Support Women in Sports Globally

By: Kaitlyn Lehbert

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Tell the Sports As A Job readers a little bit about yourself.

    My name is Kaitlyn Lehbert. I am a 21-year-old recent Sports Management graduate from Brock University in Ontario, Canada. I will always credit my high school, M.M. Robinson, and its boys football team, and being able to volunteer for the team as the reason I pursued this degree specifically. 

    Throughout my time in university, I have grown a strong passion for the girls/women in sports area. I can confidently say that I would like to dedicate my career, time, and energy to this area and help to further advance it. Through opportunities such as events, networking, and volunteering, I have had the pleasure so far of learning more and understanding what can happen for there to be continued positive change. 

    In my future, I would love to start my own girls/women in sports organization, work for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and get some experience also working in the surf industry. 

What is your most memorable volunteer/work experience you’ve had so far?

    There is one experience that really comes to mind! Overall, all volunteering and work experiences have provided me with value and each one has lead me in the right direction in some capacity.

    This one experience was this November 2019, where I helped to plan a women in sports forum event hosted at my university. This one stood out to me because it was the first time I had that I was involved with the planning. It was also a personal wish of mine since my second year of university to be involved in making a women in sports event happen before I graduated. 

    This experience was also memorable because of the flexibility of the roles I was given. I was able to be in an environment where my roles and the level of responsibility could expand and I was trusted to lead tasks. I was able to help with inviting people and organizations to the event, giving a try at event sponsorship, coordinating event media, and leading all-volunteer aspects.

How have you experienced and learned from failure/rejection?

    I have experienced failure and still work at reminding myself that a moment doesn’t define myself or what my future can be. After my first year of university, I had failed one of my courses. Mentioning this publicly is one way of making sure I do not let a moment four years ago define who I am now and where I am at in my career journey.

    A big lesson I have learned in general with failure is that when I look back at those moments, I always found a way to get back on track and prevent it from reoccurring. I’ve grown confident that failures happen sometimes to teach you something you needed to know.

What is a lesson in relation to the girls/women in sports area that you strive to consistently pass on to others?

    A lesson that I strive to consistently lead with and pass on to others is to leave no one off the table for the girls/women in sports area. I believe that any woman pursuing or working in the sports industry should be seen as equally successful and worthwhile, despite their amount of time in the industry and what their title/job is. 
    I have seen this personally on a level where there is an automatic go-to for women in sports organizations when there are so many others in the same city doing amazing initiatives and providing the same amount of value. I don’t think it is right to give higher consideration to solely the one with the “flashy” title or association. 

    To tie into this, I once spoke online with a coach from the organization Lady Not Limit Basketball who is based in Cicero/Berwyn, Illinois. The coach had said in a message “We’re not winning if we work in silos”. I think this is so important because one, there is enough room for all of us to succeed and two, for there to be better equity for girls and women in sports, it will take a village to see a difference!

Who are some people/organizations you would recommend for exploring more into the gender equity in sports area?    

    For learning more about the research side of girls/women in sport, I recommend organizations like Canadian Women & Sport, Tucker Centre for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, and Women in Sport. Aside from their publications, these organizations have also provided videos, webinars, and podcasts.

    I am thankful that within my program at university, there was a strong representation of female professors to learn from, volunteer for, and network with. I do have to give a special mention to one professor, Michele Donnelly, who I did my research course with in my last semester and have learned lots from in my short time of knowing her. 

    One main way that I like to broaden my knowledge and following of the girls/women in sports area is through listening to podcasts and watching documentaries. I recommend the podcast, Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy (specifically the Billie Jean King episode). For documentaries, I recommend a website called Kanopy, which I have discovered lately that there is a ton of women in sports documentaries available to watch. I also have recently discovered the account @womensportsfilm on Instagram. This account has provided me with even more women in sports documentaries that I can add to my list. 
    

Thank you so much for reading this piece! If absolutely anyone would like to connect, feel free to reach out! The women in sports online community is so empowering to follow and be a part of! 

Here are my online platforms:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kaitlynlehbert/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaitlyn_lehbert
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kaitlyn.lehbert/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlyn-lehbert-28666a159/