'Only the beginning': The Indigenous girls’ football team that’s making history
For the first time ever, the Falcons Football Club is fielding a senior girls’ team which is competing in the Manitoba Girls Football Association.
Based in Bonivital, the team is almost entirely made up of Indigenous girls from Sagkeeng First Nation.
Most have never played football before and have long commutes just to get to practice.
"They drive every day, an hour and a half just to get to practice and then an hour and a half home after practice,” said Kathy Calancia, Falcons head coach.
Through a partnership with a high school in Sagkeeng First Nation and a rise in interest of girls wanting to play football, the Falcons Football Club established its first senior girls’ team.
However, very few of the girls had any experience playing the sport beforehand.
"Ever since I was in elementary [school] I've played basketball, and basketball has been my favourite sport and then I wanted to try something new,” said Falcons defensive back Emery Fontaine.
With an experienced coaching staff and just two players with any playing experience, tactically speaking, the goal is simply to learn the fundamentals.
The biggest lesson the head coach hopes these girls take away from the experience is how to approach a challenge with confidence and aggression
"When you're aggressive and you’re confident, then you come off as a new player or a new person,” Calancia said.
“Their heads are held high and their body language is all different and this is going to help them in life, in their future and every aspect of everything."
Playing in her first ever game last week, quarterback Jodie Laforte said there was a sense of fear taking the field.
"For the first game I was really nervous, I had butterflies [in my stomach] all day and I was just really scared just because it's tackling,” she said, adding that after the first game her favourite part is the tackling.
Faith Scott is one of the two experienced players on the team, and the only non-Indigenous member of the team.
She said less than a month into the season, the experience has already been a rewarding one.
"Our team is doing really good. It's only been like three weeks and we've all accomplished our own goals in a way and I'm very proud to call this my team,” Scott said.
The team will continue to make history later this summer when it competes at a national tournament as the first-ever team made up of all Indigenous girls.
Calancia hopes is the first of many milestones for this club.
"I want these girls all coming back to me because we need to play again next year. This is only the beginning of the amazing things that are to come,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.