Champions of Equity Take Centre Stage at UNMATCHED Conference

The third edition of the UNMATCHED conference offered by Tennis Canada and Nationwide Financial institution was held on August 7 in Toronto. It’s no secret that girls’s sports activities have reached unprecedented ranges of recognition, so the timing was good to create a platform and convey collectively an all-star lineup of audio system with the objective of accelerating the fairness motion and provoking individuals to take motion for change.

Talking of change, the primary portion of the convention was devoted to enabling the following huge motion that may transfer the gender fairness in sport dialog ahead, that includes Nathalie Cook dinner, President, Mr.MomMusic Inc., Leanne Nicolle, President & CEO, Massive Brothers Massive Sisters Toronto, Jennifer Jones, Olympic and World Curling Champion, and former CFL participant Courtney Stephen.

Ann Austin and Kathleen Stroia from the WTA spoke about selling gender fairness via the Tour’s participant well being and well-being initiatives.

Award Displays

Larry Tannenbaum, proprietor of Canada’s first WNBA franchise, was available on the convention to obtain the inaugural UNMATCHED Award for Funding in Girls’s Sport for his for his contribution to the event and development of ladies’s sport in Canada. 

READ: Owner of Canada’s first WNBA franchise Larry Tanenbaum to receive inaugural UNMATCHED Award for Investment in Women’s Sport

As well as, Sharon Arnold, a founding Board Member of the Philpott Kids’s Tennis Fund, a longtime Nationwide Financial institution Open volunteer, and a fixture on the Ontario Tennis Affiliation (OTA), was offered with the Jacqueline L. Boutet Award in recognition of her lifelong contributions in tennis which have helped make a significant and lasting affect on serving to make the game extra equitable, inclusive, and accessible in Canada, significantly for girls and women.

Making Approach for Inspirational Athletes

The second half of the convention was devoted to giving a number of groundbreaking feminine athletes the ground to debate the expansion of their respective sports activities and their roles throughout the ladies sports activities motion to maintain the momentum alive.

Jayna Hefford, Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Skilled Girls’s Hockey League (PWHL), moderated a panel that included PWHL gamers Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, and Laura Stacey in addition to Carmelina Moscato, Canadian Olympic bronze medalist in soccer, and Claire Buchanan, a high-performance athlete in wheelchair basketball and para ice hockey.

They spoke in regards to the instantaneous success of the PWHL throughout the league’s outstanding first yeari n 2024 and being position fashions for the following technology of athletes which could be taxing, however finally so value it.

Eugenie Bouchard was in attendance and had the possibility to meet up with Poulin and Stacey to speak about their season with PWHL Montreal in addition to Canada’s historic Billie Jean King Cup victory final November.

The day wrapped with a memorable keynote deal with from the legendary Venus Williams, an icon on the court docket and off as a pioneer in WTA’s drive for fairness, extra particularly for her position in reaching equal prize cash on the Grand Slams. The seven-time Grand Slam champion spoke to host Hazel Mae about giving younger women a motive to dream and exhibiting them that something is feasible. She additionally spoke about sister Serena’s nice affect on her life and her profession and fielded quite a lot of thought-provoking questions from the viewers.

Be sure to sign up today to be notified as quickly as tickets for the 2025 UNMATCHED convention turn into obtainable. It’s a one-of-a-kind expertise you don’t need to miss.