By: Dani Santos, SFU Student; Kaja Antic, Sports Writer; Izzy Cheung, Sports Editor 

Dani Santos

As an 11-year-old girl still discovering herself, I started playing soccer after my best friend invited me to join her team. With months of learning the sport and shaking off the pain of a few cuts and bruises, I quickly grew to love the fast pace, camaraderie, and excitement of playing the game. Soon after, soccer became a part of my identity as a defender for my club and varsity teams while I also fulfilled my duties as a student. 

Soccer became an escape for me and my teammates. After a long and tiring day at school, all we wanted was to get into our cleats and kick a ball. I can’t possibly count how many times soccer has served as an outlet for my stress and frustrations.

I played soccer for seven years, until my playing career was unexpectedly cut short in high school because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this was devastating for me, I decided that the only way for me to bounce back was to stay connected to the sport even after playing. I coached youth soccer teams for a bit, but ultimately decided I wanted to go into sports journalism. 

Some advice I can give to girls interested in playing soccer (or any team sport) is to value your connection with others. A player’s relationship with their team and opponents influences their character outside the field and long after they finish playing. Not many people realize that until later on.

My relationship with soccer has changed immensely since the last day I played, but one thing that will never change is how I’ve learned to communicate, cheer people on, and support others when they’re down. That’s the biggest thing that I will thank soccer for.

Izzy Cheung

Hockey was the sport I first fell in love with, back when I was about as tall as a pair of skates. I’ve never played it — the closest I’ve gotten is partaking in toonie skates at my local rec-centre — but somehow, this sport has given me the opportunities of a lifetime. 

I first started writing about hockey when I entered university. I started a weebly.com blog and wrote about my hometown Vancouver Canucks, only sharing the website link with my dad and my close family. Part of me thinks I was too insecure to put myself out there at the time — I was never the most outgoing person growing up, nor did I like being in the spotlight. At the end of the day, however, my reluctance to involve myself in the sports media community could be chalked up to one thing: I didn’t think I could make something out of it. 

I was introduced to The Peak in the fall semester of 2022. I had a couple of classes with our former Sports Editor, Isabella, who encouraged me to submit something and get my name out there. It took awhile, but a few months later, I did. Maybe I finally felt like I could make a difference in the industry, even if it was miniscule. Regardless of whatever it was, the community that introduced itself to me made me feel comfortable enough to make that leap. My first big piece written for The Peak was about hockey. This later led to me covering a game for the Canucks, as well as securing a job with The Hockey News thanks to the support of fellow women in the industry.  

I won’t sugarcoat it for you — the sports industry is a hard one to enter. You don’t work regular hours, your jobs won’t always be stable, and you won’t always be selected for the role you want regardless of whether your résumé is longer than the men who applied for your job. It’s a tough industry that asks a lot of you. But trust me when I say that if it’s really what you want to do, reaching those plateaus makes every tough moment worth it. You don’t have to start big — write that little column in your school paper, start live-tweeting during your favourite sports matchups, or offer to take photos for your local rec-league’s teams. Put your name out there and watch with pride as your dreams start to take flight. 

Kaja Antic

I wouldn’t describe myself as a sporty child, preferring to pick at the grass rather than play during my U7 soccer days. Despite my horrific athletic abilities, I loved watching sports, no matter what was on. I was blessed (or cursed, depending on the day) with Canucks fandom from the time I was born, and have loved hockey as long as I can remember. I also loved soccer, even though I was doing anything but emulating my hero Christine Sinclair on the rainy fields of Newton Athletic Park. As I got older, I left these “sporty” interests behind in favour of my band and theatre alliances, but they still remained in the back of my mind.

Once I reached university, I started diving deeper into the sports-fanatic traits I had left behind in childhood. I started more with audiovisual media, getting the opportunity to host my first podcast, Game Over Vancouver, where I’m now on my third season doing postgame live shows after the Canucks play. It wasn’t until I came across The Peak table on Clubs Day in 2023 that I decided to apply to be a Sports Writer for the newspaper. I’ve been able to write about sports from Burnaby Mountain and beyond since then, even getting the opportunity to take a chance at sports photography.

I’ve had my own ups and downs in my time in the realm of sports. It’s certainly taught me a lot about my personal resilience and perseverance, having been in this industry since I was 19. As a queer, femme person in sports, there have definitely been some moments where I’ve thought the sports world would be better off if I left it alone, though something I heard in my first year in this industry still sticks out to me now: “Nothing changes if I leave.” By being in an industry dominated by men, by continuing to put yourself out there, by continuing to disrupt the status quo, you are making a difference in the present and future of sports. Also, if a man can do it, how hard can it be?