‘If you can see it, you can be it’ – US News Hub MISRYOUM

To mark International Women’s Day on Sunday, the Free Press is spotlighting five Manitobans doing impactful work in sports.

Alyssa White — para hockey athlete

White was 14 when she made the Canadian women’s para hockey squad.

“It’s kind of wild still to me to think about because I had only started playing hockey a year prior to that,” said the now 20-year-old.

“I instantly fell in love with it. It’s kind of funny, but I fell in love with the cold of the rink. I liked how cold it was, I loved the feeling of skating — it was just the most freeing feeling ever.”

It hasn’t taken the Winnipegger long to cement herself as one of the country’s best.

The first World Women’s Para Hockey Championship took place last year in Slovakia. White, who also represents Team Manitoba’s co-ed team, scored two hat tricks during the tournament to help Canada to a second-place finish.

“It was so perfect, so beautiful. The environment of all the teams in one hotel was so cool and meeting so many people from around the world was amazing,” said White, who was born with spina bifida. “It was such a cool experience and I will forever be honoured to represent Canada at that and be a part of history in our sport.”

Unfortunately, there’s not enough countries involved in the women’s game for it to be in the Paralympics. If three more can get teams together within the next year or two, there’s a chance it could get added for 2030.

“I’ve known that women’s para hockey isn’t in the Paralympics since I started, so I’ve known that’s the reality,” said White.

“We’re getting closer and closer, and whether that’s 2030 that we’ll be there, or 2034, I plan to be there and see that through. It would be the easy way to go to drop that and join another sport and easily go to the Paralympics, but that’s just not what I want to do.”

White has long admired Sarah Nurse — the first Black woman to win Olympic gold in hockey — and aspires to be the para hockey version of her role model.

“I’m a big believer that representation matters, and if you can see it, you can be it. At the end of the day, there’s not a whole lot of representation on the women’s side in women’s para hockey, or even in standup hockey in women’s or men’s,” she said.

“I think just shedding light on that is so important and to be a part of that in the para hockey world and on the women’s side of the game is so exciting.”

Megan Noonan — Sea Bears assistant general manager

When the Sea Bears run into a problem, Noonan is usually the one tasked with finding a solution.

Player loses their passport in Montreal? She’s on the phone with the U.S. Embassy to try to get a replacement in time for the next road game. Newly signed player lands in Winnipeg at midnight and needs help getting their work visa sorted? She’ll be right there. A big name free agent (for example: Xavier Moon) is coming to town for a recruitment visit? No sweat, she’ll handle the itinerary.

“There’s lots of problem solving on the fly,” she said. “It’s never a boring job, for sure.”

Noonan, a former star guard at the University of Winnipeg, graduated with science and education degrees. She never envisioned she’d go on to work in sports, let alone in a high-ranking basketball operations role. But when it was announced that a CEBL franchise was coming to Winnipeg, her interest was piqued and she was hired to be the manager of operations.

Late last year, she was promoted to assistant general manager and senior director of business operations. When the 31-year-old — who is also an assistant coach with the U of W’s women’s team — isn’t putting out fires, she works closely with Sea Bears head coach/GM Mike Raimbault and assistant coach/GM Alex Campbell to build a competitive roster.

“I think representation for sure matters. When talking about any minority group, I think it’s important to be able to see people that look like you — especially for young girls who are interested in working in the sports world,” she said.

“I look around at my co-workers and almost half of them are women which is super exciting. I’ve also met a lot of my counterparts across the CEBL that are also women. Although it’s traditionally been male dominated, I think it’s growing and there’s more woman in the field.”

Olivia Friesen — Blue Bombers assistant athletic therapist

Before you take a sip of your morning coffee, Friesen is likely already a few hours into her day at Princess Auto Stadium.

By the time you sit down for dinner in the early evening, she’s probably still there, working with players.

“I’ve started as early as 4:45 a.m. and stayed as late as nine or 10 at night,” said the 29-year-old.

Days off? Not really a thing for athletic therapists during the grind of football season. There are always players who need maintenance or rehab work. Not everyone is built for that lifestyle, but Friesen wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve been doing it for over five years, and I’ve never dreaded going in,” said Friesen, who grew up in Sherwood Park, Alta., before playing soccer at the University of Winnipeg.

