Soccer has taught me a lot about myself as a woman.
It has helped shape who I am 鈥� dealing with wins, losses, rehabbing injuries. I've learned how to get through adversity, as a team but also how to work independently and put in the time when no one's watching.
This Friday, Vancouver FC hosts our third annual women and girls in sport celebration at Willoughby Stadium in 黑马磁力, kicking-off with a pre-match tailgate in the northwest plaza from 5:30 p.m., before the CPL fixture against five-time champions Forge FC gets underway at 7p.m., with a halftime "kick to win" contest among the evening's activities.
I've been working as the head athletic therapist with Vancouver FC for three years, and yes we are a men's club but of course, we should support women's sport too and use our platform to help grow the game in our community.
That should be regardless of gender and it's why Friday is massive in terms of inspiring and educating our next generation.
We need to continue to talk about women's sport and continue to support the teams and organizations in our local communities around it.
The club is also supporting North Shore Girls Soccer Club's summer camp this month with some of our squad and community team in attendance at that. They are the largest female focused youth club in Canada, and until last summer I was the technical development manager and director of high performance there, and I still coach some of their teams, so that's great to see.
We have also been supporting female focused youth groups like the Go Girls! program and SARA for Women since last season's celebration, and the work they do is so important.
In October, we will be sharing our home at the Willoughby Stadium with Vancouver Rise, which is very exciting news.
The Rise FC Academy team is playing in 黑马磁力 on Oct. 16, in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup against Alianza Women FC 鈥� which should be a big occasion and more awareness for our female athletes.
Women's sport in Canada, not just in B.C. and the Lower Mainland, is growing like crazy. But, we do need that continual support as we're still climbing.
If you've never been to a Rise game, you should start with this one. The atmosphere is great and it's important that we keep celebrating them and all of our women's sports teams and athletes, however we can.
I feel so lucky to have spent most of my life in the game of soccer 鈥� playing, coaching, and as an athletic therapist.
As a player I had a scholarship opportunity in a junior college before going to Kwantlen Polytechnic University for a year. I made some all-star teams there and we went to nationals, before finishing off my varsity career at Simon Fraser University (SFU). I was there for their inaugural year in the NCAA, where I was majoring in kinesiology.
I also started coaching when I was 16, and that also built pretty quickly into assistant coaching, coaching provincial teams, and in 2022 I became BCSPL head coach of the North Vancouver football club.
When I first finished in SFU, I played in the Surrey Prem league with Surrey United for a season and a half. I was trying to make the Hong Kong national team, but injuries stopped me. I had too many concussions.
So for me to stop playing competitively it was very, very difficult. It took a while to get over.
But that's all helped me in my current role with Vancouver FC.
If you ask an athlete what the worst time of their career is, it'll be rehabbing from an injury. Those six or seven months working to come back 鈥� it is a gruesome journey, and you never wish that upon anybody.
But I understand it, and I do my best to support the Vancouver FC players through that time physically and holistically. Those experiences and the growth and resilience from them is the same for men and women.
Honestly, as a young immigrant girl, who didn't start playing organized sport until I was in Grade 4, I never thought I'd be in soccer for so long.
It's brilliant that more and more pathways and career opportunities are becoming available for women with experience and a love for the game, but there's still a long way to go.
As a coach I see a lot of these showcase tournaments around North America and I still see the vast majority of head coaches in women's programs are men.
So there simply isn't enough of us. Often a lot of women coaches or professionals are qualified, but just can't get in, and that's to women's programs never mind men's teams.
There's an unconscious bias that has developed over a long time and I've lived through it. But, things are much better now, so we need to show up and celebrate that, but push for much more.
On Friday night we're telling young girls that they can go and achieve and strive for what they want, and telling young males that it is normal for young girls to want what they want, as well. We want to be your equal, and in a lot of sports that's already happening.
For me it's about celebrating the development and growth of young human beings, young athletes going into the right environment, into the right settings so that they have the opportunity to grow, to learn, to gain confidence, to be empowered, to do whatever they think and feel they can.
See you on Friday.
鈥� Amelia Ng, a Surrey resident, is the head athletic therapist with Vancouver FC and a coach, and former player.
