Head Coach of the Regina Alpine Race Team, Morgan Waldo is traveling to Regina in an unusual fashion to try and raise money for female athletes in the province.
Waldo is rollerblading down Highway 1 from Moose Jaw along with fellow ski coaches Naomi Ottenbreit and Heather Sten to fundraise for the Saski Sisters female athlete scholarship fund.
Waldo says the scholarship is aimed at helping young female skiers to continue in their sport.
“The scholarship is an incentive for our female youth to continue to participate in ski racing and sport up through graduation and on through life,” said Waldo. “We have a philosophy of fitness for life and skiing for life, so that’s exactly what this scholarship is designed for, to provide a subsidized trip the year of their graduation.”
Waldo said she decided to start the Saski Sisters because of the high number of female athletes who would drop out of the sport due to a lack of female racers to train and compete with.
“Female youth retention in any sport across the board, by the time these girls reach 14 years old, they’re two times more likely to drop out of sport,” said Waldo. “We all know that the benefit of continuing with an activity through graduation can take them really far in life.”
Waldo says she decided to rollerblade because of the similarity to ski racing.
“Inline skating is so parallel to the skills of ski racing, beyond that it’s just parallel to the skills of skiing,” said Waldo. “What this has done, is it’s expanded our group beyond our ski racers even, so we’ve been able to be really inclusive with so many other female youth in our community that we hadn’t anticipated and are so excited to have.”
The groups trek is set to wrap up Saturday at Regina City Hall. To donate to the Saski Sisters, visit their gofundme page at: gofundme.com/f/roll-for-saski-sisters
