Female football player tackles gender bias, storms to World Championship
When Tanya Henderson wanted to strap on a helmet and shoulder pads to play football as a teenager, she was told she wouldn't be allowed to play with the boys.
She was not OK with that.
"I don't do well with people telling me I can't do things I want to do," she said.
Fast forward to today and Henderson, a linebacker, is among the top female players in the country, having just been named to Team Canada for the upcoming Women's World Championship in June.
"It's what I always wanted to do but I didn't think it would ever be possible," the 25-year-old said.
Now a personal fitness trainer, it was a chance encounter with one of her clients five years ago that got football back in her sights.
That's when she heard about the Edmonton Storm, which plays in the Western Women's Canadian Football League.
She gave it a try, quickly got the football bug and now the game is the biggest part of her life.
"A lot of things in my life in the last few years since I started playing have formed around football and happened because of football," she said.
"A lot of my closest friends, I've met them through football, so that's really, really great."
Henderson admits she got a bit of a jolt the first time she got flattened, but it made her more determined to carry on. As a linebacker, it's now her job to dish out the hits.
"It's such a great feeling, the physicality of it," she said.
"Physically stopping someone from doing something, it's very empowering you can have that control within a game."
Among top 45 female players in Canada
Henderson has been a big part of helping control games for the Edmonton Storm.
The team has won consecutive Western Conference titles in the five-team league that includes rivals from Calgary, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Okotoks.
That helped Henderson get noticed by Team Alberta, which led to her cracking a national all-star roster.
Now she's one of 45 athletes named to Football Canada's National Women's Team, after getting the official call up on Jan. 14.
"It's not a shock she made the team," said Edmonton Storm head coach Eric Theroux.
Theroux describes Henderson as possibly the hardest hitter in the league, and said he knew all along she had the potential to go far in the sport.
"Just when you think you can make a move or you think you know exactly where she's going to be, she's probably not going to be there," he said.
"Next thing you know, she's going to be wrapped around your legs ready to take you down."
Growing the sport for women
Two other Storm players, Sanderina Twin and Emma Goldsney, are also a part of the national squad. The team is aiming to win the world championship, held in B.C. in June.
A total of six countries will take part.
It's a championship Henderson said she hopes will help grow the game and lead to more young women getting the chance to play.
"I want to be that person that helps those little girls be able to play football and not have someone say, 'You can't do that because you're a girl,'" she said, adding many high school aged girls are already proving themselves by competing on boys' teams.
It's her dream that soon there will be dedicated girls football teams and leagues, and she's encouraging all young women to give the game a go.
"Just do it, the worst thing that is going to happen is you're going to fall on your butt."
