First Person: People watch women’s sports too

Three, two, one. The buzzer sounds in a small arena in North Bay. In the stands, parents, coaches, players young and old erupt in cheers. Unfortunately, they’re not for my team.

This was the most gut-wrenching moment in my ringette career of 16 years.

On March 13, 2019, my ringette team—the City of Ottawa Ringette Association, affectionately known as CORA—traveled four hours north for the Ontario Ringette “A” Provincial Championships. Three days and six games later, we found ourselves tied for the third-place semi-final spot with our biggest rivals: the Metcalfe Hornets. True to their name, the Hornets were speedy, aggressive and knew right where to sting. But only one team could claim this spot, earning the chance to play Sunday morning for a shot at the gold-medal game in the afternoon.

So, how did the tournament decide?

A mini game. Ten minutes of sweat and tears, pushing 30 teenage girls to their mental and physical limits.

“Mad dog! Mad dog! Mad dog!”

I could hear my teammates’ parents chanting my nickname as I used every ounce of energy to fight for the win. It wasn’t enough. As hard as my team tried, we fell short to a heartbreaking 1-0 loss. Not only had we lost the semi-final spot, we also lost the opportunity to play in the Eastern Canadian Ringette Championships.

After that year, I stopped playing competitively, but I never lost my love for the sport.

When I was younger, I used to be surprised when people didn’t know about ringette. After all, my childhood was spent at the rink at least four times a week from September to March.

Now, at 21, I am surprised when people do recognize ringette.

It was invented by a man named Sam Jacks in 1963. According to Ringette Canada, “Jacks, who was the director of parks and recreation for North Bay, dreamed up ringette in an effort to draw more women to play sports.”

Ringette is still played mostly by women, which is part of what makes it so special. Fun fact: It is also known as the fastest sport on ice.

Next spring, Ottawa has the honour of hosting the Canadian Ringette Championships for the second year in a row. The 2025 tournament, which took place this past March and April, marked the first time the region has hosted since 1996, when the championship tournament was held in Gloucester.

If my mini game during provincials of 2019 was the most intense moment of my ringette career, I can only imagine the exhilaration of a national title on the line. Viewers feel the intensity of the sport as well. When I was younger, I would beg my parents to let me stay after my practices and games to watch the older kids play. But then you grow up and become the “older kids.”

And then who do you watch?

For me, the CRC brings that feeling back. I know it ignites that feeling in other players too. But what I really want is for more people to experience it, especially young girls.

According to a 2020 report by Canadian Women and Sport, only 18 per cent of women aged 16-63 years stay involved in sport. One in three girls who have participated in sport drop out by late adolescence, while the dropout rate among boys is one in 10. Some of the reasons girls do not participate include perceived lack of skill, poor perceptions of belonging and not feeling welcomed.

I know I wouldn’t feel like I was welcome in sports either if I didn’t have those older ringette players to look up to. Girls don’t see themselves in the NHL or NFL or NBA games that receive so much coverage and attention in the media.

When I was in elementary school, you couldn’t just be a hockey player. The boys would call you a girl hockey player, and, of course, you’d never be as good as them. You’d never make as much money as they would in the industry. I didn’t question it. It’s just the way things were—the way things are.

Sixty years ago, Sam Jacks recognized the need for a space where girls and women could thrive in sport.

To carry on Jacks’ work, the current president of CORA, Jean-François Bordeleau, says he’s “doing everything possible so that our players have the best experience possible and keep coming back.”

Although I no longer play for CORA, I keep coming back. Ringette gives me joy. It gives me life. I would not be who I am or where I am without it.