Former Team Canada short-track speedskater Wren Acorn has started a new podcast that will feature in-depth conversations with the North's top athletes SA国际影视传媒� past, present and future.
The podcast, titled "Stories from the North," is available on Spotify. Episodes will be released every Tuesday. The first, which saw Acorn being interviewed, dropped on Oct. 29. The second installment, featuring an interview with Iqaluit-based speed skater Akutaq Williamson Bathory, was published on Nov. 5.
"[Williamson Bathory and I] just had a great conversation," said the 21-year-old Acorn, who was born in Yellowknife, later lived in Calgary, and is now attending Concordia University in Montreal. "I think it's a great one to launch with. We touched a lot on how sport gives kids purpose and it ties communities together, and how we form connections through sport. I'm really excited about this first episode because I think it's a really good one."
Acorn's new podcast is a collaborative effort with Physical Literacy NWT, an organization that strives to boost activity levels and build community engagement across the territory. The broadcast first started coming together last year when Acorn, who retired from competitive skating earlier this year, started looking for "ways to give back" to the NWT sports community.
"I feel so proud to have come from the North as an athlete," she said. "It hasn't been an easy road. Obviously, there's been a lot more twists and turns than someone from more southern regions in Canada, but I like it. I have always had so much pride to represent the Northwest Territories, and I wanted to kind of share that pride with other people.
"My community bonded around me, and I wanted to give back, but I also wanted the same to happen for other athletes. [I wanted] to give a platform to their stories and make sure that we all know their names, and that everyone in the North is excited for them and proud of them, and that they feel that they can be proud of where they come from because that really unites us as a small place."
There are many Northern athletes that Acorn would love to speak to and, as luck would have it, she has already interviewed a few of them for podcast episodes that will be released in the coming weeks. There are still a few athletes she is hoping to connect with, including Yellowknife curling star Kerry Galusha, but she also wants to make it a priority to speak to people from outside the capital city, particularly younger people.
"I've been reaching out to coaches and territorial sport organizations to recommend any kids who they think would have something important to say," she said.
The theme of her podcast is "we are all team NT." She hopes that will encourage people to listen SA国际影视传媒� whether they are athletes, coaches or fans.
"This isn't just about the athletes, this is about who the athletes are inspiring, the up-and-coming kids who are engaging at the grassroots level," she said. "It's about the coaches who dedicate their time. It's about parents who are volunteering and getting their kids out to practice. It's about volunteers at big competitions that make it run smoothly, and the workers at sports facilities, and the people who maintain field houses and all these kids of facilities. All of us have a part in the success of our athletes in the North, and we all get to share in the celebration of it.
"I really saw that as an athlete. I would hear from so many people, so many connections SA国际影视传媒� close ones and distant ones SA国际影视传媒� and we all had pride about the fact that I was an athlete from the North, out there, doing well. People want to be involved. They want to celebrate Northern excellence, and that's what we hope to achieve [with this podcast]."
