The Face First Podcast - Presented by KidSport

He’s a World and Olympic champion in skeleton. He’s a fire fighter. He’s a multi-sport coach and founder of Dark Horse Athletic. Now, he’s an author! Duff Gibson joins Grace and Alysia to share about his multi-sport journey, discovering the sport of skeleton at age 33, his experiences in physical and mental training for skeleton, and more!

Grace and Alysia are joined by Jean Claude (JC) Munyezamu, founder and executive director of Soccer Without Boundaries and Umoja Community Mosaic. JC talks about his work with the two organizations and how they grew to serve an unmet need in the community by providing hundreds of youth the structure and discipline of sport, a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie, and experiences through which true community can be built.

Former WHL hockey player Chris Cederstrand had a life altering work place accident causing his right leg to be amputated above the knee. After being told the best activity he would be able to do was bowl, he has embarked on a journey that has seen him become North America’s First above knee amputee firefighter as well as representing his country on the National Sledge Hockey Team.

Becoming an alternate for the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi and winning many international medals, including a silver medal at the 2015 IPC World Championships. Since retiring in 2017, Chris has become the adaptive director at the hockey school PX3 AMP where his sledge program is completely free for kids with disabilities.

Chris works with Kidsport Calgary as an athlete ambassador helping under privileged kids afford sport and has started the Cederstrand Foundation which helps kids with disabilities purchase adaptive sports equipment. Chris also coaches the provincial sledge team which has won four consecutive national titles. For his efforts, Chris was named one of Shaw’s 50 Outstanding Canadians for his work in the community.

Grace and Alysia are joined by certified exercise physiologist and multi-sport advocate Lea Wiens. Lea is a master learning facilitator with over 30 years of experience developing leader and organizational capacity in community sport and recreation, schools and provincial and national sport organizations.

In this Host-to-Host episode, co-hosts Alysia Rissling & Grace Dafoe recap the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and reflect on their favourite moments from the Games, including the medal-winning performances by Canadian athletes Andre De Grasse, Damian Warner, Penny Oleksiak, the Canadian women's soccer team, and more!

Fresh off the plane home from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Canadian Olympian, multi-time Canadian Champion in canoe slalom, and KidSport ambassador Haley Daniels joins co-hosts Grace and Alysia to share about her pioneering efforts over the years to include women’s canoeing in the Olympic Games, her competition experience in Tokyo, and well as her involvement in the local, provincial, and national sport and canoeing communities.

KidSport ambassador and Beijing 2022 Olympic hopeful Jess Neufeld joins Grace and Alysia to share about his current Olympic journey to Beijing 2022. Jess shares about his beginnings as a multi-sport athlete and how he got into speed skating.

Heidi Kostick and Karen Kelm join Grace and Alysia to talk about Ringette Calgary’s new Ringette For All program, an adaptive ringette program designed to empower athletes by teaching them the core life skills inherent to ringette, including teamwork, communication, resilience, and inclusion, all while having fun!

Grace and Alysia are gearing up for Tokyo 2020 with a hot topic discussion on moms on sport, specifically the mothers that are heading to the games. They look at the stories of Canadian athletes Mandy Bujold (boxing) and Kim Gaucher (basketball), the struggles they have faced as moms in sport, and more!

Did you know that there are rules about drug use that all athletes across the world are required to follow during a competition? Grace and Alysia discuss the story of American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s competition ban after testing positive for cannabis during the U.S. Olympic Trials back in June. The co-hosts talk about the rules set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), why these rules exist, and how the legalization of cannabis in select parts of the world has impacted the anti-doping landscape in sport.