0:23  
Welcome to Changing the Game, a show about Ryerson students, staff and alumni pushing through to make a difference. I'm Matthew Rodrigopulle 

0:31  
and I'm Daniel Hartmann. We're here today to share some exciting news coming straight from Ryerson. On today's podcast, we'll take a look at a self defense instructor looking to bring safety to Ryerson, an activist who developed an app to help those with disabilities at Ryerson, a Ryerson coach paving the way for women in sports and the Rams women's hockey team looking at their historic season.

1:00  
So for our first story, every day, Ryerson students receive security updates, informing them about cases of assault that have occurred on campus. Ryerson offers a self defense program free for students that teaches them how to react in the event of a mugging. Daniel Hartmann spoke to Marco Hernandez, a lead instructor for the RAD program about what techniques students learn in the program.

1:24  
I always thought I'd still be able to like fight someone off, but in that moment, my reaction was pretty much like I just kind of froze and let it happen to me.

1:35  
For many Ryerson students hearing that familiar sound of a notification regarding a security incident on campus, can seem very run of the mill sometimes. They can even seem too frequent and sometimes even annoying. But trying to imagine what's actually happened to those students in those notifications. How do you think you would react if suddenly you found yourself being attacked on campus.

2:00  
You have three different responses in stressful situations fight, flight or freeze. The freeze comes into effect when you haven't been faced with a certain kind of situation. So if you don't know what the situation is at all, the natural response for the human body is to freeze. You don't really know what to do.

2:18  
That was Marco Hernandez, a lead instructor for the RAD program. The RAD self defense program has been taught at Ryerson for the last four years. The program is free for Ryerson students, and tries to teach students how to properly react when they're under attack. 

2:34  
Assaults are an unfortunate reality of our world right now. I see RAD or any other self defense program for that matter as kind of an intermediate step in that battle.

2:44  
Lauren Davis is a third year Ryerson student who was mugged on campus in her first year at Ryerson University.

2:52  
I was the SLC with my friend and this man had approached us and he was trying, he was hitting on us trying to get us to like come to his house and we were trying to say, No, no thank you like go away. And then these men behind us started to like scream at us saying like, fuck you, bitches you think you're too good for him. And then this group of like, six teenagers, like definitely 16-17 they were for sure still in high school, walk past us and like chucked a bag of candy at me. And so it hit me and I go ow like what and then an individual piece of candy was thrown at me. So we were just really confused and I said, okay, let me just walk you to the subway. So I walked my friend to the subway at Dundas and dropped her off and then I started walking back towards the Pitman Hall residence where I was living at the time. I was walking on Gould Street now towards church where Pittman Hall is. And as I'm walking on the side of the image Art Center on the Kerr Hall side was that group of teenagers that threw the bag of candy at me and they took notice to me.

4:00  
Lauren goes on.

4:02  
So they ran across the street and I'm still walking and they like were running up toward like behind me and one of them threw a bottle of pop at me and it hit my back.  It exploded like all over me. So then I turned around, which in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done at that point. I probably should have just ran away, but I've never had an altercation like this. So I decided to turn around and I said, like, what, like, what the hell like what's wrong with you guys? And then this one girl like jumps right in my face and is like, oh, like, what the hell? What's wrong with you? And they like, threw me down into the ground. I got kicked in the head a few times. I think it lasted like maybe 10 seconds of being like, I guess beat up by these group of people. There was a guy across the street and his girlfriend who saw it so I think as they started to come, they decided to take my purse and run.

4:53  
Marko explained how the RAD program helps people like Lauren prepare for potential altercations on campus.

5:01  
So at the end of the program, we get people to put on these big foam suits. And you get to go through a couple of different scenarios, and you get to use all of your techniques. So the participants also get their own protective equipment and we put them in a few different scenarios. Essentially, without oversimplifying it, we're having them fight their way out. This is at the end of the course. So after you've learned all of the techniques we have in the basic self defense program, and you get to see those at the end. So we record it and all the participants get to watch themselves fight through the scenarios. One of the common reactions that we have is, I didn't even realize that I did that technique at that time when I was faced with that situation and it comes from practicing the techniques so much. In the class, we try to give you a few different scenarios in which maybe a hammer fist or a striking motion would be useful. Then in the in the scenario, you get to actually use it. The difference for someone that may have not taken a self defense program is we always all everybody has that reaction of the fight, flight or freeze and what we're doing in the RAD program is enhancing your natural reactions.

6:23  
Lauren believes that she's become much more alert of her surroundings ever since the incident.

6:29  
I think now my awareness is definitely very heightened, but I don't think that's maybe the worst thing. At least now I'm extremely cautious about the people that are around me beforehand I would be the person who listened to music while walking down the street at night and not think twice about what's around me. So maybe it did really teach me like to be more aware of my surroundings.

