Away From The Play

This week, Safs spoke to Emmarae Dale, a linebacker for the Saskatoon Hilltops. She made history by becoming the first woman to play in the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL). Tune in to learn more about this amazing athlete, how she discovered football, what she experienced when she joined the Hilltops and her expectations moving forward.Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs). Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

Mel spoke to Canadian national team member Jessie Eldridge about her successful hockey career thus far, including her time in Ontario's PWHL, choosing the right NCAA school and finding happiness and success at Colgate University and representing Team Canada. Eldridge holds the Colgate Raiders' women's hockey team record for the most points in program history with 163 (74 G, 89 A) in 153 games.Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs). Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

This week, Mel and Safs spoke to Daniel Sailofsky, a PhD candidate at McGill University with the department of sociology. He studies violence, masculinity, sports and social media and has coached men's and women's basketball at the CEGEP and university levels. Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs)) Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

Two-time Olympic medalist Lauriane Rougeau shares memories from the Olympics, including the story behind her two black eyes in Pyeongchang, and speaks about her time in hockey and more in this week’s edition of Women’s Hockey Monday. Rougeau is not only a stalwart on the blue line but also your go-to person for anything about TV and movies.nbsp; Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs) Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

This week, Mel and Safs spoke to HC Lugano's goaltending coach Michael Lawrence. A two-time Spengler Cup champion with Team Canada, Michael's career has taken him to the OHL, KHL, ECHL and now Switzerland's National League. We talked about his journey through the ranks and the ins and outs of being a goalie coach.nbsp;Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs)Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

For Women’s Hockey Monday, we spoke to Olympian Geneviève Lacasse, a member of the Canadian women’s national hockey team team and the PWHPA, to talk about her career, ask her some fun questions and her thoughts on the pandemic and what she’s learned over the past year.Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs).Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

Marilou Duvernay-Tardif has been an athlete her whole life. Surrounded by equally athletic siblings like Super Bowl Champion Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Marilou fell in love with rowing as a teenager. Since then, she has become a member of Canada's national rowing team and has represented her country at the World U-23 Championships.nbsp; Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs). Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

This week, we spoke to Mare MacDougall Bari, an assistant caoch with the St.Lawrence University women's hockey team. We talked about the pandemic, how it's affecting student athletes, how she got into coaching and more.nbsp;This episode was recorded in summer 2020.Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs)Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for our music and Nay Maalouf for our logo!

This week, Mel and Safs spoke to Fabrice Vil, founder of Pour 3 Points, a not-for-profit organisation based in Montreal that trains sports coaches to become life coaches to assist underprivileged youth, and Bruce Lee, youth worker and coach-in-training. Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (AwayFromThePlay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs)Special thank you to Matthieu Brutus for the music and Nay Maalouf for the logo!

We are back with a brand new WoHo Monday featuring Cassandra Poudrier, retired CWHL defenseman and Executive Director of La Maison des Champions which is a not-for-profit that helps athletes, war veterans and individuals working in high-performance fields transition into life after work.nbsp; We spoke about her transition from her life as an athlete to her current job.This episode was recorded in summer 2020.Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook (AwayFromThePlay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs)Special thank you to Matthieu Brutus for the music and Nay Maalouf for the logo!

This week, your hosts caught up with a former member of Les Canadiennes de Montréal, Katia Clement-Heydra! She spoke to us about her season in Sweden, shared her thoughts on the current state of women's hockey in North America and more!This episode was recorded in summer 2020.Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, BaladoQuebec and YouTube!Follow us on Instagram (@awayfromtheplay), Facebook and Twitter (@mel_and_safs).

This week, we spoke to skeleton athlete Kim Meylemans aka The little Belgian! She made history in 2018 by becoming the first Belgian skeleton athlete to participate in the Olympics. Achieving several top 10 World Cup results and placing 5th at 2017 World Championships, we talked to her about her career, the ins and outs of skeleton and much more. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and BaladoQuebec!Follow us on Facebook (/AwayFromThePlay), Instagram (@awayfromtheplay) and Twitter (@mel_and_safs)Special thanks to Matthieu Brutus for the music and Nay Maalouf for the logo!

Introducing Women's Hockey Monday (aka WoHo Monday!) where we release bi-weekly episodes with members of the women's hockey community! To kick off 2021, we spoke to two-time Olympic gold medalist Marie-Philip Poulin about training in a pandemic, the PWHPA, her career and more! This episode was recorded in November 2020. We're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, BaladoQuebec and YouTube!Find us on Instagram and Facebook at AwayFromThePlay and on Twitter at Mel_and_Safs.Special thanks to Mathieu Brutus for the music and Nay Maalouf for the logo!

