Celebrating women in sports, and the supports in place to help them succeed. Head Coach with the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Gold Wings, Chandy Kaip, visited our studios to share with us why their team has been taking to social media to give kudos to their trainers, physical therapists, coaches, billets, and volunteers.

"It started on International Women's Day, and that was a big push just with female sports and athletics, and as a program we've always wanted to show up with like gratitude and appreciation of life and where we're at, and having that opportunity to compete at such a high level and be together as a family," she shared. "We wouldn't be able to do any of those things without our volunteers are big sponsors like Richardson Pioneer." 

"All of these billet families have such special qualities to them, allowing a stranger to come in and just take them in under their wing and say, 'you're one of us', and that's the beautiful part about about our program, and for these young girls, and it allows parents to feel a little bit more relaxed or at ease a little bit, knowing that their grade 10, 11 or 12 child are coming to play for us and be in this home."

"We have so many people that were just so grateful for," said Kaip. "First off is our assistant coaches. Al Whitrow, Jenica Whitrow, and Rheanne Watson. Those three humans are just amazing and they're such a big piece of the Gold Wing family in the heart of that program. So it's amazing to have so much dedication."

She said in addition to being a billet family, Chris and Lindsey Michel are their trainers, and they help with social media and community outreach.

"Steven Wilson on game day is our announcer. We have Kurt Dickie sub in when he can. Then we have music from Byron Chandra, we have game day operations Rose Ripplinger, Yvonne Whitrow, and Bill Pittman and then we have all our parent volunteers or rink staff." 

She added Ramona and Taka Iida help with massage and acupuncture, and Susan Fleck with physiotherapy. 

"f we didn't have any of those folks, that would be a big missing piece of our puzzle, and that's probably one of the biggest things that Weyburn we're hoping becomes like a big focus for female hockey is the fact that we have all these things to offer," she commented.

Kaip said she's glad their young players have so many female hockey players to look up to, including two of their female assistant coaches.

"I'm originally from Radville they didn't have female hockey," she shared. "The first female team in Weyburn was the Weyburn Cutters, and I think I was in Grade 8, and we won the first banner, and then after that there wasn't tons of opportunity until the Gold Wings started."

Kaip said she used to coach in the NCAA in the US, coached at the University of Lethbridge for eight years.

"Recruiting and always knowing what Weyburn had to offer and then moving back to Saskatchewan after so many years and coming back and being like, 'wow, there's so much here', and the people in the community just has so much to offer and it makes it more of a small town feeling of everyone behind you." 

"What's amazing is even from when I was a kid till now, you have so many amazing female hockey players that you can look up to, and that's pretty cool. So being able to have our six skater and this little 7 year old come and skate with us and come in the locker room and be there for the national anthem from that moment on, it's like, 'I want to be a Gold Wing. I want to play here'," she described.

She said the team practices four to five days a week, and works out two days a week.

"In between that we have yoga or stretching and then we compete two other days and then obviously our academics and then volunteer work as well," she noted.  

"Lots of our players are from small towns, so being able to come here and have all these great opportunities at our Weyburn Comp. It's a great facility. Great teachers, there's great amenities, so it's it really, honestly, Weyburn is like I still think one of the best places to be."

Kaip said she has spent a lot of time coaching in the U.S., and now being in Weyburn again has brought her full circle in furthering women's hockey in her career.