Taking A Stand: Stephanie Labbé Fighting for Inclusion

The 31-year-old Canadian keeper, is in an unfamiliar situation fighting for gender equality in the Premier Development League. Labbé who won her spot fair and square on the Calgary Foothills FC team was blocked from playing from the league because of her gender.

Labbé is and has been a quality keeper for the Canadian national team and won a bronze medal with the team at the OIympics in 2016. In her prime years it would be important for Labbé to get to fulfill the opportunities she earned and rightfully deserved.

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

In preparation for the 2019 women's World Cup, the playing time she will get up until there will be very important for her own career and for the national team. Labbé has enjoyed the opportunity that she received in training with the Foothills team. The players have treated her as a teammate as they should and given her great feedback to improve to be the best that she can be with many important tournaments coming up in 2019 and 2020.

Hopefully, for Labbé, if she is seen as the best possible candidate for the job, she should be given the job. She has received some tremendous support from the soccer community. Over 7000 individuals have signed the petition to get her to play in the league (see link below).

https://www.change.org/p/let-stephanie-labb%C3%A9-compete-in-the-usl-pdl