WEEK 29: LAUREN G.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Starting from a young age, I did ballet up until grade 4. In grades 2, 3 and 4 I played basketball and tennis, and in grades 5, 6 and 7 I played badminton at school. The sport that I fell in love with was baseball when my mom found an all-girls baseball league (Canadian Girls Baseball) and signed me up in grade 4. I absolutely love baseball and after a few years of playing with my league, I started to coach with them too. To cross-train I do kickboxing and HIIT. As well, I love school. when I was in grade 4 I placed top 10 in Ontario for a math competition, and I recently completed and got a certificate for an online anatomy course at YALE. I also love theatre and have been in my school plays for the past 3 years.

I used to play the piano have placed in many competitions for it.

What is your favourite part of sport? Why?

No words can describe how much I love sport, especially baseball. One of my favourite parts is the community I have built through sport. My baseball league is like a second family to me. I love baseball because I like channeling any energy that I have built up to get better at it. I also love that not a lot of girls my age play baseball, so there are endless opportunities to educate and bring awareness at school and in my community.

What do you do to give back to your sport community? Why is it important?

To give back to my baseball community, I coach with my league. I coach younger girls in house league and at summer camp. It makes me so happy to see their improvements from the beginning to the end of the season. I am also assistant coaching the U11 select team with my league. This is important to me because I want everyone to have an equal opportunity to play baseball, or whatever sport they like. A couple of years ago I also supported CGB in coaching a blind baseball team.

What advice do you have for parents, coaches or sport administrators to encourage or improve sport for females?

The most important thing is that everyone has an equal opportunity to play whatever sport they want, and in my case its baseball. This means setting up opportunities for girls to play, just like Canadian Girls Baseball has done. it is important to be an engaging role model. If younger girls see older ones enjoying the sport they play, the younger ones will want the same experience.

What do you say to yourself to motivate yourself?

I say to myself not to take opportunities for granted. I am so lucky to be able to play baseball and a lot of girls aren’t able to gain access to it.