Welcome to Strong Girl Talk, where we dive into the latest in sports science, performance, and well-being—all with a focus on women and girls in sport. This week we chat about the debrief, the chat after the event, how to approach it with curiosity instead of judgement, and learning to debrief and reflect with yourself. Of course, first up we have our sports highlights of the week.
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Don’t forget to sign up for Shred Girls Weekend, May 31 and June 1 at the Mansfield Outdoor Centre, which is Shred Girls Book 4 Launch at the Mansfield Outdoor Centre. Both Sasha & Molly will be there, alongside other Strong Girl Publishing authors.
Sports Highlights:
Sunday was the last of the Abbott World Major Marathons, the TCS London Marathon. More than 840,000 people applied to participate in the TCS London Marathon, and there are 56,000 bibs available. We loved to see that the marathon earned the highest sustainability rating from the Council for Responsible Sport, Evergreen Status. Looking at other work London Marathon Group does including making events more accessible, funding for equity-owed groups, and their House of Sport, we applaud all the work they do to make events and sport more accessible to all.
There were a few women’s only records broken this weekend:
At The TCS London Marathon the Women’s Only Marathon Record (meaning the women raced solo and were not paced by men) was broken by Tigist Assefa (pending World Athletics ratification) running 2:15:50.
On April 26 Adidas hosted the Adizero Road to Records in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Agnes Ngetich broke the women’s only 10k road record running 29:27.
In a women’s only Ironman branded event, Kat Matthews had the fastest time for the swim-bike-run 8:10:34 at The Woodlands in Texas.
Other Highlights:
Ok, we’re also highlighting Canadian Tamara Jewett who debuted at the Ironman The Woodlands. She finished 6th in her first full Ironman distance. TJ was Sasha’s teammate and one of the reasons Sasha got back into middle distance running.
The Afghan Road Cycling Champion, Fariba Hashimi, rode Liège-Bastogne-Liège, one of the 5 UCI Monument races. Thank you to the UCI for drawing attention to the challenges that women face, not just with sport, but with gender equity in Afghanistan. In addition to this monumental moment was Kim Pienaar’s win at this same race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège; she is the first African woman to win a monument, and the first Mauritian to win a monument race.
Kelsie Whitmore, pitcher and outfielder, is the first woman to be on a MLB (Major League Baseball) roster.
The PWHL expands to Vancouver in 2025-26 and rumour has it an 8th team will be added soon.
The Northern Super League, NSL, weekend #2 was underway. This week the NSL posted on Instagram about the injury Amanda West suffered while playing for AFC Toronto - “The Northern Super League is disappointed to learn of the injury sustained by Amanda West while playing for AFC Toronto.” Yes, they went on to say that the league is work to ensure Amanad receives support and treatment, but as this relates to our conversation this week, words matter.
The Miriam Webster Dictionary defines disappoint (vb) as “to fail to meet the expectation,” rooted in feelings of frustration. What we think the NSL meant was that they were saddened for Amanda. Let’s think about this with ourselves, with those we work with, and with our kids. Let’s make sure we pick words that do not elicit shame, guilt, or other negative emotions. Let’s use words that let us see each other, recognize challenges, but invite curiosity and compassion.
The Art of the Debrief:
🧠 How to reflect with yourself
👂 How to support your child after competition
💬 How coaches can debrief with curiosity and compassion
🤝 And how leaders can create space for learning, not just evaluation
Because the best debriefs aren’t just about what went wrong—they’re about what we felt, what we learned, and how we grow.
Here are three questions you can ask yourself or others around you, including kids:
1) Tell me what you learned today. Tell me how you had fun today.
2) What did you find challenging today? What did you see?/Tell me what you saw?
3) What can I/can you do differently next time?
And to self-compassion, and honouring the work of Strong Girl Publishing author, Vanessa Coulbeck, this is meant to be imperfect, and it’s ok to make mistakes. Give yourself some self-compassion and kindness. Apologize to yourself and, if needed, to those around you.
Here are the resources we mentioned:
The UK Sport Institute, the presentation that Sasha saw at SPIN, that was all about their debrief and decompression work. This is the Australian Sport Institute’s Games Debrief Process.
You can find Amanda Stanec and Richard Way’s book, Protect the Joy, A Positive Collaborative Approach to Youth Sport.
We also mentioned work from Adam Grant, Stop Serving the Compliment Sandwich and Brene Brown’s Feedback Checklist. Sasha also mentioned listening to Michael Lewis’ podcast, Against the Rules, and season 2 touches on the art and science of coaching.
Additionally, we mentioned Netflix’s show, Bad Influence, which is all about social media and touched on communication. While it’s not about communication there were some important lessons in there for us all to remember, not just with our kids on social media but how we can engage with it in a responsible way.
Tell us what would help you debrief with yourself, with your partner, your kids, as a coach, or as a leader. Let us work with you to help you be your best.
Remember you can follow Molly and Sasha on Social Media including:
Molly - @mollyjhurford @stronggirlpublishing
Sasha - @SGollishRuns @Yellow_Running_Shoes
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