In the Huddle 2021
In the Huddle 2021
This was a unique opportunity offered to female student-athletes in high school and post-secondary education to learn from stories told by accomplished women in their various fields. Our dynamic guest speakers – who are leaders and key contributors within their community – had time to engage the audience with their story and share advice from their sport experience.
After everyone’s short talks, everyone had an opportunity to interact with each speaker as we rotated through breakout rooms. We dove deeper into the speaker’s topics and answered questions from the audience.
SPEAKER BIOS
TASIA MCKENNA
No seat? Bring your own!: Knowing your worth as a woman in sport
Tasia McKenna is a Program Manager with Canadian Women & Sport, an organization dedicated to creating an equitable and inclusive Canadian sport and physical activity system that empowers girls and women – as active participants and leaders – within and through sport. Prior to her role at Canadian Women & Sport, Tasia held two positions; one with Basketball Nova Scotia in which she was the first woman and African Nova Scotian Technical Director and Performance Coach, the second, with the YWCA Halifax as the Sport and Recreation Inclusion Lead.
A native of Timberlea Nova Scotia, Tasia was a key member of the province’s U17 women’s basketball team that won a bronze medal at the 2005 Canada Games. Tasia went on to play five years of USport basketball for Lakehead University Women’s basketball team from 2006-2011. During that time, she was named the Female Athlete of the Year three times, MVP four times, became the all-time leading scorer, and was named an Ontario University Athletics ‘Woman of Influence’. As a student-athlete she earned two degrees; an Honours Bachelor of Kinesiology and a Bachelor of Arts.
After returning home from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Tasia earned her International Basketball Federation (F.I.B.A.) Coaching License and became a Chartered Professional Coach through the Coaching Association of Canada (C.A.C.). She is passionate about giving back to the Nova Scotia basketball community as she has held coaching positions with local club teams, Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation teams from 2012-2016, Basketball Nova Scotia teams in 2014 & 2015, Canada Games teams in 2013 & 2017 and successfully ran her Crossover Basketball business from 2014-2016. She also coached seven seasons as an assistant coach with the Saint Mary’s University Women’s basketball team where she was a part of the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Championship Team in 2015 and 2016 and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Bronze medalist team in 2016.
Through her basketball platform, Tasia has had the opportunity to speak on panels focused on gender and racial equity hosted by Basketball Nova Scotia, Canada Basketball, Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic, Valley Female Leadership Network, Mount Saint Vincent University and Saint Mary’s University Women’s Soccer teams, Sport Manitoba, and Athlete Transitions based out of British Columbia. These engagements fostered the growth of her network with social changemakers across the country and has led her to collaborating with the Black Canadian Coaching Association (B.C.C.A.), and Sport Nova Scotia’s Women and Girls Task Force. Most recently, Tasia has been a mentor in the Black Female Coach Mentorship Program with the B.C.C.A., Black and Indigenous Coach Mentorship Program with Sport Nova Scotia, and the Enhanced Female Mentorship Program with the Coaching Association of Canada.
Tasia volunteers her time at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre and on the Board of Directors at the Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic as the coaching representative. She is also the Commissioner for the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association, a women’s league that will offer high caliber competition, leadership opportunities for women, and highlight the importance of four social justice pillars: Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ2S+, No More Stolen Sisters, and End Violence Against Women.
Busy as she may be, there’s always time for family, friends, and her dog Elliot!
DANIELLE CLOSE
We Have Come So Far & Yet We Have So Far Still To Go
Danielle is an elementary school teacher by day and advocate for girls in sport by night. She has been a multi sport athlete for most of her life including ice hockey, ball hockey, and softball. She is driven by providing young girls with opportunities in sport, particularly ice and ball hockey, that were not available when she was their age. In 2018 she listened to many stories of girls and their obstacles of only having an option of playing coed ball hockey and decided to create an all girls league with the help of two other equally passionate women. But that was not enough she took it one step further and in 2019 she became the VP of Women’s for the OBHF and that same year became the GM of the U20 Team Canada Girls Program. These roles provided her with the opportunity to make a difference for girls not only in her local area but also across our province and country insuring our young girls have a safe and competitive place to channel their inner champion and showcase their love for sport.
DR. CARA FALLIS
From Athletics to Health Care: How Experiences and Skills Gained as an Athlete Can Help You Excel on Any Health Care Team, and How to Begin With Building Your CV, Clinical Experience, and Needed Certifications/Qualifications for Careers in Medicine and Allied Health Professions
Dr. Cara Fallis is an international medical graduate who is pursuing medical residency training. She holds a master’s degree in International Public Health and an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology and International Development studies from McGill University. In entering the academic and clinical medicine settings, she quickly realized the importance of having female mentors, and became passionate about helping to fill the void of EARLY mentorship that she experienced. As an athlete herself, she recognized how transferable the skills of an athlete are in health care teams, and strives to help young female athletes hone these skills in their career pursuits, specifically in health care.
An athlete at the high school and university level, Cara was repeatedly picked out to serve in leadership roles on teams. She excelled in field hockey, badminton, rowing, curling, and non-competitively in snowboarding, waterskiing, and long-distance running.