Mel and Safs spoke to Alex Ibaceta, a freelance sports journalist covering women's soccer in England. She is a FA WSL correspondent for Equalizer Soccer and Women's Football Deputy Editor for VAVEL. Her passion for soccer shines through this episode as she speaks candidly about becoming a sports journalist, the state of women's soccer and her playing days in Chile and Montreal.nbsp; This episode was recorded in November 2020. Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=en Facebook and Instagram: Away From The Play Twitter Mel_and_Safs YouTube: Away From The Play Podcast https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-play

This week, Mel and Safs receive sports agent and attorney, Sasha Ghavami, to talk about his journey into becoming a sports agent. They discuss the ins-and-outs of the profession, including the differences between getting an NFL and CFL certification, the art of negotiation and attracting clients, and more. Sasha also shares stories from one of his most successful clients and long-time friend, Super Bowl Champion and M.D. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and speaks fondly of the company he started with his mother, Vision Ahead and After Sports, a sports management and representation agency.This episode was recorded in November 2020.Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=enFacebook and Instagram: Away From The PlayTwitter Mel_and_Safs YouTube: Away From The Play Podcast https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-play

Mel and Safs welcome Bianca Molnar to the podcast this week. She is the Assistant Manager, Event Services at Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) and has worked in in-game hosting across the world. She talks to us about those two distinct realities, how sports will come back during this pandemic and how she got her start in both fields. This episode was recorded in summer 2020. Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=enFacebook and Instagram: Away From The PlayTwitter Mel_and_SafsYouTube: Away From The Play Podcasthttps://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-play

This week, Mel and Safs welcome WNBA star Napheesa Collier, a guard for the Minnesota Lynx. We talk about the bubble this past summer, the social justice movements that took place and her podcast, Tea with A amp; Phee, that she started with Las Vegas Aces star A'Ja Wilson, among other topics. This episode was recorded at the end of October 2020.Check out Tea with A and Phee here: https://www.instagram.com/wnbatea/ Napheesa Collier: https://www.instagram.com/napheesa24/Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=enFacebook and Instagram: Away From The Play Twitter Mel_and_SafsYouTube: Away From The Play Podcasthttps://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-play

Mel and Safs welcome Julian McKenzie and Tristan D'Amours to talk about their award-winning podcast, The Scrum Podcast. Addressing issues that go beyond the realm of sports, these two seasoned podcasters are honest and humble friends of the show.nbsp;Subscribe to The Scrum Podcast wherever you get podcasts! (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.) Follow them on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram): https://twitter.com/thescrumpodcastMusic by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=en Find the podcast on Facebook and Instagram (Away From The Play) and Twitter (Mel_and_Safs) https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-playnbsp;

Mel and Safs welcome CFL Hall of Famer and three-time Grey Cup champion Anthony Calvillo to talk about his coaching career at the U SPORTS and CFL levels. They also get his thoughts on the CFL's current predicament as the league cancelled their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and look back on his playing career.nbsp; Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=en Find the podcast on Facebook and Instagram (Away From The Play) and Twitter (Mel_and_Safs) https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-playnbsp;

Mel and Safs speak to Dr. Courtney Szto, a professor in the department of kinesiology at Queen's University, about her policy paper on anti-racism in Canadian hockey released in March 2020.nbsp; She is also the senior editor of Hockey in Society, a blog that looks at hockey from critical eye and started Offside Plays, a social media project that looks into various forms of discrimination in sports. This fall, she released a book titled "Changing on the Fly:nbsp;Hockey Through the Voices of South Asian Canadians." Link to policy paper: https://hockeyinsociety.com/2020/03/02/exclusive-policy-paper-for-anti-racism-in-hockey/Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=enFollow the podcast on Facebook and Instagram (Away From The Play) and Twitter (Mel_and_Safs)https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-playnbsp;

Annie Guglia, a professional skateboarder set to represent Canada at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, spoke to Mel and Safs about the ins and outs of professional skateboarding.nbsp; What were her thoughts on the sport joining the Olympics? How does judging function at different competitions? What kind of training goes into being a skateboarder? Find all that and more! Check out her thesis on the skateboarding industry (yes, she also has a thesis on top of being a trailblazing skateboarder!): https://annieguglia.ca/downloads/ More about Annie: http://www.annieguglia.ca/ | https://www.facebook.com/anniegugliaskateboardernbsp; Skateboarding groups in Montreal that promote the inclusion of girls and women in skateboarding: Vagabonnes: https://www.facebook.com/vagabonnes/ Daisys Angels: https://www.facebook.com/daisysangelscollective Music by Matthieu Brutus!nbsp;https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=en Find the podcast on Facebook and Instagram (Away From The Play) and Twitter (Mel_and_Safs) https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-playnbsp;

In this episode, Mel and Safs speak to Concordia University economics professor Moshe Lander about sports economics and specifically on how to build a sustainable, professional women's hockey league in the context of the PWHPA. They also discuss the current models used by the WNBA and the NWSL and discuss the changes in governance recently announced by the NWHL.nbsp;Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=en Follow the podcast on Facebook and Instagram (Away From The Play) and Twitter (Mel_and_Safs)https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-playnbsp;

