Virtual Summit 2020 Breaking Barriers – Creating a Community Online

In our mission to keep self-identified girls healthy and active in sports we have developed 3 core calls-to-action for how to do so. We have previously discussed how we have adapted these calls-to-action to accommodate for the pandemic, and how our new calls-to-action, referred to as the 3 C’s, recognize new strains on young girls. 

The 3 C’s include: Communicate, Check In, Create Community

This month we celebrated our 7th annual Fast and Female Summit. Prior to COVID-19, our Annual Summit was an in-person day of empowerment through sports at Winsport in Calgary. We have been able to take all the best elements of our Summit and go VIRTUAL, making this our first cross-Canada Summit! This year’s theme has been BREAKING BARRIERS!

Each week, we’ve been collecting anonymous surveys from our participants, girls ages 8-14, and learning more about their Virtual Summit experience. Going in with the knowledge that many participants had reported feeling isolated from their friends, had not been able to participate in regular team sports and physical activities, and some had not even been in a classroom with their peers for some time; our main priority was to create a sense of community as outlined in our 3 C’s.

The girls reported an overall 4.6/5 rating for their Summit experience, sharing that they loved being able to connect with each other and make new friends! Read through some of their feedback when asked what their favourite part of Summit was.

• “I liked hearing from these athletes, I thought they were cool to learn about.”
• “Talking to others”
• “The interaction – I thought it might be lost virtually but it was still really good
• “Learning about the [REAL (Relatable, Empowered, Active Leaders)] role models and meeting the other girls”
• “Session one [meet and greet] would be my favourite because we just got to talk and get to know each other and it was fun.”
• “Sharing our goals and how to achieve them.”
• ” I made 3 new friends. I learned how to set SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely] goals.”
• “Goal setting because it was fun getting to know people in my group and what their goals are. It’s neat that people are from all around Canada.”
• “Getting a chance to talk with some female athletes (roughneck drill crew)”
• “I liked seeing girls from all over the country.”
• “Coming up with our team names in the small group, especially brainstorming together was fun. Everyone could add their opinion and participate.”
• “Making my goal setting page and getting inspired by other people”