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February 18, 2022

Tanya Walter Tackling New Opportunity In Lions Coaching Role

The BC Lions gained a refreshing personnel hire this week with the addition of Tanya Walter to the coaching staff. Head coach Rick Campbell said the hiring of Walter, who will serve as a defensive assistant, is a two-way street.

“It has to work for the individual and it has to work for the team. I think she’s going to be a good fit, so I’m excited about it,” Campbell added during Tuesday’s Zoom media availability.

In making history by becoming the first-ever female coach in the CFL, Walter opens the door for many more women who are seeking to work in a male-dominated sport.

Walter has accepted the challenge to push this Lions squad to become contenders once again and help the players gain a new perspective in their professional career. At the same time, Walter could utilize the experience with the club to empower more young females in the football community.

“I’m just really looking forward to taking my coaching career to the next level,” Walter said on Tuesday with BCLions.com.

Tanya Walter has made history by becoming the first female coach in CFL history. Now she hopes her role with the Lions will open doors for others.

Walter, who grew up in Forestburg, Alberta, was always told she was too aggressive on the basketball court. While the WNBA hasn’t taken flight until recent years, Walter would admire male role models in sports. However, it just wasn’t the same.

The calling of football emerged in 2013 when Walter found out about the Western Women’s Canadian Football League [WWCFL] and a chance to represent Team Canada.

“I grew up in a small town, there wasn’t a lot of exposure with women in football. I decided that I was going to aim to play for Team Canada. I played a couple of seasons, came into nationals, played for Alberta and won bronze. Then I went on to represent Canada in 2017 in Langley, B.C., where we won a silver medal in the IFAF World Championship,” Walter recalled.

Along the way, Walter also jumped on the coaching opportunity with St. Francis Xavier High School, West Edmonton Raiders girls tackle football team, Edmonton Huskies in the Canadian Junior Football League, and a personal trainer.

Walter currently is a technical director for Free Play for Kids flag football program and the Capital District Minor Football Association in Edmonton. While she’s been working eagerly to broaden the football community, she’ll turn her primary focus to the Lions in a few months.

After several phone calls with coach Campbell prior to the announcement, Walter jumped on the opportunity and arrived at the Lions facility this Monday for a short trip before making her way back to Edmonton Tuesday evening.Tanya Walter has made history by becoming the first female coach in CFL history. Now she hopes her role with the Lions will open doors for others.

“I think having the opportunity to learn is one of the really big things. I’ve been really lucky to have a lot of mentors along the way. But just to have the opportunity at this level to see how I can apply to the things I already knew is something that I look forward to,” Walter said.

Some of her biggest mentors are fellow coaches with NFL experience such as Phoebe Schecter and Katie Sowers as well as U.S. tennis star Serena Williams, who all inspired her to start giving back to the community and ensuring the sport of football will allow more inclusion for females in the future.

“There’s a lot of pushback from the football community over the years. It’s been improving a lot. It’s a lot of explaining the importance of why there needs to be more inclusion. Girls do want to play football, women do want to participate in football and make that their sport,” she added.

“In 2018, I attended the NFL women’s career forum. It was a really neat experience. I remember just thinking, ‘You know what, it’s great the NFL is starting to be inclusive and look at these opportunities.’ But I felt like I wanted to be able to give more to my own community and my own city.”

Which is one of Walter’s motivations for bridging the gap between women and professional football. Although there is progress in Canada such as the WWCFL, where she played for the Edmonton Strom before leaping onto provincial and the Canadian national team, the future is still limitless for women’s football.

Walter said she would love to see university-level women’s football in the future. But it will take some time for that vision to become a reality. The biggest factor is the support of organizations from top to bottom and each province in Canada making strides on providing the opportunity for females to engage in football.

“The WWCFL, the Maritimes Women’s Football League, and the new league starting in Ontario and Quebec. They’re the equivalent of the Canadian junior men’s league. That would be the important piece of developing the interest, awareness before you can continue to grow more opportunities.”

Despite that recent progress, the constant battle with misogynistic attitudes is endless. Walter described the current status of women’s football to women’s hockey 20 some years ago, just the assumption of women can’t participate in contact sports.

“It’s just thinking about things before you say them. I still hear a lot of, ‘Oh you play men’s football.’ No, it’s just tackle football. Or they assume you play flag football. It’s just really recognizing that there is a space for female football, and we want to take part. Whether that barrier is still there on purpose or just the way football was developed, we can work together to remove those,” she said.

“Football in Canada has made some big moves to help support women and girls. For example, they are hosting the first national championship for U18 girls football. That’s very exciting.”

And without a doubt, she’ll be proving the critics wrong on her ability to coach in this league.