In their first episode back under the new title Away From The Play, Melanie and Safia welcome comedian and entertainer Kevin Raphael for the second part of a two-part conversation that began on his podcast, Sans Restriction. They talk to Kevin about the very beginning of his career, philanthropy and impressions on the Black Lives Matter movement that took place in sports this summer.nbsp;Check out the first part of the conversation here: https://bit.ly/33QQEPuhttps://www.facebook.com/Kevin.Raphael.humoriste Music by Matthieu Brutus! https://www.instagram.com/matthieubrutus41/?hl=enFind the podcast on Facebook and Instagram (Away From The Play) and Twitter (Mel_and_Safs) https://baladoquebec.ca/#!/away-from-the-playnbsp;

After a long pause, Mel and Safs are proud to bring the podcast back to life! They tease some changes to come and encourage folx to stay tuned!You can find the podcast exclusively on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.nbsp;Follow Safia and Mel on Twitter @Safs_OnTheGo and @melTheRock

Mel and guest Co-Host Karell Emard were live from the Ottawa Hockey Analytics Conference to discuss Hockey analytics and the state of women’s hockey. www.upfordnetwork.com

Mel and Safs speak to two members of the PWHPA, Karell Emard and Jamie Goldsmith about what's happening in women's hockey right now! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Mel amp; Safs speak with special guest Julie Yew about the importance of Massage Therapy and Acupuncture! www.atelierpalestra.com/ m.facebook.com/atelierpalestra/ Upford Network Panel! www.facebook.com/events/326026118321341/ Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Did you know that Montreal has an elite female tackle football team! ? Safia Ahmad and guest host Alex Perez spoke to Andréanne Dupont and Saadia Ashraf of the Montreal Blitz. Learn more about the team, it's reality and more! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Safia and Mel speak to Montrealer Dana Glowacka, who established a new world record for abdominal plank held by a woman, at 4 hours and 20 minutes! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Mel and Safs are joined by former CWHL players Karell Emard, a former CWHL player association representative, and Emma Martin, who completed her first season with the team. They discuss CWHL'S decision to cease operations and what this means for the future of women's hockey. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Mel and Safs spoke to Emmanuelle Blais, who is a coach at Montreal's CrossFit 514, owner of Summit Station Athlétique and a former professional hockey player with Les Canadiennes de Montréal of the CWHL. She shared her thoughts on the sport, CrossFit Games, her time as a dual-athlete and more. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Safia spoke to Stingers' men's hockey captain Philippe Hudon about mental health, his involvement with #BellLetsTalk and his battle with OCD. They also talk about his time with the Stingers and take a look at the last few games remaining in the regular season before heading into the playoffs. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

For our 10th episode, Mel and Safs talk holiday traditions with producer Tom (@tomzalatnai) and chat about Mel’s recent trip to China with Les Canadiennes! Happy Holidays! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Safia and Melanie spoke to Les Canadiennes' logistics and operations manager Alexandra Pellerin what her daily tasks with the team entail, from fixing things up in the lockerroom to counting the minutes leading up to puck drop and much more. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Theresa Bianco, a sports psychologist, senior lecturer amp; academic advisor at the department of psychology at Concordia University, joined Safia and Melanie to talk about the role and importance of sports psychology and differences in approaches between individual athletes and teams. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

We wanted to take a minute to reflect on the awesome interviews we've had over the past couple of months! We don't usually have time to do that right after the interviews, so we thought, why not debrief a bunch of them all at once! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

This week, something a little different- here's a FULL EPISODE of one of our sister shows on the Upford Network, Changing On The Fly! We're actually both featured in this episode, and thought it'd be a fun chance to introduce you to another of the great shows on our network! Enjoy! (We'll have a normal episode again next week)

This week we spoke with PhD candidate Adrienne Crampton! She tells us a little bit about her research in concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries and helps us understand the biology and physiology behind such injuries. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Melanie and Safia spoke to Canadian rugby national team player Frédérique Rajotte about her training habits, how she started playing rugby and the adversity she has faced. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Melanie and Safia speak to the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team head scout Justin Shemie about recruiting in hockey, how he identifies elite talent in athletes, and his goalie camp Pro Goaltending. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Safia and Melanie speak to sports activist, public speaker and freelance writer Shireen Ahmed about how the media addressed the rape allegations against soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and how the media shape our perception of elite athletes. Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Safia and Mel speak with Cory Kennedy (@corykSandC), Strength and Conditioning lead at L’institut National du Sport du Quebec, about his role in developing elite athletes. They discuss his personal strength and conditioning style, how training differs between sports and between athletes, as well as how new tech helps him in achieving peak performance from his athletes. Welcome to The Last Stretch! In this new podcast series, hosts Melanie Desrochers and Safia Ahmad will be interviewing athletes and the people behind the scenes who help make them great at what they do! In this intro episode, we get to know our hosts a bit. Keep an eye out for our first interview, coming out next week! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com

Welcome to The Last Stretch! In this new podcast series, hosts Melanie Desrochers and Safia Ahmad will be interviewing athletes and the people behind the scenes who help make them great at what they do! In this intro episode, we get to know our hosts a bit. Keep an eye out for our first interview, coming out next week! Music by James Blonde! jamesblonde.ca @LastStretchPod @safs_onthego @meltherock www.upfordnetwork.com