It was an experience of a lifetime.
Kerri Archibald, a teacher at Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI), had the opportunity to run the Women and Sport Conference at the University of Saskatchewan on June 8-10.
About 200 female athletes, including about 14 from HCI, attended the weekend conference.
"It was really good," said Archibald.
She explained the weekend was divided into three catergories - sport, fitness and classroom.
They offered basketball, volleyball, football, cheerleading, track and field and soccer for sports and wall climbing, yoga, zumba and cross fit for fitness.
"For classroom sessions, the athletes had three different choices, so they could go to sports psychology, sport nutrition or leadership sessions," said Archibald. "The coaches had two choices which were injury prevention and treatment or motivating athletes."
It was great to see so many athletes from Humboldt attending the conference, said Archibald.
"At the banquet Friday night there were about two tables full of them and they were full of energy so I was really happy," said Archibald.
The banquet was also a huge drawing card for the event.
"Bobbi Jo Slusar, who is a Team Canada hockey player, was our guest speaker," said Archibald. "Friday night she flew in from Calgary and she had a really good message to share."
Although it was a lot of work to plan the conference, Archibald said she would definitely do it again.
"It was definitely worth it once I saw everything unfold," said Archibald. "Luckily, it only happens every two years, so I would have a year off from planning."
The conference has really grown since it started in 2007.
"We had about 100 more people at this conference than they ever had before," said Archibald. "They had to turn people away after they got over 220 because there just wasn't room in the dorms or anything."
She recommends the event to all female athletes.
"It's great personal development for the coaches and great training and leadership for the kids, so I would definitely recommend it," said Archibald.
