SISTERS IN SEND
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An Initiative by the Lake Louise Ski Clubs

Who Are We?

• Sisters in Send is an initiative by the Lake Louise Ski Clubs
• It is an investment in gender equity, created to combat the marked disparity in numbers of female-identifying athletes participating in certain environments, compared to their male-identifying counterparts (specifically freeride, freestyle, and high-level race)

Our Motivation

• We realize that the disparity between male and female-identifying athletes escalates the older the athletes get
  
• According to Canadian Women & Sport, 1 in 3 girls drop out of sport by late adolescence, compared to only 1 in 10 boys. Up to 62% of female-identifying youth don’t participate at all
  
• The main factors that contribute to this disparity are lack of access, social stigma, decreased quality of experience, and lack of quality role models.

Our Action

• Sisters in Send combats these factors within the LLSCs by providing specialized female-specific training environments
  
• We make the extra commitment that is necessary to stimulate female-identifying athletes to enter and stay in the environments that their male-identifying counterparts naturally gravitate to
• We encourage our female-identifying athletes to push past their limits, build connections with one another, and grow their self-confidence, while staying in sport as they age

Our Goals

• By providing this programming to athletes from a young age, we aim to decrease the gap and increase the presence of female-identifying athletes in high-level racing, freeride, and freestyle environments
  
• For now, we hope to promote equity for female-identifying athletes, and to invest as they grow through the ranks, so that eventually there may be increased equality in these environments

Our Sessions

• We build our programming around the creation of positive social environments that intentionally foster a sense of belonging - an essential factor in retaining girls in sport
• As pro-skier Alex Armstrong put it, “Boys do cool, scary things to fit in, where girls need to feel as if they fit in, in order to try those cool and scary things".
• Canadian Women & Sport agrees, stating that in male-identifying athletes, good performance builds a sense of social belonging. However, for female-identifying athletes, feeling that sense of belonging is essential to improving their performance

Our Sessions

• Sisters in Send understands the psychological differences between male and female-identifying athletes, and seek to meet to the learning needs of our athletes
  
• We provide progression-oriented, focused, and diverse training environments, specifically designed for those who identify as female
• Sisters in Send camps are led exclusively by strong, female-identifying coaches, allowing our athletes access to powerful role models (representation is a key factor of participation)

By constructing an inclusive, specialized training environment taught by powerful female role models, we expedite opportunity for progression and feelings of belonging for our female-identifying athletes.
Our investment in gender equity takes us one step closer towards equality.