Quinn, the trans nonbinary Canadian soccer star, is planning for a very busy second half of 2023. Attempting to win their country’s first World Cup is only one item on their to-do list.
While their Quinn’s concentration will be on the World Cup pitch starting with Canada’s match against Nigeria this week, they’re also keeping their eyes on creating a better future for athletes like them.
Following the tournament, Quinn will be launching a one-on-one mentorship program for eight gender diverse and girl soccer players in Canada called the See Them, Be Them initiative.
As part of the program, Quinn will personally guid eight young athletes from ages 13 to 17. In addition, Quinn will provide virtual mentorship sessions for up to 100 additional girls and gender diverse soccer hopefuls. See Them, Be Them is a great opportunity for one of the LGBTQ athletic community’s most significant barrier breakers to help grow their sport.
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During the 2021 Tokyo Games, Quinn became the first out transgender nonbinary athlete to win an Olympic gold medal, doing so with Team Canada’s Women’s Soccer squad.
So if any young transgender and nonbinary athletes wonder what they can accomplish, all Quinn has to do is point to their gold medal. Quinn understands the important role they can play in their mentees’ burgeoning athletic careers.
“Being a transgender athlete, it was difficult to see my place in sports and see that I belong,” Quinn explained to Streets of Toronto writer Julia Mastroianni, “And the same goes for cisgender girls who are navigating their experience. We have a male dominated sports culture in North America and they deserve to see they have a place in this sport.”
See Them, Be Them will enable Quinn to leave a legacy for the next generation of LGBTQ athletes in soccer. But first, they’re focused on adding to their historic achievements by becoming the first out trans and non-binary athlete to win a World Cup with Team Canada.
“We’ve obviously never won a World Cup and to be honest, in the past we haven’t performed in the ways that we’ve wanted to,” they admitted. “For us, coming off an Olympic gold medal, it’s a unique experience. We were world leaders in that sense, and so I think it’s a different perspective this time around: not as underdogs but as the team to beat.”
That belief in themself could carry Team Canada far once the tournament gets underway. No matter where they finish, Quinn’s post-World Cup initiative will help build that level of necessary self-confidence in the next generation of transgender and non-binary soccer players.
