Evan Konwa:wi Stacey, a First Nations woman from Kahnawa:ke, Canada, shares her journey graduating with a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Murdoch University to her leadership empowering women in sports.

Tell us about your degree and experiences at Murdoch?

My name is Evan Konwa:wi Stacey, I am a First Nations woman from Kahnawa:ke, Canada, and I graduated from Murdoch in 2024 with a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science. I entered uni in 2018, and changed degrees in 2021 during lockdown after the school had moved everything online. My experience at Murdoch was great; my teachers were helpful and supportive, and they did everything they could to work with me if I had any issues. 

What about some of the best memories of your degree

 I made some really great friends who are all around my age, and we are still in regular contact and meet up when we can. I loved bringing my daughter to classes as she was growing up. She's been around Murdoch since she was 3 or 4, and has always loved the campus. She's 11 now and still asks if she can come to class with me at my "new school".

What are you doing now?

I'm studying a Masters of Applied Human Performance at UWA and work as a strength and conditioning coach for the NRL WA and the Southern Lionesses RU premier team. I also own my own business and see some athletes 1 on 1.

We’ve heard a little about the the Grassroots to Global Connect program, tell us more

The G2G Connect forums took place internationally in more than 30 countries during 2025. The focus of the forums was to identify and problem-solve barriers in the female coaching space, aiming to increase the number of female rugby coaches at the grassroots level. The program is run by ChildFund Rugby, the social impact partner of the Rugby World Cup, and a charitable organisation that focuses on rugby as a sport built on connections and actively champions female growth in the sport. Australia held two forums, one in WA and one in VIC. The other female leaders chose me from our forum and the RugbyWA staff to be the WA delegate for the international forum, which took place in Sunderland, England, the week prior to the RWC opening game. Delegates from all the participant countries attended the International Forum, where we all came together to work on the issues women faced in the coaching role at the grassroots and community levels. We workshopped daily on the issues to come up with plans on how to combat them, and how we could best present these as action plans that key rugby stakeholders (World Rugby, Rugby AUS, Rugby ENG, Ivy League Universities, etc) could get involved in and detailed how they could support these action plans. We then presented all of our action plans to them, and they were allowed to support the ideas of the collective group. 

Evan, centre right, with some of the Grassroots to Global team.

What will you be doing in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup to prepare?

In the lead-up to the international forum, I was introduced to RugbyWA partners and spent time brainstorming ideas on how best to present WA's key issues and action plan. From our own forum, the action plan included developing a key networking program for female coaches, which included education, workshops, and social aspects. Knowing that this project would likely be similar to other countries, I had to look at it from the point of view of other female leaders who may not have the support from their unions on a project like this, and break it down into feasible steps. I ended up being the person to spearhead this project presentation and action plan at the international forum, where we called on the governing bodies to create mentorship programs for women at all levels, and not just for World Rugby or Rugby Australia to focus solely on existing "high performance coaches" who were marketed around the World Cup. The project aimed to create female leaders in the space through mentorship programs that gave them clear directions and the next steps they needed to take if they chose coaching as a viable career path.

 Is there anything you are really looking forward to?

I was looking forward to meeting other women in the space. Being that I am from Canada and attended as a delegate to represent Australia is mind-boggling. I feel like I have achieved so much but very little at the same time, and I never thought that, as a little girl from the Rez, I would ever have the opportunity to be in these kinds of spaces. Being in the strength and conditioning space has given me the confidence to put my hand up for things I never could have imagined, and I get to be that role model in sport for my daughter, which makes me incredibly proud.

I made some great friendships and connections from this forum, and we have all stayed in contact so far, hoping to work together in the future. Getting to share the opening game with these fantastic women whom I met was special in itself, as we set history as part of a record-breaking crowd for a Women's opening game with over 42 thousand people in attendance, and this was an experience that I will not soon forget. I now look forward to working with RugbyWA as the community delegate to bring to life the project we developed in our forum, with the addition of some things learned through G2G and the experiences of others. With the support of Sarah Du Plessis at RugbyWA, we will aim to tackle the project and implement some key actions ASAP to help our women in this community grow and to feel supported through every step.