CANMORE – Fast and Female, a North American organization with a mission to inspire and empower girls and women to stay in sport, received a $25,000 boost in support of its annual conference this year.
The fifth annual Fast and Female 2018 Summit takes place Oct. 21 at Calgary’s WinSport and features Olympian keynote speakers, leadership seminars, fun and social activities and parent seminars, among others.
The full day (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) event is for girls eight to 18 years old, parents, and coaches.
Fast and Female, founded by Chandra Crawford, Canmore’s cross-country skiing sensation and Olympic gold medallist, was awarded the funding from the Alberta Status of Women Grant Program, which aims to improve the lives of girls and women.
“Fast and Female is rocking right now,” Crawford wrote in an email. “The rising tide of the female empowerment movement has reached new levels and we’re seeing awareness of sports as a vehicle for leadership skills at an all-time high. The UN Gender Equality 2030 goals are just one example of the global awareness increase.”
Keynote speakers at the summit will include Canadian Olympians Sara Renner (cross-country skiing medallist), Heather McDermid (rowing medallist) and Helen Upperton (bobsled medallist).
Plus, the parent seminar features motivational speaker Shawnee Harle returning by popular demand and Calgary-based Parenting Power.
“Both will be amazing and equip parents with real solutions for raising empowered girls,” Crawford wrote.
The idea behind the summit, explained Crawford, is it should lead to knowledge-sharing in the community and within the organization to show how the results of the conference or training will advance gender equality in Alberta relating to at least one of the Status of Women’s three priority areas: increasing women’s economic security, increasing women in leadership and democratic participation, and preventing and responding to gender based violence.
“I personally aspire to someday implement programming for both boys and girls in order to tackle the above issues even more effectively,” Crawford wrote, “but for now I’m extremely impressed with how Fast and Female events all over Canada have been able to increase confidence in girls and young women and make a difference in their lives.”
There are hundreds of smaller, localized Fast and Female events across the country; however, the annual summit in Calgary is the largest event of the year.
Laurin Duncan, the summit coordinator, said Fast and Female’s mission is to encourage girls and women stay in sport throughout their life.
“There’s lots of research about girls dropping out of sport at a higher rate than boys for varied reasons,” Duncan said.
According to Women’s Sports Foundation, an organization dedicated to creating leaders by ensuring all girls have access to sports, the reasons why girls drop out at a higher rate than boys are lack of access, safety and transportation issues, social stigma, decreased quality of experience, cost, and lack of positive role models.
The latter, is something Crawford and her team of Olympians and ambassadors are changing through Fast and Female.
“We’re thrilled to be based in Alberta where the Ministry of the Status of Women is able to support the work of Fast and Female and invest now in creating future leaders,” Crawford wrote.
The Alberta Status of Women Grant Program assists non-profits and charitable organizations with funding that goes towards innovation and enhancement such as organizing conferences training and events staff development.
To register for the 2018 Summit, visit www.fastandfemale.com.
