'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
Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
'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.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
Taylor Swift drops 15 new songs on double album, 'The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology'
On Friday, the pop star released her 11th album and at 2 a.m. Eastern, she released "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology," featuring 15 additional songs.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
DEVELOPING G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.