Author Bronwyn Corrigan puts the spotlight on women's sports in new book
Canada’s ABC’s Of Who I Can Be profiles 26 Canadian female and non-binary athletes
Author Bronwyn Corrigan said she noticed that the popularity and visibility of women's sports is growing rapidly, so she decided to write a book about it.
The Professional Women's Hockey League and the Women's National Basketball Association are both expanding in their next seasons. This includes Toronto, who will be getting their own WNBA franchise called the Tempo.
Corrigan says that this represents some much-needed momentum for sports featuring women and athletes of all abilities.
Her new book titled Canada's ABC's Of Who I Can Be, shines a spotlight on women and non-binary athletes.
Corrigan spoke with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris about the book.
Audio of this interview appears at the bottom of this page. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Craig Norris: What was the inspiration for this?
Bronwyn Corrigan: So there's a very similarly named book that came out of Australia a few years ago by Chloe Dalton. She is a former rugby sevens player and the founder of the Female Athlete Project, which I followed for several years online.
When her book came out, I thought, that's amazing. I can't wait for a similar book for Canadians to come out. Then I kind of forgot about it. Over the years it's cropped up now and then. I thought maybe I should write this book.
So this past winter, I thought, OK, I want to see this book, so I'm going to write it. I wanted a book that represented athletes from all competitions, all abilities and all identities.
Craig Norris: Are you yourself an athlete?
Bronwyn Corrigan: I am, yes. I grew up idolizing the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team. I played soccer my whole life. I made the switch to rugby actually at 19 but continue to play it to this day.
Craig Norris: The book is a celebration of 26 female and non-binary athletes. Why is it so important to you to highlight these people?
Bronwyn Corrigan: I want everyone to be able to see themselves represented in whatever sport, whatever ability that they have. Growing up, I loved watching the Canadian Women's National Soccer team. I traveled around getting to watch them play.
Growing up in Waterloo, we were close enough to Toronto that I could go on road trips with my dad to watch them play in Toronto. I very much took it for granted that I kind of saw that pathway for me that if I so chose and had the skills, I could go up and play soccer at the national level.
As I got older and started working with athletes of all abilities, started working with inclusive sport, it really dawned on me that not everyone had that luxury growing up. Not everyone gets to see themselves represented in the media and in sports. I really wanted this book to represent absolutely every single possible route that folks could take to play a sport at whatever level they want to.
Craig Norris: The book introduces people to different sports too right?
Bronwyn Corrigan: It does, yes. That was such a cool opportunity that I had writing this book. I got to research sports that I may have heard of and I kind of knew a little bit, but not enough.
One of the athletes that I was writing about, she's a Goalball athlete. I started to describe Goalball in the athlete blurb thinking maybe some people don't know what Goalball is. I kind of had to check my assumptions to think, well, maybe somebody doesn't know what skiing is, what hockey is.
At the back of the book, there's actually a glossary of every single sport that's talked about or mentioned in the book, and just a brief explanation of what it is and how it's played. Hopefully it gets some people to maybe be interested in some different sports.
Craig Norris: Who do you hope reads this book?
Bronwyn Corrigan: I would just love for this book to be on every single kids bookshelf. Really just reading and getting to know at a very young age that there are so many different ways to compete for Canada in so many different sports.
At the same time, it's also a really cool opportunity for adults to learn a little bit more. I've had friends read this and text me saying, 'Oh my gosh, I didn't know about this athlete.' It's actually kind of been the spark plug for a lot of people to learn a little bit more on their own about these athletes.
Craig Norris: What do you think when you see sports leagues like the PWHL and the WNBA expanding?
Bronwyn Corrigan: It gets me so excited. Like I mentioned, going and watching the soccer team play, my dad and I would go watch them play at really glorified city parks with a grandstand on one side of the field and a grassy hill on the other end. $10 general admission to go sit on this grassy hill and watch the national soccer team play. Flash forward 20 years, I was able to go to a sold out BMO Field for Christine Sinclaire's farewell tour.
Seeing that growth within the span of 20 years, it gives me chills every time I think about it. It just makes me so excited about the huge acceleration of women's sports. We know the desire to see it has always been there, but society wasn't really set up to help them succeed. Going to my first PWHL game this past winter and seeing boys, girls, women, men, fans of all ages with female names on their jerseys, I think that's so cool and it just gets me so excited.
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