How family and Olympians inspire the female athletes of Team Yukon

Young female athletes competing for Team Yukon at the Arctic Winter Games say they are following in the footsteps of women who came before them.

When athletes celebrate their journeys to the Arctic Winter Games Sunday during the opening ceremony in Whitehorse Sunday, it will coincide with International Women’s Day, which celebrates the achievements of women and girls around the world.

Family members, collegiate athletes and Olympians are among the women whose achievements have inspired the Team Yukon athletes at this year’s games.

U14 cross-country skiers Maggie Jane MacDonald, Abby Fry and Mya Donohue say watching Yukon cross-country skier Sonjaa Schmidt compete on the world stage at the Milano-Cortina Olympics showed them how far female athletes can go.

Not long ago, Schmidt was in their shoes when she competed at the 2018 Arctic Winter Games for Team Yukon.

“I find that pretty amazing,” MacDonald said. “It gives me hope that one day I could win, keep going and eventually get to the World Cup or Olympics.”

‘There is a future in sport for women’

The team met Schmidt in December before she went to the Olympics. Fry said that experience inspired her to be a role model for younger skiers.

“I think it inspires me just to be a good teammate and to encourage others,” she said.

Sabine Keesey is co-captain of the Team Yukon women’s volleyball team at this year’s games.

She said watching female athletes at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games inspired her.

“The women not only have been so successful winning these medals but also just their mental capabilities and how they portray themselves media-wise to be able to really inspire young athletes like us and women like us that there is a future in sport for women,” she said.

In particular, she said, she can relate to the story of figure skater Alyssa Liu, who returned to the sport after years away. Keesey was a swimmer for eight years before she switched to volleyball, stepping away from swimming when it was no longer fun.

“How [Liu] took a step down from burnout – that’s kind of how I had my experience with swimming,” she said. “I learned so much from swimming, but I got to a point where I kind of was just mentally drained and burnt out.”

Keesey said when she started playing volleyball, she started having fun again.

“It’s kind of built an environment for me to be able to find the love I have for sport again,” she said.

Keesey and her co-captain, Kate Tobler, also hope they will have a future in volleyball after high school. They both say they’re looking at options to continue playing at university.

Tobler said Yukon basketball player Maren Bilsky and volleyball player Emma Boyd have inspired her because they went on to compete at the post-secondary level.

“They both like, showed that they can go out and compete in, like, larger places. And I feel like that’s very important for coming from such a small community,” Tobler said.

Following in their sisters’ footsteps

Keesey said now that she’s seen other Yukon athletes compete at that level, she knows it’s possible for her too.

“I don’t think I would have ever gotten to the point where I even considered going to a post-secondary school and playing volleyball for them if I hadn’t seen other girls do it,” she said.

Team Yukon biathlete Niamh Hupé has found her inspiration closer to home. Hupé is competing at her third Arctic Winter Games in biathlon this year.

After she graduates from high school, Hupé wants to continue to compete in biathlon in university, just like her older sister Isla Hupé, who currently competes in cross-country skiing and biathlon at the University of Ottawa.

“When I was growing up and I started to ski and do biathlon, I saw how well she was doing, and I wanted to do that as well, so I pushed myself even harder to just try and catch up to what she was doing,” she said.

Hupé said she was often nervous before races as a kid, but her sister gave her a piece of advice that sticks with her now: “Don’t let fear hold you back.”

Team Yukon badminton player Kara McLean is also following in her older sister’s footsteps.

McLean is competing in her third Arctic Winter Games in badminton. She said she wanted to compete in the games after watching her sister, Leah, make the wrestling team.

“Being the little sister, I’d look at her and think, ‘Oh, wow. I could do that, right? If she could do it, I could totally do that,’” McLean said.

McLean said seeing other women succeed in sport is important for all young female athletes.

“Sometimes you feel like what you want to achieve is very out of reach or it’s ridiculous … but if you can see someone who has achieved something that you are striving for … it gives you the chance to achieve your dreams.”

A report written by Tori Fitzpatrick

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: Russia and China co-operating more often and more closely in the Arctic, says NORAD commander, CBC News 

Denmark: Danish foreign minister says Vance will host meeting on Greenland in Washington, Rutte says

Finland: Only Greenland and Denmark can decide on their own future says Finnish President, Yle News

Greenland: ‘No such thing as a better colonizer’: Inuit emphatically reject U.S. takeover of Greenland, CBC News

Iceland: NATO chief to Arctic Allies: “We’re all frontline states now,” as Iceland’s role grows, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: “We want to be Europe’s most integrated region in terms of defence”, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia: Russia claims first-ever North Pole aerial refuelling, TASS reports, Reuters

Sweden: Sweden critical of Trump’s latest push for Greenland, Radio Sweden

United States: The U.S. already has leverage in Greenland, so why is Trump escalating? Experts weigh in, Eye on the Arctic