The world of sport stopped on a dime in March of 2020. Some leagues were cancelled immediately. COVID-19 pulled the world out of organized play as we know it, highlighting how important our sport communities are for both physical and mental wellbeing.  

Team Talk - Honest Conversations and Meaningful Community Connections 

During those fateful days of March 2020, high performance ringette players squeezed in a few last games at the AA Provincial Games before the tournament was halted. The ringette community prides itself on deep relationships and supportive connections, and were grieving the loss of their game and their camaraderie. 

The Ringette Ontario team knew that community connection was critical now more than ever and pulled together to deepen their online engagement program called Team Talk.  This Facebook and YouTube live series successfully connected the ringette community and featured players, coaches, officials, volunteers, and professional sport leaders who engaged in honest conversations about sport coaching mental health and more. 

SeeWhatSheCanDo is a proud partner and sponsor of Ringette Ontario's Team Talk. We were honoured to support each episode led by individual players and collaborate with Ringette Ontario to celebrate ringette leaders through SeeWhatSheCanDo moments. For SeeWhatSheCanDo, Team Talk represented a great new way to support the ringette community directly, and collaborate with Ringette Ontario to support athletes, leaders and supporters of all sports.

Team Talk episodes are rich in content and so fun to watch. From inclusive community sport programs, to mental health, nutrition, goalie talks and Olympian chats this series is binge-worthy. Enjoy!

The #TeamTalk Episodes presented by #SWSCD

Episode 1:  Developing Community Sports Programs

 

 

In the first episode of Team Talk presented by SeeWhatSheCanDo (SWSCD), Kim and Alexa Gurtler from the City of Ottawa Ringette Association (CORA) sit down with guest host Chloe Weldon of the Whitby Ringette Association and Ringette Ontario's Athlete Advisory Committee (AAC) to discuss their innovative ringette program Ringette For All that creates opportunities for those with physical and mental disabilities to experience not only an adapted version of ringette, but also provides everyone the chance to play sports, get active and have fun.  

 

Episode 2:  Mental Health and Wellness

 

 

The second episode of Team Talk brought together Kayla Coombs, a counsellor and mental health advocate and Jaclyn Thomas, a player in the West Ottawa Ringette Association and member of Ringette Ontario's ACC to discuss the important topic of mental health, wellness and dealing with change in all parts of our lives.

 

Episode 3:  Nutrition 101 

 

 

In the third episode of Team Talk, Dietician and Sports Nutritionist Biana Cordeiro joined Cassandra Main of Central Region Ringette to discuss food and nutrition options for athletes.  Bianca also shared some great suggestions on how to keep yourself hydrated during and after physical activity.

 

Episode 4:  Goalie Chat

 

 

For the fourth episode, our conversation was dedicated completely to the world of goalies.  Claudie Carpentier, a ringette goalie for over twenty-five years, shared with Rheese Ronayne of the West Ottawa Ringette Association her insights around the position including the importance of preparation and staying focused.  Claudie also shared that her inspiration and passion for the position is very much a family thing with her mother, brother and grandfather all playing goalie in the sports they play. For Claudie, the pads went on when she started playing at the 'bunny' level (4 years old) and they've not come off since then.

 

Episode 5:  Champion Mindset

 

 

The fifth episode brought together former Canadian Olympian and Gold Medal athlete Catriona Le May Doan and Communiciation Guru Pj (Elliott) Kwong to talk about what it takes to have the mind and heart of a champion not only when playing sport but in every part of our lives as well.  Catriona shared stories around her own journey as a ringette player and the importance of building resiliency especially when dealing with challenging times like what we're facing with the current COVID-19 pandemic.  In Catriona's mind, "ringette builds some of the best skaters". 

 

Episode 6:  SeeWhatSheCanDo - Unite to Make a Difference

 

 

In this sixth and final Team Talk episode, SeeWhatSheCanDo Co-Founders Caroline Wiley and Tina Finelli joined long-time ringette player, Even Strength Podcast Host and former Western University Radio sportscaster Emily Renneberg to chat about the importance of fostering community and empowering others through sport and networking.  Tina and Caroline shared with Emily the mission behind SeeWhatSheCanDo and why it's so important to invest in women; to provide women with real, readily accessible tools that help to remove the barriers and silos faced as they try to navigate the world of sport; and to help women find a sense of community and connectedness to each other in the world of sport and physical activity. 

 

The SWSCD Moment - Showcasing members of Ontario's ringette community

In addition to supporting honest and helpful conversations around a variety of important topics relevant to sport, it was important to include a celebration component to the Team Talk episodes that provided the ringette community a chance to recognize a deserving player, official, coach, volunteer, or supporter.  Members of the ringette community were asked to nominate an individual prior to each episode and winners were announced and recognized during the SWSCD Moment at the end of each episode.  Winners received their very own SWSCD toque to wear with pride.

All of the winners can be found below and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them again for their commitment and dediciation to their local ringette association.  We would also like to thank everyone who nominated an individual whom they felt had earned extra recognition.  We have included some of the names of those individuals who were nominated as worthy receipients of the SWSCD Moment.

 

 

SeeWhatSheCanDo

Find ringette organizations and programs in our Athlete Advisor, your online athletic business directory. Find, rate and review programs, local community offerings and businesses that will help you do your thing.  

Need a place to coordinate and connect with your ringette team? Start a ringette group on our SWSCD Hub.

Look for advice, stories, news and more on our Ringette activity page.  

Share your ringette moments directly on our Discover blog or by using #seewhatshecando on social media and inspire others to play and watch ringette.