THUNDER BAY — Alleigh-Jane Williamson grew up with the opportunity to do a lot of sports.
However, she realized that wasn’t the case for every girl.
That led the Lakehead University kinesiology student to form the Women in Sports Association at the school three years ago.
“I’m so passionate about physical activity and the benefits that come from that,” Williamson said.
“I want other people to be able to access the opportunity I was given as a child and I want to be able to help knock some of those barriers down.”
The club is for women, identifying or non-binary individuals and the goal is to promote a safe and encouraging environment for anyone to try physical activities.
“We just want to create a space that’s uplifting and encouraging because there’s a lot of barriers for women to participate in physical activity and sports,” Williamson said.
“It’s an area that I’m so passionate about and I know that the statistics show that women are unrepresented in sports. I wanted to make a space where we could give that opportunity for women to participate in different events that maybe they wouldn’t have tried beforehand.”
When the club first launched, the biggest test was letting people on campus know what exactly the association offered.
“Since then, the growth has been incredible,” Williamson said. “At the start of our second year, we had over 100 members signed up, which was a very rewarding feeling for all of us on the executive committee.
“I see all of these new faces come to our different events and people are just so excited to try a sport they haven’t done before and they might end up continuing to pursue that in their spare time.
“We’ve also seen people who come back each month and tell us that they’ve had such a great experience and they want to try another sport, even if they don’t know if they’ll like it or not.”
While the exact schedule for activities for this semester is still being mapped out – diving, softball and boxing have all been discussed as possibilities for the next couple of months – the association hosted pickleball, flag football and spin class events during the fall.
They’ve also done gymnastics, weight training, rowing and curling events in the past, in addition to teaming up with the Thunderwolves women’s basketball and volleyball squads last April.
“It was nice to partner up with the varsity teams for International Women’s Day and to create a really positive environment between them and the club,” Williamson said.
“It’s beneficial to have that variety of athletic backgrounds. There are people who have played competitive sports and want to keep physically active, but there’s also those who are trying some of these physical activities for the first time.
“Honestly, it’s such a positive experience on both ends because there’s so much encouragement and uplifting going on. I think we all want to be part of an environment like that.”
The Women in Sports Association will be entering a new era in the coming months as Williamson is graduating from Lakehead.
A new president will be taking over when the 2025-26 school year gets underway but Williamson hopes to remain involved in helping women get involved in sports.
“I’m sad to be moving on but I’m really excited with the foundation that our whole group has built here,” Williamson said.
“I know that the members that are going to be moving into the executive roles are going to do a great job in spreading awareness about what we offer here and I hope to see this crow into an even bigger club on campus.”
More information on the club can be found by visiting their Instagram page or via e-mail.
