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SPORTS Visit waterloochronicle.ca for more coverage Kaillie Humphriesknows the im-portance ofevents like this. Humphries, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist and paralympian Marissa Papaconstantinou were on hand at the Jumpstart Games, as part of the Women and Girls in Sport Initiative, which took place at the Core Lifestyle and Recreation Complex on March 8 in Kitchener. Fittingly, it was In- ternational Women's Day. 120 girls, ages 8-14, from Westmount and Winston Churchill schools, partici- pated in the activity-filled day, which included para- chute, wheelchair curling, dancing, golf, capture the flag, and blind soccer. "We know past the age of 13, a lot of young fe- males drop off in sport," Humphries said. "Whether it's that their friends don't do it, it's not cool, their muscles are going to grow too big, their interest changes, whatever it is. So, the more we can foster the team dynamic, the more we can make sport a safe and great place for fe- males to go. It helps build confidence, it helps build teamwork, leadership, goal setting and all the things sports bring in." Bobsledder and Jump- start ambassador Hum- phries along with Papa- constantinou, a track athlete, said events like the one on Thursday are very important for young girls, especially since a lot stop playing sports as they grow older. "Definitely seeing all the girls participating is awesome, because I mean, they're the next genera- tion," said the 18-year-old Papaconstantinou, who ran for Canada at the 2016 Rio games. "There's a huge percentage of girls that stop doing sport when they hit puberty, and so just seeing everybody here today, being active, par- taking in everything and just gaining that confi- dence is really awesome." The girls rotated through the six events throughout the day, and secondary school students from Huron Heights vol- unteered, helping the event run very smoothly. The dancing event got the legs going not only of the girls, but several members of the Canadian Tire staff and volunteers on hand, as well as Humphries and Papaconstantinou. The wheelchair curling was a hit, too. Humphries herself was quite the hit, as she took several pictures with members of the staff and the girls. Her three Olym- pic medals were there, too. Papaconstantinou and Humphries also empha- sized the importance of girls and athletes having idols to look up to, and the two of them definitely made several new fans on Thursday. "Knowing a lot of these girls just watched the Olympics, and being able to resonate with them, play with them, to partici- pate in sports and be phys- ically active is really im- portant to me, as a kid that grew up in sports" said Humphries, who won a bronze medal in Pyeong- chang just last month. Humphries, who was an alpine skier before transitioning to the sled, looked up to Austrian gold-medallist Hermann Maier as well as three- time Canadian Olympic gold-medallist Marnie McBean. The 32-year-old from Calgary said gender equi- ty was one of the biggest barriers she faced and is still facing as a female bobsledder. There is still no four-man bobsleigh event for women in the Olympics. "It's still something that I'm fighting drastically and very hard for. Not having women's 4-man bobsleigh as an event, that's an obstacle that I'm really trying to overcome and help dismantle." Sport and Tourism Minister Daiene Vernile was also on hand for the event along with various representatives from Ca- nadian Tire and Jump- start. "There's so many barri- ers that exist that prevent young girls from getting involved in sports, maybe it's financial, maybe it's transportation, it might be cultural," Vernille said. "So an event like his going to get them actively in- volved in sports and per- haps it might plant a seed and they'll continue being physically active for the rest of their lives." "It's an investment in their health now and in the future." Kaillie Humphries won a gold medal in Vancouver, gold in Sochi, and a bronze in Pyeong Chang as a pilot in bobsleigh. Namish Modi/Metroland Kaillie Humphries, Marissa Papaconstantinou stars of the show at Jumpstart Games NAMISH MODI nmodi@waterloochronicle.ca