Kailey Piercey - Scoring to Schooling

At age four, Kailey Piercey slid onto the rink for the first time with her ringette stick in hand. Along with many soon-to-be friends, she chased after rings, spun across the ice on her back and laughed her way through her first practice.

Fast forward 18 years and Kailey’s now sitting behind the bench, teaching a whole new generation of girls the finer points of ringette. While a lot has changed for Kailey over the years, one thing hasn’t.

“There has never been a practice, game, camp, or meeting where laughter doesn’t occur,” she said.

Beating the odds

According to womenandsport.ca, one in three girls on the ice that first day would leave sports behind in late adolescence, a dropout rate more than three times higher than their male counterparts.

The report cites the quality of girls’ experience in sports, along with low confidence, a perception they don’t belong and negative body image as major barriers (among others).

This means young girls are losing the camaraderie, exercise and laughter that comes with enjoying a sport they love.

For Kailey, dropping out would have changed her life. Her years playing and volunteering in ringette are integral to finding and pursuing a life she’s passionate about.

”If I didn't stick with ringette I wouldn't be where I am today,” she said. “My experiences with ringette and volunteering have inspired me and provided me with the skills and motivation necessary to pursue a career in teaching.”

“Volunteering in sport has been really great for me.”

Finding role models

18 years of commitment doesn’t come easy, for anyone. But, Kailey had two major advantages:

1. Ringette’s unique culture

2. Great role models

Unlike most sports, which are male-dominated, ringette is female-focused, which meant Kailey never felt like she didn’t belong.

“Ringette is really unique for keeping girls motivated and giving them those opportunities to continue being physically fit,” Kailey said.

Along with a sport that Kailey felt at home in, she was also supported by coaches who helped her grow both on and off the ice, starting with her mom, Sue.

Kailey watched as Sue volunteered her time and energy to support her team. She taught them the rules of the game, how to shoot and how to score a goal. She helped turn a group of little girls into a competitive ringette team. So, Kailey knew how much of a difference a good coach could make. Then, when she was ten, a junior coach, just a few years older than Kailey, joined Sue and the other coaches behind the bench.

“I was very used to having parents be the coaches,” Kailey said, “but this was a whole different dynamic. I looked up to her more as a friend or a sister.”

Suddenly, coaching wasn’t something that just parents did. It was something a young person could do. It was something Kailey could do.

So four years later at 14, when girls statistically leave sports, Kailey doubled down and became a junior coach.

More than a game

This new position opened up a whole new world for Kailey. Of course, she was still playing, and coaching, to win, but on-ice performance was just one part of the role.

“One of my main focuses when coaching is that I want to build those relationships,” Kailey said. “So my players aren’t only coming to me with ringette questions, but if they want to share anything about their life, or if there's anything going on, I'm that safe person who they can come talk to.”

In short, she became the mentor for her team. It wasn’t long before her player’s parents noticed the difference Kailey was making in their daughter’s lives. They approached her and complimented her on the work she was doing with their daughters. The positive feedback and the joy Kailey found behind the bench came together in a vision for her future career.

“I thought that if I really love working with kids maybe becoming a teacher was the direction I wanted to take,” Kailey said. “And the longer I've been coaching and having these interactions with the younger kids the more I was motivated to become a teacher “

So at 18, when Kailey aged out of the game both as a player and as a junior coach, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. So, she applied to the University of Lethbridge.

Having recently completed her Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology at the University of Lethbridge, Kailey is excited to continue her academic journey by pursuing an Education degree.

A whole new community

When Kailey moved from Calgary to Lethbridge to start university, she decided to focus on her schoolwork. That left no time for volunteering. But, as it turns out, it was easier to leave her hometown than it was to leave her sport.

During class one day, one of Kailey’s professors assigned a personal essay. Because ringette has such a positive impact on her life, the sport was featured heavily in her writing.

And when she handed it in, she got more than just a grade.

“My professor's daughter was in ringette, so when he read that I had been involved in the sport in Calgary, he asked me if I wanted to coach,” she said.

With a better idea of how much time university required and a passion for the sport that hadn’t cooled, Kailey decided to jump back in and start volunteering again.

She started light, volunteering as an on-ice helper. But she was quickly behind the bench as an assistant coach – one of the youngest in the league. A year later, she attended the Alberta Winter Games in Grande Prairie as an assistant coach for the Zone 1 ringette team. But it hasn’t stopped there, this year Kailey stepped up to head coach a U14 ringette team in Lethbridge. The team has had a wonderful season so far winning two tournaments in a span of 7 days.

Building her future

Ringette, and volunteering changed Kailey’s life. If she had left at 14, she would have missed the Alberta Winter Games, the joy of competition and discovering her passion for teaching.

“Ringette opened so many doors for me,” Kailey said.

And it’s continuing to do so. Recently, she started working alongside St. Francis Junior High, an athletically focused school, as part of their elite sports program for ringette players. This program marks the first work she’s done in the school district and a big step along her chosen career path.