Amanda Trenchard, decades serving women and girls in Special Olympics Canada
While countless volunteers have worked tirelessly to create a more inclusive world, few Special Olympics Canada volunteers have broken down as many barriers facing women and girls with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) than Amanda Trenchard.
Originally coaching in a generic soccer league for girls under the age of 16, Amanda’s first exposure to Special Olympics was through a friend who also volunteered. She got hooked after helping him coach a couple of times, and over three decades of volunteer service later, it is safe to say Amanda has had as much impact on Special Olympics Canada as the movement has had on her.
During her years of volunteering for Special Olympics Canada, Amanda said she noticed a divide between our individual and team-based sports. Plenty of women and girls with IDD were participating in individual Special Olympics sports like athletics or swimming, where they got to compete against other female athletes. However, a lot of Special Olympics team sports mostly just had male athletes, despite them all technically being co-ed, meaning anyone could play on them regardless of their gender. Why was there such a difference in athlete representation, when the teams were equally open to everyone?
Amanda argues that because “boys and girls are different”, these co-ed teams quickly turn into male-dominated spaces. Special Olympics Canada has also noticed that a lot of mixed-gender team sports have an unusual amount of male players compared to female athletes, which is a major reason why female Special Olympics teams are becoming so popular.
Giving the example of two athletes she coaches—a male athlete who is 6’3 and a female athlete she says is “five foot nothing”—Amanda said female athletes are just as skilled as male athletes, but do not have many opportunities to show that because of the strength and size difference.
“She’s gonna get knocked down [playing with male athletes],” Amanda said, referring to someone she described as small yet very skilled.
Her goal is to create more female teams so girls and women with IDD will be interested in joining Special Olympics, even if they are not comfortable competing against men.
“I enjoy playing both women’s and coed soccer,” says Eileen Mooney, an athlete on Amanda’s team who has also played on competitive male-dominated teams.
“Playing with and against the guys has made me a better player,” she said, “but what I love about playing on the ladies’ team is our connection and bond to each other. I also like that my teammates regard me as a leader and trusted teammate".
“Now we need more teams,” Amanda says, “it doesn’t matter if they’re different skill levels, just put ladies together, and other girls will see. Some female athletes are intimidated when they’re put into the middle of the guys.”
“They get so aggressive,” said British Columbia Athlete Leader Susan Wang, “and the guys [at Floor Hockey] push us around.”
However, Susan also said she is happy playing Floor Hockey on her co-ed team and would keep playing with them even if a women’s-only Special Olympics team was made available to her.
“It’s really tough because they get the puck away from us so fast,” she said, before adding with a big smile, “but luckily for me I’m way faster than the guys, so I just go around them!”
On female-only teams, Amanda said she saw athletes display more leadership skills. The leader of a team is often its strongest player, and one that many of their teammates can relate to easily. Both things meant girls rarely got to be leaders on mixed-gender teams, even if they were genuinely included and friends with other athletes.
By creating a space where more women and girls feel comfortable coming back week after week, these athletes grow not only their skill in playing soccer but taking charge. Amanda also noticed that her athletes on female teams have a significant level of friendship between them even when off the field.
“It could’ve been a disaster,” Amanda said, reflecting on when she was Head Coach of the Canada Women’s Soccer team, who were heading to the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin. Her concern was that bringing together athletes from across the country to train together in a short amount of time would be chaotic, because they had to go from strangers to teammates very quickly.
“But from that training camp,” she continued, “they came together. They’re still talking together, in 2025, we still have our WhatsApp chat. The girls are asking each other if they’ll be at Nationals, because they want to see each other again.”