Playing like a girl
Has there ever been another time in history when the world's attention has been captured, as it has been this month, by so many spectacular women athletes and teams performing on the international stage?
Leading up to the WNBA Draft on April 15, all eyes were on Caitlin Clark whose recordbreaking 3,951-point performance with the Iowa Hawkeyes made her the first player, male or female, to hit that mark. Clark's prowess led to sellout crowds and her final NCAA game being the most viewed sporting event outside the Olympics or football since 2019, according to ESPN.
That would be cause enough for celebration among fans of female athletes, but Clark is not alone in breaking records and disproving oftstated beliefs that women's sporting events can't fill stadiums. Some of the evidence to the contrary is available right here in Atlantic Canada.
Thousands of people filled the stands at Centre 200 in Sydney recently for the World Women's Curling Championship, which garnered a 45,602 attendance for the tournament and drew more than 4,300 fans for the final that saw Team Canada defeat defending champion Switzerland 7-5 in nine ends.
Atlantic Canadian athletes, meanwhile, played a different sport in front of a growing international audience last weekend.
Stellarton's Blayre Turnbull was on the ice for Team Canada with fellow Nova Scotians coach Troy Ryan, of Spryfield, and assistant coach Kori Cheverie, of New Glasow, behind the bench at the IIHF Women's World Championships in Utica, N.Y. Canada won its 13th world title with a 6-5 overtime victory over the Americans.
“I was part of the generation which didn't have girls' hockey teams to play for when I was growing up,” Turnbull said in a recent interview about the worlds and the new Professional Women's Hockey League, in which she plays for Toronto.
“Now look at the players that are playing in the league. I'm sure as the league grows, the hockey back home will continue to get stronger and there'll be more Nova Scotians, more Maritimers who are a part of this league in the future.”
These events are in the spotlight as the region is set to fill more stands with more women's sporting fans.
SaltWire learned earlier this month that Charlottetown, P.E.I., is in negotiations to bring some of the top women's college basketball players to the city for a NCAA Division 1 tournament in November.
And, perhaps most exciting of all, is that a new Canadian professional women's soccer league has announced it is set to open play in 2025 with a team based in Halifax.
Atlantic Women's Football Club co-founder and CEO Courtney Sherlock said in announcing the entry, “This initiative represents a pivotal moment for our community, offering a platform for women in soccer to shine and inspiring the next generation of talent."
Future athletes seemingly have no end of role models and reason to celebrate these days, but the best is likely yet to come.
“I was part of the generation which didn’t have girls’ hockey teams to play for when I was growing up.” Blayre Turnbull