MONTREAL — With two young girls at home and another baby girl on the way, Jake and Shannon Allen are committed to encouraging female sports participation in the city.
The couple purchased a pair of half-season tickets (two seats) and donated them to a non-profit organization Sun Youth so girls aged 8-13 registered in their competitive football, competitive basketball and hockey development programs could enjoy a special night at the Bell Center this year.
The veteran goaltender is hopeful that the unique experience of attending an NHL game up-close and feeling the incredible energy in the building could inspire these kids to continue pursuing their own athletic dreams and reach for the stars.
“Sport does a lot of good for kids. It creates opportunities for friendships and teamwork, helps build connections, and stresses commitment. I want to encourage these girls to keep going in the sports they’re involved in and show them what’s possible at the highest level,” said Allen, who just signed a two-year contract extension through the 2024-25 campaign. “There’s more to attending an NHL game than just watching players chase a puck around. It’s about the whole in-arena experience and the realization that anything is possible if you really work for it.”
Nine-year-old basketball player Maya Brdar was the first beneficiary on September 26 against the New Jersey Devils.
Thirteen-year-old football player Florence Francken was the second beneficiary on October 4 against the Ottawa Senators.
We caught up with Sun Youth’s Director of Community Services and Athletics, Guinness Rider, to learn more about the anticipated impact of the Allens’ initiative.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
How will this program help you achieve your mandate of increasing girls’ participation in sports?
GR: It’ll really help us build excitement for girls within our sports program. It’s going to raise the program’s profile and raise awareness, and awareness is critical. It’s also fun to go to a game, and we’ve seen again and again in studies that the main reasons why girls get involved in sports are social acceptance and having fun. Winning is way, way down on the list. It doesn’t even register for young kids. They want to be part of a team, they want to play hard, and they want to have fun doing it. I can’t think of a better way to get excited about a sport socially or enjoyment-wise than by going to a live NHL game, especially when you know that it’s courtesy of one of the players. This is Jake saying to the girls, ‘I’m seeing you, I’m putting my spotlight on you, you can do this if you want it and set your mind to it.’ That’s going to help us get girls interested in sports and keep them engaged.
What do you believe girls will take from their Canadiens experience?
GR: There’s an absolute electricity and an emotional charge of being at a live pro sports event. Hockey is more than just a sport in Montreal. There’s a feeling when you walk through the doors of the Bell Center. We hope that feeling builds in kids. It’s also very important for kids to see some sort of pathway, even if it’s men playing and girls in the stands. People love the idea that they’re part of something bigger, and when you walk into an arena, you feel like you’re part of the family of fans and you’re part of something bigger. For girls in sports, there’s also a big issue with a lack of role models. In this case, though, they know they’re there because one of the Canadiens gave them tickets. That’s a lot of fun. They can look at their parent, guardian or friend and say, ‘That guy in the newspaper, that guy that we saw the highlights of on YouTube, he wanted me to be here.’ Shannon is a role model for these girls, too, and having a woman in the mix is very, very important. It’s critical for these kids to have women like her to look up to.
Video: Jake Allen on his new two-year contract
What does this effort by Jake and Shannon mean to Sun Youth?
GR: I know first-hand the state of girls’ participation in sports programs and the availability of sports programs, and the fact is that they are very low, and that’s a real issue. I feel like we’re at ground zero when it comes to our sports programs for girls at Sun Youth, so this is going to help us build towards something bigger in the future. Our kids are usually 12 and under, so they’re quite young. This is a critical age to get girls involved in sports. That involvement isn’t just going to your team’s practices and games, but also having experiences like attending a Canadiens game. That’s a bigger factor than people account for. When this initiative came up, it was a no-brainer that we were going to accept and we were delighted that this happened.
.