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ports were Jackie Fuga’s safe space as
a teenager. When her brother, David,
passed away, participating in sports
kept her healthy and engaged socially.
“I leaned into sport in my time of
tragedy and grief, because it was the one
place I didn’t feel like I had to be sad. I was
given permission to just be,” Fuga says.
Selecting Fast and Female to receive
a $4,515 grant from the David Fuga
Memorial Fund at Edmonton Community
Foundation was an easy choice for Fuga.
Fast and Female is a national charity
founded in 2005 with a mission to
empower girls through sport, physical
activity and education.
“Their core values aligned with the
David Fuga Fund core values of keeping
adolescents in sports, but also personally
and professionally, it just really resonated,”
Fuga explains.
Not only were sports and physical
fitness her passion as a teenager, they’ve
become her career. Fuga is a physical
education teacher who has seen first hand
how sports make a difference in girl’s lives
— and how frequently they quit sports.
Girls drop out of sports at a much
higher rate than boys — one in three girls
by age 16, versus one in 19 boys. Keeping
girls involved is valuable not only for their
physical health, but their whole being,
including mental health and even future
career success.
“There’s a stat from Ernst & Young
Global that 94 per cent of C-suite women
executives were involved in sport and
physical activity in their upbringing. It’s
not just about being the best athlete but a
holistic approach to your health and your
personal development that will help you in
your career as well,” Gabriela Estrada, Fast
and Female’s executive director, says.
Estrada played sports as a girl, and
went on to coach soccer and run fitness
programs as an adult. But, she noticed the
sports sector didn’t cater to women and
girls, especially girls from different ethnic,
religious or class backgrounds. Inspired to
make a difference in the field, she began
volunteering with Fast and Female before
joining the staff.
LEGACY IN ACTION
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