Female football sees big growth since
club’s birth in 2011
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
.jpg) |
| The Valkyries raise the WWCFL championship trophy in 2022. |
Back in the fall of 2010, Football Saskatchewan held a women’s tackle football clinic in Saskatoon to gauge the interest of women for the sport. Roughly around 45 women ranging in ages and athletic backgrounds from Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and surrounding areas came out to give the sport a shot.
From that
initial gathering, Football Saskatchewan backed the start of two 12-player
women’s tackle football teams with one in Regina and one in Saskatoon. In the
spring of 2011, the Regina Riot and Saskatoon Valkyries began play in the
inaugural season of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.
The
Valkyries won the first four straight league titles and eight league
championships overall in the circuit’s history. Since the Valkyries start,
numerous players from the team have gone on to coach or take on administrative
and supporting roles in the sport.
Female flag
football ballooned in “The Bridge City” since the Valkyries creation. The Rush
High School Female Football Flag League was born around 2014. The Saskatoon
F.A.T.E. (Female Athletes Tackling Excellence) program was created last fall to
allow high school aged female players to play games in the six-person version
of the sport.
More female
players began to show up on high school rosters. Saskatchewan began sending
provincial teams to national competitions and Valkyries players have
represented Canada on the international scene.
Michelle
Duchene, who has been the Valkyries general manager since the team’s inception,
marvels looking at what has transpired in Saskatoon since the Valkyries played
their first game back on May 22, 2011 downing the Riot 56-6 at historic Taylor
Field in Regina.
“The best thing has been watching the sport grow in both
flag and tackle for girls, and that we have created the space for females to
have a place in football,” said Duchene, whose team hosts the Riot at 7 p.m. on
Saturday, May 18 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. “More and more of our
players are moving on to coaching tackle and flag football or finding other
ways to be involved in the sport once they retire.
“Hearing athletes coming from other sports talk about how
they are treated like elite athletes in our community by being part of the
Valkyries is a pretty special feeling. We get calls from groups asking our
player to come talk to them or teach them about being an elite athlete and our
sport, which is a pretty cool ask. It is amazing hearing young athletes talk to
us about how excited they are to play for the Valkyries one day.”
 |
| Valkyries MLB Emmarae Dale (#45) chases Riot QB Aimee Kowalski. |
One of
those players Duchene planted a seed with was star middle linebacker Emmarae
Dale. Before Dale joined the Valkyries in 2016, she played flag football and
Duchene was her coach. Duchene passed on some friendly nudges that Dale would
probably like playing for the Valkyries, if she joined the team.
Dale has
since become one of the Valkyries most recognizable players. She helped the
Valkyries win four WWCFL titles coming in 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Along with
playing for the Valkyries, Dale was recruited to play for the Saskatoon
Hilltops and joined the storied powerhouse CJFL club for the 2021 season. She
became the first female ever named to the Hilltops roster, and she was also the
first female to play in the CJFL regular season.
Dale also
suited up for Canada’s National Women’s Team that played in the International
Federation of American Football’s Women’s World Championship, which ran from
July 28 to August 8, 2022 in Vantaa, Finland. She was one of 12 Valkyries
players that was on Canada’s main roster.
Now at age 26, Dale has always loved being a member of the Valkyries and has gained a new appreciation being a veteran player of the team.
“It has been really cool to see kind of where the team has grown throughout the years,” said Dale. “It has been interesting even to just like witness my own transition from being a new player to a veteran.
“It is really awesome just to see all the rookies and new
people that we’re getting out. It has been a pretty incredible career so far.
I’m just really thankful for the years I’ve been able to have and will
hopefully continue to have for a little bit.”
 |
| Alex Eyolfson (#15) calls a play in the Valkyries huddle. |
“It is definitely an interesting dynamic, but it is really
cool being able to see both sides of the ball,” said Dale. “Us veterans that
are starting to coach more, I think it has been helping our own play to able to
coach as well.
“It is really honestly good to be on the coaching side and
kind of get those friendships and memories too. It is kind of interesting to
still be coach and an athlete for a lot of us. It has been going really, really
well, and I think we all really enjoy it.”
Like Dale,
receiver Ricki Obed joined the Valkyries in 2016 too. She was a member of their
last four WWCFL championship teams and suited up for Canada’s National Women’s
Team for worlds in 2022.
The
32-year-old enjoyed coaching in the F.A.T.E. program last year and the new
realizations that continues to bring.
“Starting the F.A.T.E. league and coaching that was just such
a great experience,” said Obed. “We coached it with a full female coaching team
as well with most of those being Valks players and retired Valks players as
well.
“It was just so cool to watch these girls get to experience
tackle football and see them start to pick it up, see them start to learn it
and love it was very exciting. Now, we actually have some girls on our roster
that came from F.A.T.E. just last year. It is this whole big circle, and I’m
just loving being a part of it.”
During her
time with the Valkyries, Obed has enjoyed seeing former players become members
of the club’s coaching staff including some of her former teammates.
“Obviously, the goal of the program is just to get more
women involved in football,” said Obed. “To kind of watch that progression of
some of our players from the earlier years becoming coaches now, we have Marci
(Halseth) and Beth (Thompson), obviously, on our coaching staff.
 |
| Ricki Obed breaks downfield after making a catch for the Valkyries. |
Obed said
all the former Valkyries players that she knows always have positive things to
say about the team. She remembers being a rookie looking up to the veteran players.
Obed enjoys that memory and all the memories she has made with the squad.
“It is like a family, honestly,” said Obed. “The girls in the
locker room are like some of the closest people in my life.
“To have that and to meet people that way is pretty
incredible. Obviously when you go to battle together, it creates a very close
bond.”
Pat Barry, who has been the Valkyries head coach since 2017
and been with the club’s coaching staff since 2014, said it has been special
working with the team’s players over the years and is pumped every time a new
season comes around.
“I’m a long-time coach, obviously, even before this,” said
Barry, whose team has regularly played their home games at SMF Field since 2015.
“It is just something I’m super excited about every season.
“When you work with adults, life sometimes gets in the way,
and I understand that. So many of our athletes, they come from different
sports. They come from different backgrounds.
“Now some of them, football is their first sport. That is
something that didn’t happen in the early years of the club, but you had
players who played flag football for many, many years or now have played tackle
football in the new F.A.T.E. league or on their high school teams as well.”
Of course, being able to win eight WWCFL championships has
been special as well for the Valkyries over the years. Duchene said winning
titles is a nice reward for the team, but when all is said and done, she wants
the players to come away feeling being a part of the Valkyries was a great and
special thing in their lives.
“I love watching our player reach their goals, get better
each year, some go on to play for the national team, and I am so proud of them
all for reaching whatever their goal is, even if it is just trying the sport
for one year,” said Duchene. “The hope is that their experience with our team
will help them all succeed in life after they are done their playing careers.
 |
| The Valkyries raise their helmets for a win on June 18, 2023. |
For more information on the Saskatoon Valkyries, feel free to check their website saskatoonvalkyries.com.
