men's hockey head coach.

Citing Meigs, Webster says the department is committed to providing opportunities for female coaching roles and their development.

"We want to provide those opportunities for females," he says. "We want to invest in opportunities like Dollee's, while in parallel supporting her development."

"While we are proud about the strides we have made with our female initiatives and priorities, we still feel we have a significant opportunity, through the platform of sport, striving to eliminate gender inequity."

The Department of Athletics and Recreation will continue to identify programs and services that align with and engage females, while creating opportunities for female coaches and their development. They will continue to grow the envelope of scholarships for female student-athletes that has awarded money to every female student-athlete that meets the requirements.