Former Olds College Broncos Captain Jesse Jack will be speaking at the She Plays seminar at Red Deer Polytechnic on May 31st.
The event is free to attend, and promises an empowering afternoon that hopes to inspire the next generation of female leaders through sports.
Jack, who played four seasons for the Broncos, says the talk comes at a critical time in women’s sports, with so many new avenues opening up for young women to aspire to, all while drop out rates, especially among young athletes, continue to rise.
“We’re gonna talk a lot about leadership and keeping females in sports because the statistics of young female athletes that drop out are rather alarming,” Jack says. “Then for the girls that stay in sports, that play sports at a high level, they go on to be, leaders in the world of business and then out in their community.”
According to Jack, as female athletes enter the teenage years, outside influences can pull them away from sports, so keeping athletics front of mind for them is critical.
“Around the ages [of] 14 to 16, 14 to 18, lots of girls tend to drop out of sports,” she says. “Sometimes it’s the reasons like putting more focus and emphasis on school, social life aspects, but a lot of times I think it comes down to, sometimes coaching and then sometimes just having access to sports.”
“Hockey for example, is a really expensive sport to get into and to continue playing, and it’s not as accessible as something say like soccer, or school sports, so the cost sometimes is involved.”
Bridging the gap
Jack says with so many options for females in sports on the rise – leagues like the PWHL and greater emphasis on scholarship opportunities at the collegiate level, more girls need to understand the opportunities that are out there for them.
“There are more and more girls that – if you can see it, you can be it type deal, so there’s so many more girls that understand there’s opportunities to get scholarships to play at the post-secondary level, there’s professional opportunities to make money playing your sport,” she says. “Things that haven’t always been around that I think with that growth is going to help with girls staying in sport just because there’s so many more places where they can see females playing at a high level as adults.”
On and off the ice
Jesse, along with her sister Sydney, wore the “C” during their time with the Broncos, and when it comes to being a leader, Jesse says some of the most formative years for the pair were spent learning off-ice leadership, when they didn’t even know it.
“I think like through that and watching him and my mom lead in their own sort of small businesses, we kind of learned the basics of leadership without even knowing it,” she says.
Despite this, Jack maintains leadership is not something you are just born with, saying quality leadership really starts with humility.
“It’s really about the people, it’s not about you,” she says. “It’s funny, I think when I first sort of got into a leadership position playing hockey, you learn a lot of hard lessons right off the bat, and the biggest thing I learned is if you can make everybody on the team feel valued and feel like we need them to contribute, then you get the most out of them.”
The She Plays seminar is scheduled for May 31st at 3:00 p.m. at Red Deer Polytechnic. Admission is free; however, registration is required.
