How Girls At The Games Is Helping Create A Safe Environment For Women To Watch Sports In Vancouver

A new organization has emerged in Vancouver that is designed to create a safe space for female sports fans. The company Girls at the Game aims to "inspire women to embrace their fandom fully, enjoy game days together, and create lasting friendships through their love of sports." Although the company is only a few months old, it is already having a significant impact on the community by filling a void that has been missing in the sports world.

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The Hockey News recently had the opportunity to speak with two members of the Girls at the Games team. Emmy Curtis is the Founder and CEO, while Jaslyne Sunday is the company's Chief Operating Officer. The interview covered multiple topics, including how Girls at the Games started and the impact an organization like this can have on the city of Vancouver.

Girls at the Games is a relatively new organization that started posting on social media at the beginning of October 2024 and has already hosted a few events. As Emmy Curtis explains, the company was founded thanks to a TikTok rant, which ended up receiving over 700 comments.

"It all started from a TikTok that that blew up," said Curtis. "I was living in Toronto for university for the last three years, and I moved back to Vancouver. I was tired of watching the Canucks games with my dad all the time, so I put out this TikTok video saying we need more girls in Vancouver to watch the games with together. The video blew up, and all the girls were like, we need this. We need a community. We need someone to bring us together. It kind of happened overnight, and I was like we need to put this company together. It's grown very quickly, and three weeks later, here we are."

One of the many who responded to Curtis' Tiktok was Jaslyne Sunday. Like Curtis, Sunday wanted to create a community where female fans could meet up and enjoy sports together. As Sunday explains, she was very excited when she saw Curtis' original TikTok and jumped at the opportunity to join what later became Girls at the Games.

"I saw Emmy's initial TikTok, and I was like, yes, yes, please," said Sunday. Being a female sports fan is not the easiest thing in the world. I had maybe one friend to be able to go games with. If she was busy, well, I don't really want to go by myself. I have always been a sports fan. I grew up in a household where sports was always on. Sportsnet, TSN, you name it, it was always on. My dad would go as far as seeing what kind of interesting sports he could get us to watch without us complaining. Being a sports fan is great, but you miss out on a lot of the connection piece with other women. When I saw the call, I was like, yes, this is what I want to do."

Both Curtis and Sunday are big hockey fans. While Curtis remains loyal to the Vancouver Canucks, Sunday still splits her fandom between Vancouver and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both also have had special moments with the Canucks, which involved meeting players.

For Curtis, her favourite moment came on his 13th birthday, which involved meeting Kevin Bieksa. According to Curtis, her dad purchased tickets to a game and afterwards brought her down to the tunnel area, where she had the chance to meet Bieksa. When asked about the moment, Curtis said, "I just remember being half in awe because I just couldn't believe that. I was standing there giving Kevin Bieksa a hug. Then, the other half of me was like, I am wearing a blue and green sequin, like clown costume. I have face paint all over myself, and my hair is blue. I did the whole get-up, and I was like, this is so embarrassing, but I'm also meeting my favourite hockey player of all time. So it was just such a special memory."

As for Sunday, her favourite moment came in 2019 when she was still a "die-hard Leafs fan." After a game against the New York Islanders, she and her friends were invited to the tunnel, where they had the opportunity to chat with Bo Horvat. Being from Ontario, Sunday was able to bond with Horvat's family, who were also in town to watch him play. As for her current fandom, Sunday said, "Leafs are still number one, don't get me wrong, but the Canucks, I've warmed up quite a bit since that first game."

While there are online groups and forums, a company like Girls at the Games doesn't really exist. In general, when watch parties are planned, the majority of people who attend are male, which can make female attendees somewhat uncomfortable. When asked about growing up as female sports fans, both Curtis and Sunday explained how options like Girls at the Games never existed and, now that it does, how important of an organization it can be for those in the community.

"This is the first time that this has ever been brought about for an actual meetup, said Sunday. "Yes, there are online communities, there are sports girls' clubs, there are hockey girls' clubs, there are all these things that are online, which is great for the parasocial aspect, but actual in-person connection. I honestly did not think that this would be a thing. So, when I saw it, I was like, yes, I want to be a part of it somehow. Let me use whatever connections and skills that I have to forward this because this is what a lot of people have been waiting for."

Curtis followed up by saying, "I think for me, from my perspective, my dad raised me just as a sports fan. I wasn't a female sports fan. I wasn't a girl who liked sports. I was just a sports fan, period. I never grew up thinking that I was different or that there wasn't a space for me in the industry. My family just said, hey, if you want it, you can have it. You can be whoever you want to be. So that's how I was when I was younger. Then, growing up, I realized, oh, there's really a lack of opportunity. And there really is this divisive culture in being a woman who likes sports. When I moved back to Vancouver, I was like, we need something here. Vancouver is in desperate need of a Girls At The Games. We need this in-person community to bring women together because there's just nothing like it. Today, I'm so happy that we have it."

One of the goals for Girls at the Games is to remove some of the uncomfortable parts of watching sports. As Sunday points out, some people believe that women can't be sports fans and will often berate them with rival comments such as "If you're a fan, then tell me all the stats from 2012" in an attempt to validate their fandom. Curtis, who has worked in sports for over a decade, has also dealt with similar comments throughout her life. As Curtis explains, not having to deal with these comments and poor behaviour is another reason why Vancouver needs an organization like Girls at the Games.

"I've worked in sports since I was 14, so it's been kind of my whole teenage and early adult life. Unfortunately, it's something that women, especially if you're around the sports culture 24/7, is something that we deal with. It sucks, and it's not something we don't want to have to deal with. I think that the industry is slowly changing and we are being recognized for our skill set and our knowledge a lot more, but it can be tricky. You definitely do have to be strong. I think that's why we have Girls At The Games. This is a safe community for women to come together to talk about sports and share their sports fandom in a safe community where we don't have to feel judged for just being a sports fan."

Related: How Vancouver Fans In Attendance For PWHL Takeover Tour Felt About The Night

Recently, Girls at the Games hosted a watch party during the PWHL's Takeover Tour in Vancouver. On top of the watch party, where fans witnessed the Montréal Victoire defeat the Toronto Sceptres, there was an event after the game where fans could meet up and enjoy the rest of the night. As Curtis explained, it was a highly successful evening and one that showed how many female sports fans are interested in what Girls at the Games are doing.

"I think it's a bit of like a two-parter because we hosted our first watch party, which was so great, it ended up having a great attendance, said Curtis. "All the girls were just so happy that we had a community of girls to watch sports with. Lots of girls came along because what we find is in lots of female friend groups; maybe one or two enjoy sports, and the others don't. It's hard to find other girls who actually do enjoy watching sports games. So, it's a great opportunity to come together. The girls showed up in their PWHL jerseys, and the event was really great. We're looking forward to hosting more PWHL games. I think, as someone who grew up just outside of Vancouver, there was just never anything like the PWHL. We had no women's pro sports that I could look up to as a young athlete, so for me to just see the PWHL game, to see the sold-out arena really gave me chills. It's a little bit inspirational and exciting about the future of women's sports in Vancouver."

As for the immediate future, Girls at the Games already has some plans in the works. Their next watch party is scheduled for January 23, when the Canucks take on the Edmonton Oilers, which will take place at GRETA Bar in downtown Vancouver. They also plan on hosting a variety of events, including networking opportunities to help women who are trying to get into the industry. While they have only been around for a few months, it is safe to say that Girls at the Games is already creating a Safer environment for women to watch sports in Vancouver.

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