Photo courtesy of Ailish Forfar
After leaving an unmatched imprint on the Ryerson Rams women’s hockey program in only two years, star forward Ailish Forfar continues her career on the other side of the camera. The second-year RTA sport media major came back from Pyeongchang last month after video blogging about the Paralympics.
Forfar won the opportunity to cover the Paralympics by submitting a video to a contest by Samsung. She boarded the plane to South Korea only days after her career as a Ram came to a close. The experience allowed her to reflect on her journey as an athlete.
Photo courtesy of Ailish Forfar
“I’ve had success, but now I can tell stories of Paralympians just as passionate as me,” said Forfar.
Forfar came to Ryerson in 2016 after playing three years at Dartmouth College, As team captain this season, she led scoring with 11 goals and 23 points and helped the Rams earn their first ever post-season win.
She’s also a dynamo off-ice, where she’s an Academic All-Canadian and participated in a humanitarian trip to Cambodia last year. This year, she’ll serve as a student leader helping to fundraise and plan a humanitarian trip to Ghana. As captain, she pushes her teammates to contribute to the community.
“She has an ambition to help others and that’s what makes her a great leader,” said head coach Lisa Haley. “She recognized her role as captain is about making those around her better players and that’s what she focuses on doing both on and off the ice.”
While in Korea, Forfar received the news she was the first Ryerson women’s hockey player to win the prestigious Marion Hilliard Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to community service.
The blogging experience follows the humanitarian ethos of her other travels.
“It was a culmination of everything sports is to me, specifically the level of unity and global connectedness of sports,” said Forfar.
The experience was one she said she would “never forget.”
By Julia Ranney
This is a joint byline.
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