International Women's Day: Women Behind the BlackJacks

While the Ottawa BlackJacks are a recent addition to the Canadian Elite Basketball League, the team is chalked full of talented men on and off the court. That said, from coaches to operational staff and interns, there are a number of incredible women that truly make the BlackJacks organization what it is.

BlackJacks assistant coach, Fabienne Perrin-Blizzard, has been an impactful woman in the Canadian Basketball scene at various levels. After a successful career playing for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, Perrin-Blizzard went on to coach the team. Her list of accomplishments as a coach is long, including championship titles with Ontario’s U15 and U17 provincial teams, and co-founding Capital Courts Academy.

Throughout her career, Perrin-Blizzard has had the opportunity both to learn lessons and share them.

“You learn a lot from the different coaches you work with, because everyone has a different philosophy, everyone has different styles. You learn a lot about yourself through your players, because if you're actually willing to listen and see how they react to you, then you are able to basically transform yourself into the coach you want to be,” Perrin-Blizzard said.

“I feel like as women, we tend to be perfectionists, we want things to be just right,” Perrin-Blizzard continued, “when you allow yourself to take risks and know it's not going to be perfect, I think this is where you're allowing yourself to grow.”

Perrin-Blizzard is currently the only woman to coach professional sports in Ottawa. As she brings in her experience and her perspective to the coaching staff, she is continuing to learn in order to help bring the best out of the BlackJacks team.

“It's up to me to know if something is needed for what we need to do. If I don’t know it, I'm going to learn it,” Perrin-Blizzard said, “I started watching some of the games that I don't watch normally. Like, I don't watch this team, but I'm going to get to know every player because I need to make sure that if there is a discussion about that, that would be related to something we need to do, then I understand the style of play of that specific player in terms of the example they're giving.”

Off the court, Perrin-Blizzard is eager to help grow the BlackJacks community outreach, especially with the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and club teams throughout the city.

“Now is the time we have to get back in the community, we have to be talking to the clubs, getting kids more active again in the sport, and getting people excited about the BlackJacks.”

Of course, Perrin-Blizzard did not find success without overcoming some hardships.

“Know your worth, find your voice,” Perrin-Blizzard said, “always keep pushing for it, and don't let anything discourage you from getting to where you want to be.”

“Every time there's a roadblock, just find a different way to get there. If this is a roadblock, okay, what's the different way to get there? How do I get around it, and then that's when you're going to make all these connections, that's going to allow you to get stronger if you pay attention.”

After the disbandment of the Ottawa Fury, Carrie McKay, joined the BlackJacks as the Senior Director of Operations. Sports have always played an essential role in McKay’s life, from a girl in playing and watching sports in Australia to working in the operations side of sports in Ottawa.

“Sport has been huge for me, especially growing up in a country where sport is part of our identity in Australia,” McKay explained, “I have so many great memories of watching football with my parents, and going to watch the Australian Open tennis... it's definitely who I am. It's my blood.”

Throughout her career, McKay has worked with various teams in different roles including the Assistant General Manager of the Ottawa Fury. Through this, she was able to experience being a woman in the sports industry in different settings. While there have not been any major examples of discrimination or discomfort, McKay has experienced moments where she felt she was treated differently because of gender.

“It's a couple of small instances,” McKay said, “when I traveled with the Fury, I was the Assistant General Manager for the team and I was attending meetings with the referee and the referees didn't look me in the eye or shake my hand or I would go around the circle acknowledging everybody else and skip me.”

“Times are changing, but there's still a long way to go.”

Despite moments of negativity, McKay trusts in herself, and advises others to do the same.

"Keep believing in yourself. There are a lot of great role models out there of women that have started to forge the path ahead of them," McKay said, “The only limits are really what you put on yourself."

After a three-year university basketball career with the McGill Martlets, Marika Guérin transitioned from the Martlets’ point guard to the Manager of Communication and Community for the Ottawa BlackJacks.

Before landing her role with the BlackJacks, Guérin earned her graduate diploma in marketing and built a network in the sports industry starting with the McGill Athletics communications department, then freelancing before getting a job with the BlackJacks and moving to the nation’s capital.

Guérin became passionate about sports early in her life, starting with sprinting and being recruited to a local mini team as a kid.

“It all started there,” Guérin said, “it became a passion to me. And then I started setting goals. And then one of my goals was to play at university so I think I always followed that throughout my career until University.”

While her passion stems from being a basketball player herself, Guérin’s role with the BlackJacks has allowed her to see what goes on off the court.b

“I'm really thankful for the opportunity because to be working with such a young team in the league is awesome,” Guérin said, “I get to see how communications impact sales, how sales impact operations, and then how important it is to collaborate. I think it's a really good start in my career.”

Guérin has achieved plenty on and off the court and notes the importance of making connections.

“The reason I could get this job is because I tried to connect with as many people as I could, and I feel like sometimes people are scared to connect over LinkedIn or at an event,” Guérin said, “keep in mind that connecting with people and building genuine relationships will pay off later on.”

The BlackJacks Operations intern, Hannah Elkas, is currently working towards a post-graduate certificate in Sports Business Management from Humber College. While pursuing her undergraduate degree in business, Elkas spent three years playing basketball. Eventually, she realized she wanted to combine business with sport and make a career out of it.

So far, Elkas has been enjoying the internship experience despite having to do most of it from home.

“it's professional, like a professional studying, they're so open to answering questions I might have and helping out if I come up against any type of obstacle,” Elkas said, “my main goal here is to learn and create a huge network so that I can find a career after I graduate. I couldn't ask for a better team.”

In class, Elkas has noticed that case study examples are male dominant. That said, she has felt welcomed rather than discouraged by gender, especially in knowing that women offer a different skillset to the industry. She has also seen that there are far less women to look up to in comparison to the amount of male role models in the industry.

Still, Elkas has been able to stand out and accomplish plenty.

“Just use your voice. If you speak out, you’ll be heard. Don’t be shy to bring up any type of ideas or thoughts or concerns like, you know, annoy the people,” Elkas said, “you might be in a conference room full of men, but let yourself stand out.”

Larissa Barlow spent time working with Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment before going to Algonquin College for Recreation and Leisure Services. Knowing that sports entertainment was something she was missing from her life, she came into the role of the BlackJacks Communications and Community intern,

“I love working with the community, I love working in media and communications, so it was a no brainer for me,” Barlow said.

“I genuinely love working with the BlackJacks, I think that they have a lot of really great ideas that most organizations don't have right off the bat,” Barlow added.

From a young age, basketball has influenced Barlow’s life. From watching her first games around the age of 10, not knowing that she would eventually pursue a career in sports, to working the NBA All Star Weekend in Toronto in 2016, to landing an internship position with BlackJacks.

Even though Barlow is knowledgeable about the sport, she has noticed that discrimination has come from the outside rather than the inside of organizations. Her peers have also had little to recall as far as negativity around being a woman in the sports industry- but, are very aware that it exists.

“I have never ever felt uncomfortable or discriminated or like my opinions or views were dismissed by any staff member that I've worked with, I find when you're actually in it, the people that are in it, understand,” Barlow explained, “I always find it's the people outside the organization, that tends to be like, ‘Oh, well, you are woman, so you don't really know what you're doing.’”

 “That might not be true for every organization. And to be fair, everyone's experience is different. Just from my experience, I haven't felt that. It's mostly with the public”

As far as keeping herself motivated and offering advice to others, Barlow recalls the quote, “it's only crazy until you do it.”

“No matter what, you're going to be told no, and you aren't going to be able to please everyone, the most important thing is to be true to yourself.”