Inclusion not exclusion: The GTHL and You Can Play

Trina Radcliffe’s life has come full circle because the supervisor of athletics at
Olds College.

The constructive influence she’s making on college students goes past athletics, as she
works with the faculty to make it an inclusive and protected house for all.

When you arrive on campus at Olds College, you might be welcomed by three flags
flying proudly throughout the Alberta skies. Throughout the month of June, the
pink and white of the Canadian flag is anchored by the blue of the Alberta
flag on one facet, and the rainbow colors of the Pride flag on the opposite.
It signifies the welcome, inclusive and protected house the establishment is
working to supply its employees, college students and group.

Over the final decade, Olds College has labored to develop its Broncos
athletics program, increasing to incorporate basketball, volleyball, futsal,
rodeo and girls’s hockey. The progress that Broncos Athletics has seen over
the final 5 years might be credited to Radcliffe and the workforce she has
constructed.

Radcliffe, initially from Oyen, Alta., is a product of her small-town
roots. She grew up enjoying baseball and faculty sports activities, not as a result of she was
a standout on the court docket together with her 5-foot-2 body, however as a result of the varsity
wanted her to have a workforce. In the winter, she might be discovered on the
yard rink constructed by her dad the place she discovered to play hockey together with her
three brothers. It wasn’t till she was 13 that she lastly received to lace up
for organized hockey. An hour away in Hanna they have been beginning a ladies’
program. And because the story goes in small-town Alberta – they wanted everybody
to have a workforce.

“There was all the pieces from nine-year-olds to 18-year-olds on that workforce. I
was within the center at 13 years previous and cherished the expertise of enjoying
hockey with ladies,” says Radcliffe. “I’d at all times performed hockey, however by no means
received to play organized, simply on the pond, so attending to play organized
hockey for the primary time was such an unimaginable expertise.”

It was a coincidence that led to a goaltending profession. Radcliffe, who had
performed defence till then, was first in line to strap on the pads when the
workforce’s goaltender received harm. She was a pure between the posts and made
the transition to goalie. It was a call that paid off when she grew to become
the primary goaltender for the ladies’s hockey workforce at Mount Royal College
(now Mount Royal University) within the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference
(ACAC).

Taking the teachings she discovered as a part of a start-up workforce in small-town
Alberta, Radcliffe utilized the identical methods to beginning the workforce at
Mount Royal.

“You simply go and discuss to as many individuals as you’ll be able to and persuade them that
it may be scary, however come out and provides it a attempt,” presents Radcliffe.
“Myself and my coach, Chris Dawe, have been placing up posters saying, ‘Come attempt
out,’ We had ringette gamers, we had individuals who had by no means performed hockey
earlier than, who had solely public skated earlier than, may barely skate after they
got here to check out. We performed within the intramural league, sporting the lads’s previous
jerseys. We performed till midnight some nights after which we performed in
exhibition tournaments with Augustana, Red Deer and Grant MacEwan, in order that
was form of the beginning of girls’s ACAC hockey again in 1998.”

Her function in beginning the Mount Royal ladies’s workforce led Radcliffe to her subsequent
transition – from participant to administration. During her final season with
Mount Royal, she was coached by Shelly Coolidge, who was additionally the feminine
improvement supervisor at Hockey Canada. Whenever Coolidge wanted volunteers,
Radcliffe was there. Because of the community she had constructed, Radcliffe
ultimately earned a full-time place with Hockey Canada as the feminine
improvement coordinator earlier than shifting into the supervisor place.

In 2015, Radcliffe made the transfer to Olds College. She noticed the transfer as a
return to her small-town roots, however with the chance to remain related
to the community she had constructed over years of volunteering.

“I got to know people,” says Radcliffe. “Just constructing that community and
volunteering. That’s nonetheless what I inform everybody. Just construct your community,
don’t fear about getting paid for all the pieces that you simply do and volunteer.
That’s principally how I received each job in sport since then.”

Radcliffe grew up in a household that gave again to the group by
volunteering. Reaping the rewards of her personal experiences, Radcliffe has
requested the Broncos to offer again and be concerned of their group.

“We’ve seen our Broncos ladies’s hockey workforce teaching minor hockey groups,
going out to varsities and skating with the bodily teaching programs and
we’re seeing them in the entire Hockey Alberta camps as workforce leaders and
assistant coaches. So that’s one of many issues I’m most happy with,”
Radcliffe says.

Broncos athletes spent over 3,700 hours within the final yr volunteering in
the group. Radcliffe has acknowledged that it’s a battle for many
organizations to seek out volunteers proper now, however that battle creates
alternative for student-athletes in Olds.

“It truthfully is such an vital a part of who we’re. It’s engrained in our
student-athletes. They’ll come to me now and [ask] who wants assist. Who
wants assist in the neighborhood? Pretty a lot something, we would like them on the market.
My number-one objective is to assist our student-athletes develop as folks and to
present them alternative. [Volunteering] was one of the simplest ways for me and I need
to instill that in them.”

Radcliffe’s work at Olds College has not gone unnoticed. In April, she
obtained the Colleges & institutes Canada Leadership Excellence Award
for Managerial Staff. The award acknowledges her work to create a
collaborative, welcoming workforce that makes a constructive influence on college students,
whereas doing it underneath the strategic plan of the establishment. The assist
Radcliffe feels from her workforce, management and the group is what
encourages her to be artistic and collaborative.

The assist from the group is what has inspired Olds College to
set up the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) in 2019 and an Equity, Diversity
and Inclusion (EDI) Committee. The GSA consists of school, employees and
representatives from Olds High School, with Radcliffe enjoying an
instrumental function of their improvement.

“Olds High School is definitely those who taught us how you can implement a GSA
on the school as a result of they’ve such a robust GSA group at their excessive
college,” says Radcliffe. “It simply began as employees as allies. It has taken
us 4 years for college kids to really feel comfy to say ‘Yeah, I’m an ally.
I’ll come and be part of the GSA.’ So, it’s been big steps and that’s
the objective, is that the GSA needs to be student-led.”

Radcliffe is a member of the LGTBQ+ group and the EDI Committee.
Currently, the faculty is engaged on safe-space signage for places of work. In
addition, there are 27 gender-inclusive washrooms accessible on campus, two
Pride flags flying excessive and an EDI webpage full with assets and
directories for Indigenous college students, folks of color and the GSA.

“I think everyone is trying to achieve the same thing,” Radcliffe says,
reflecting on the progress she has led. “Whether it’s in sport, EDI, the
registrar’s workplace and recruitment of student-athletes, everyone seems to be making an attempt
to be higher and do higher.

“Being in a position to symbolize the LGBTQ+ group right here, we’re engaged on
portray a crosswalk on campus as effectively. The city has supported us. The city
has gotten behind and sat on our EDI Committee as effectively. And I feel that’s
all vital.”

Although June marks Pride Month throughout the nation, the efforts to be
higher don’t finish on June 30.

“You have to be repetitive with it,” Radcliffe says. “So yearly once we
begin our registration course of for our minor sports activities leagues, yearly
once we do the preliminary workforce conferences, we speak about how we’re going to be
variety, how we’re going to deal with one another with respect, how we is not going to
tolerate bullying on the idea of the color of the pores and skin or gender or
sexual id or any of these issues and it must be on the forefront
on a regular basis. But now we have to be repetitive about it. We should at all times discuss
about it.”