Aimee Kowalski and Alex Eyolfson — the starting quarterbacks for Saskatchewan’s Western Women’s Canadian Football League teams — applaud gains that extend beyond yardage totals.
They are both excited about the skyrocketing profile of female sports.
“It’s amazing,” says Eyolfson, who is preparing for her seventh season with the Saskatoon Valkyries.
“The NCAA women’s basketball final just got the most views in history. It’s so cool to see that it’s growing so much and that people are wanting to watch.”
On April 7, there was an average viewership of nearly 19 million as the South Carolina Gamecocks posted an 87-75, championship-game victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes and their superstar guard, Caitlin Clark.
For the first time, the ratings for the NCAA women’s final exceeded the numbers that were generated by the men’s championship game. The difference between the TV audiences exceeded four million.
According to Nielsen, which measured the ratings, South Carolina versus Iowa was the most-watched basketball game, NBA included, in five years.
Also of note is the early success of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which began its inaugural season on Jan. 1.
“I know that we talk about the PWHL and follow it a lot as players,” says Kowalski, the Regina Riot’s No. 1 signal-caller.
“The younger players like to see it, because hockey has kind of led the way for women’s football. It has been about 20 years ahead of us, but it gives us an idea of where we could be.”
The WWCFL began play in 2011, when the Valkyries won their first of eight league titles. The other three championships have been celebrated by Regina, which hoisted the trophy in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
“The neat thing about women’s football is that it has had a trickle-down effect,” says Kowalski, who is Football Saskatchewan’s Women’s Football Growth and Development Co-ordinator.
“We started with the WWCFL, with the Riot and the Valks. Aside from having opportunities to play for your province and play for your country, the opportunities grew downwards (to the younger age groups).
“Now high school students have the opportunity to play and people are working on developing grades 6, 7 and 8. We’ll continue to see it grow downwards.
“With hockey, they started with creating opportunity for younger athletes and it grew into more of a professional league, so it grew upwards.”
Eyolfson and Kowalski both excelled in other sports before shifting their concentration to tackle football and serving as role models for developing players.
Kowalski played soccer (at Iowa Wesleyan College) and softball (Galveston College) before becoming a founding member of the Riot and quickly adding to an already-impressive list of athletic achievements.
“I came home from playing college sports and I wasn’t done my athletic career,” recalls Kowalski, who was a First Team Academic All-American while attending college in Galveston, Texas.
“If it wasn’t for the Riot, I would have been done, so it all worked out perfectly timing-wise for me to finish my college career, come home and continue on.
“Now, 15 years later and still a player on the Riot, it helped me to continue on having that athletic identity. I don’t know what I would be doing or who I would be if I didn’t have the Riot.”
Basketball was Eyolfson’s main sport when she attended Holy Cross Collegiate in Saskatoon. She also participated in volleyball and track at the high school level.
As well, Eyolfson demonstrated her potential as a passer while excelling in flag football.
Marci Kiselyk, an original member of the Valkyries, took note of Eyolfson’s skills and in 2016 invited her to try tackle football. As a first-year starter, she helped the Valkyries win another title.
Now a four-time WWCFL champion, Eyolfson examines the football landscape and marvels at its growth.
Last September, for example, Saskatoon’s first tackle league for high school-aged female players — Female Athletes Tackling Excellence (FATE) — was launched.
Football Saskatchewan also offers the RUSH female high school flag league, which has teams in Regina and Saskatoon.
In 2018, Saskatchewan minor football’s first female tackle league was formed. The Prairie Girls Football League consists of the Regina Victorias, Estevan Viragos, Moosomin Generals, Melville Vipers and Yorkton Lady Gridders.
“There’s also an affiliated university flag football team, which I wish I would have had when I was going to university,” notes Eyolfson, who majored in Exercise and Sport Studies and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with Great Distinction in 2019.
“There are so many opportunities for women to play and it’s starting younger. I’m jealous that I didn’t have those options when I was a kid.”
Kowalski hopes the options will continue to expand.
“We would like to see female programs mirror the male programs,” she says. “We would like to see a collegiate opportunity. We would like to see each individual high school have their own team and obviously grow from there. If we were to grow upwards, that would be our next step.”
The Riot and Valkyries will next step on the field for a WWCFL game on April 28, when the season opener will be played at Leibel Field in Regina. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
The provincial rivals’ other head-to-head regular-season meeting is scheduled for May 18 in Saskatoon (7 p.m., SMF Field).
The Riot and Valkyries both receive support from the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, which provides both teams with $20,000 on an annual basis to assist with players’ scholarships.
Last May, Roughriders players Trevor Harris, Peter Godber and Jake Wieneke attended a Valkyries practice shortly before the Green and White opened training camp in Saskatoon.
The Roughriders have also had a regular presence at the Valkyries’ and Riot’s awards banquets.
The increasing presence and prominence of female sport over a wider spectrum leads Eyolfson to ponder the possibilities.
“The sky’s the limit,” she concludes. “I feel like it’s just going to keep growing and open up so many more opportunities for women and create more role models for women to look up to when they want to play sports and have aspirations.
“Anyone can play sports.”