“I’ll look at the clock and think, ‘Oh, it’s already three o’clock,’ not ‘Ugh, it’s only three o’clock,’ even if I have a couple more hours to go.”

The long hours aren’t so bad when you’ve formed special bonds with the team. Friesen isn’t shy about trading playful jabs with veterans like left tackle Stanley Bryant or with newcomers like return specialist Trey Vaval.

“The guys make it worthwhile for me,” she said. “They’re fantastic. They don’t treat me any differently than one of the guys, and I love that. I’m kind of one of the boys with them — it’s a fun environment.”

It’s also deeply rewarding work. When a player suffers a setback, Friesen is there every step of the way to get them back on the field.

“When I see them play their first game back after nine months, 12 months, or even longer, it’s incredibly special,” said Friesen. “The number of times those guys have come up and given me a big bear hug, just grateful and excited to be back, and knowing I was even a small part of that rehab process — it’s very special.”

Daria Jorquera Palmer — Anti-Racism in Sport

Jorquera Palmer is one of Manitoba’s most decorated fencers.

She spent 12 years on the national team, was the first female from around here to compete at a senior world championship, and brought home a silver medal from the 2011 Pan Am Games.

The 37-year-old remains heavily involved in the sport today as the head coach of the Lightning Fencing Club and as an assistant coach with the provincial team.

“I was able to travel around the world and meet so many neat people and I was able to really realize that what I want to do in my life is to provide that opportunity for others,” said Palmer.

She does that in more ways than one. Palmer is a strategic initiatives and partnerships manager for the Anti-Racism in Sport Campaign and recently co-produced a documentary titled Sidelined: The Colour of the Game. The 45-minute film explores the systemic barriers faced by people of colour and religious minority participants in Canadian sport.

“My idea was ‘How do we humanize racism in sport?’ And the reason I think it’s important is because there’s so much data out there, and data is great, but sometimes, the people get lost in the data,” she said.

From Victoria, B.C., to St. John’s, N.L., Palmer has travelled across the country to screen the doc — which was funded by the Government of Canada — for community and sports groups.

“We went across the country and we’re hearing from people on their experiences through racism not only how it impacted them, but how it impacted their family, their team, their community and even their sport,” she said.

“Being able to capture that and to share that has been just such a really great experience.”

Alyssa Houde — podcaster

Houde has never planned something like this before, and whenever you attach a dollar amount to a new venture — in this case, a “Celebrating Women in Hockey” event on March 21 at Next Door restaurant — you never quite know how people will respond.

“If you put too much stock into ‘If you build it, they will come,’ what happens if no one comes? So, I had some worries there,” admitted Houde.

There’s no need to worry now. The evening of networking — which will feature a panel of women who work in the sport — is a handful of tickets away from being a sell-out. It takes place on the eve of the PWHL Takeover Tour game in Winnipeg between the Montreal Victoire and Ottawa Charge.

“It just goes to show that there’s appetite for this sort of thing and people are excited,” she said.

With the recent U.S. hockey controversy at the Olympics, perhaps the timing couldn’t be better.

“We can focus on the empowerment piece of this whole thing which I think is really cool. That’s what women’s hockey, and women in hockey has kind of always been about from the get-go,” said the 24-year-old. “So, this is just another kind of example of that resiliency on full display and understanding that there are a lot of outside noises and forces and factors that play into everything but we can control the celebration and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Houde started a hockey podcast called Chel Chit Chat in 2024 that shares stories from women in all facets of the game — on and off the ice. Season 3 is set to be released soon and will have an all-Manitoba focus.

“It’s showing that there are really, really cool women in hockey in our province here and they all have different ways of getting into the sport,” said Houde, who also covers the Winnipeg Jets for Winnipeg Sports Talk.

“My biggest belief when it comes to hockey, whether it be as a fan or as a professional, is that I want people to say ‘I want to be a part of this’ or ‘I don’t want to be a part of this’ and not ‘I don’t think that I can’ or ‘I didn’t know that I could be.’ That’s the exposure piece that’s really important to me in everything that I do and that’s the centre point of the podcast.”

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Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the US News Hub MISRYOUM. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

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