Kate Muller of Whitehorse has been profiled in Fast and Females’ “YAC Attack” newsletter. Muller, 17, is a Senior at F.H. Collins.

“I’ve been lucky to participate in a lot of amazing programs throughout my high school career, and I was doing Sports School and my mentor, Chris Kirk, introduced me to Fast and Female and I applied and I joined the Council in February of 2022.”

Muller explained what YAC is about.

“As a member of the YAC or Youth Advisory Council I meet with a bunch of other amazing female youth from around the country. And we create ways to include and empower young self-identified girls in sport around Canada.”

“I thought that it was so cool that Fast and Female and the YAC wanted me to be a representative for them. I think that’s such an honour because there are so many amazing women that are involved with us and so many good friends that are on the YAC, that I thought it was pretty cool to be featured in that newsletter.”

Muller explained how it came about.

“We were allowed to sign up and decide whether we wanted to be featured. And I thought it’d be a great opportunity to let the world know a bit of who I am. How sports affect my life, how they kind of shaped me into who I am and how Fast and Female is pretty amazing. Because a bunch of Yukoners don’t actually know what Fast and Female is. So I thought it’d be a great way to raise awareness and kind of let Yukoners know what Fast and Female is.”

“Fast and Female is awesome” exclaimed Muller. “It’s a national organization with the focus of keeping young self-identified girls in sport. And the reason we do it, that Fast and Female is so important is that one in three girls drop out of sport by the time they’re 16. Sixty six per cent of girls don’t play sports by the time they’re 16. What do you think the stat is for boys? It’s one in 10. So the reason Fast and Female is so important is because we try and create safe and fun opportunities for young women to participate in sport so that they’re able to reap the benefits that sport can give you.”

Muller explained how sports has shaped her life.

“Sports are an amazing opportunity to shape your life and they’ve affected who I am, how I interact with others and really improved my physical and mental health. Because growing up I’ve been lucky to participate in sports from soccer to floor hockey to judo, to basketball and all of the Yukon sports so canoeing, hiking, and they are a big reason that I am who I am today. And I have the confidence to be who I am today. Because through sports I’ve been able to meet a bunch of amazing people. And I’ve been able to learn who I want to be, how I want to act and how I want to leave this world, and how I want to treat others and how I would like others to treat me.”

Muller values being a leader.

“Especially in sports, you can have big effects on other people. And I think my goal is to make them all positive.

“Because I’ve had some mentors, players and coaches that haven’t made a great effect on me, and I’ve realized that doesn’t make me feel good. So I want to try and create a safe space and great opportunities for people in sport. So whether I’m coaching, reffing or playing I want it to be a good positive opportunity that will encourage people to continue to play sport.”

Muller just finished her senior season in volleyball with the F.H. Collins warriors.

She is training with the Arctic Winter Games volleyball team heading to Wood Buffalo (Jan. 29-Feb. 4).

She is also on the Elite volleyball team going to the Nationals in 2023 (location to be determined).

“I did play basketball and many other sports when I was younger, but my focus is trained more on volleyball at the moment and weightlifting,” Muller related.

“I was a Glacier Bear for many years.

“I did soccer, I did futsal, I played floor hockey in elementary school.

“I did judo for a few years, which is really fun.

“I love canoeing and hiking.

“I find sports and physical activity is an amazing way to move your body and to create growth in areas of your life that you didn’t know could be affected through sport,” said Muller.

Despite her volleyball abilities, Muller wants to expand her horizons.

“I realized that I am good at the sport that I do in the way that I made the Arctic team and that was a bit of an authentication of my talents.

“But when I consider the Yukon against the rest of Canada, I feel my volleyball career will probably take a pause when I leave for university in the fall. But I hope to play intramural sports. I’m looking at a university right now that I got accepted to which has intramural dodgeball, which I’m really excited for and intramural volleyball and basketball. And I think I’d also like to try a few sports that we don’t have access to in the Yukon, like flag football and rugby and a few other things because I think this next chapter in my life is going to be a lot of unknowns.

“And growing up in the Yukon, I love everything that it gives but I’d be interested to see what I could find outside of the Yukon and what sports I could try.”

Muller would like to become a coach, but not just in volleyball.

“I was lucky enough to coach the F.H Junior girls teams this past season. And I fell in love with coaching because it allowed me to see the sport I love in a different perspective because I’d been a player for many years and I was a ref as well. But coaching it was amazing because I could see how the athletes grew and see how the connection can build and I really was shown how much my words and my actions can influence other people, which was really amazing to see and I think coaching is a great way to give back to your community and to let your knowledge be known by other people and to share your skills.”

Muller seems to be leaning toward going to the University of Calgary.

“I’m not sure at the moment, but I’ve currently been accepted to University of Calgary and I got an entrance scholarship for that. So that’s looking really good right now.

“All of the counsellors say that you have to love where you live. Focus on the place rather than the program. And I really like Calgary, so I’m leaning towards U of C right now, and they have so many intramural sports and sports teams that I could go watch. So I think it’d be a great university experience.”

Muller said she’s not sure she would try out for volleyball at the U of C.

“I don’t believe I will be recruited because my focus come September is more my education and leaning towards my future and what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I definitely believe that sports and physical activity will be a pertinent part of my life. But I don’t think they’ll be my main interest or my main focus.

“I don’t have much hope that I would make the team but I think it’d be fun to go try out and support the team anyways.”

Muller is leaning more towards academics.

“If I become a student athlete, that will be a lot of chips on my plate. I don’t know if I would be able to attain all of the goals that I’d like to have. Because one of my biggest mentors, Chris Kirk … said that you can only have five real focuses in your life, like the five fingers in your hand. And that once you try and have more focuses then you have fingers, that’s when one of the focuses tends to drop.”

Muller is leaning towards a career in biology.

“All of the programs I applied to were General Biological Sciences. Because all of my life I’ve been super interested in anatomy. Through Sports School, I fell in love with kinesiology and how the body works and how the body moves, which I thought was really interesting.

“However, I participated in Experiential Science 11 … last year, and I took Biology 11 which is Life Sciences, and we got to take a trip down to Victoria. And we learned all about diversity and the biology and the plants and the animals and I kind of fell in love with that as well.

“So my idea right now is to take a General Biology degree and specify as I go, so if I want to become a doctor or an environmental biologist, I’ll be able to open that door as it comes.

Muller added “I’m really excited. It’s a big step and everybody my age is so stressed with the whole ‘What do you want to be when you grew up?’ question … you want to love your job, because you’re going to be doing it for at least 30 years. You better find something you’re interested in.”