6:51  
If you want to improve your self defense skills, and be more aware of what's going on around you at Campus, sign up with RAD for free self defense course on the Ryerson campus. I've been your host, Daniel Hartmann.

7:09  
So Daniel, how do you think learning self defense benefits Ryerson students?

7:14  
So in the podcast, Marco Hernandez, the RAD instructor talks about three important reactions that people normally have when they're being mugged or attacked. Those three reactions as we just heard our fright, flight, and freeze. Freeze is the big one that you have to learn how to be able to deal with. A lot of people don't know what they're going to react like when they deal with that kind of situation and they usually end up just pausing and not being able to do anything. The RAD program is so important, because it teaches people how to act instinctually and get out of a situation like that. And I think that's the utmost importance if you're ever dealing with being attacked on campus.

7:57  
Tell me how important do you think having these services to assist students is? 

8:03  
Well, we get these notifications every day, right? And whether or not it's going overboard, it's still true stories. Ryerson students do occasionally get tacked on campus. That's university life. You have people who wander on there and you have to deal with defending yourself. To be able to feel comfortable in a situation where you're under threat, it's so important to be able to learn skills where instinctively you can defend yourself and be able to get out of there unscathed.

8:32  
Speaking of services assisting students, Maayan Ziv is an entrepreneur, photographer and activist. She was born with muscular dystrophy, and ever since she can remember has been advocating for accessibility around the world. She is the founder of Access Now, which is an app and website that allows people with disabilities to look for places and figure out if they're accessible or not. Vittoria Rubido, talk to Maayan about why she created the app and her experience of trying to live in a world that isn't accessible to everyone.

9:05  
The bearings broken and in two weeks I'm gonna get it fixed. Kick it. 

9:10  
The wheel of her chair squeaks as she moves around trying to fix it. Her sister offers to try to kick underneath the wheel to try to silence the sound.

9:21  
It's the back one. I don't know if it's the back or the front. [kicking noise]

9:32  
Maayan Ziv is an entrepreneur, photographer and activist. She was born with muscular dystrophy and ever since she can remember has been advocating for accessibility around the world. She's the founder of Access Now. This is an app and website that allows people to look for places and figure out if they are accessible or not.

9:50  
Having a disability like the reality is that the world isn't really designed for people like me and mine. It's very much focused on people who can walk around and people who can reach certain heights and have a certain strength level. And so there's many realities where you know whether I want to go to a store, or I want to go to an event, or I want to go, like use public transportation even. There's just so many barriers everywhere, from steps to broken elevators, to no elevators, to just a lack of awareness or understanding that accessibility is important to a significant portion of the population. So those are the kinds of obstacles that I've always experienced. And I wanted to get to the point where I could create a platform that would let people at least navigate their surroundings, so that they could avoid those obstacles and not have to be constantly fighting through them all the time.

10:54  
However, finding accessible places around the city wasn't always as easy as looking it up on an app. Maayan has been struggling with this problem her whole life, but she also wanted to solve this challenge for the many other people who face this issue every day.

11:07  
The problem is that there's so many people who, even if they have the best intentions, they don't really understand.

11:13  
 Right.

11:14  
The magnitude or this concrete needs of someone who requires accessibility. So for example, I booked a reservation for a hotel in New York and called ahead and asked them if they were wheelchair accessible. And they said yes and they and then you know, I always go further and ask, Well, do you have a ramp? Yes, we have a ramp. Do you have any steps? Yes, we have two steps, actually, but we have a ramp so there's no problem. Okay, great. So I show up and they have like five steps actually not to. And the ramp is with a delivery service ramp that they unfold and go over this very narrow door to let people with carts carry their luggage isn't in stock. And so it, it wasn't even wide enough for my wheelchair. And I've flown to New York, and I'm showing up there in front of a hotel that I can't even get inside. And those kinds of things obviously, can can really throw someone when when they were just trying to live their life.

12:19  
Another big challenge Maayan faced was traveling her younger sister Talia explains how much work and research has to be done before they're able to go on vacation. The family usually has to call ahead to get accommodations at the airport and for the airplane. She also talks about what kind of customer service they are met with on a daily basis.

12:38  
Flying is very challenging, because like a plane wasn't really built for a wheelchair. They don't build planes to accommodate a wheelchair. And, um, you have to be aware of what type of plane you're going on. And if it's a big plane, versus a smaller body plane, because that depends on how they're gonna treat your chair, because they have to put the chair in a crate, or they have to strap it down in the in the, the storage of the plane in the belly. And it's just so insane and just getting off the plane on the other side. You want to make sure that you have your, your chair, right, because those are your legs basically. That's how you get around. So if your chairs broken, like what am I supposed to do? It's just really crazy because a lot of times when I'd be traveling alongside my Maayan, the person in charge or like the the flight attendant or the what are those people call it the front desk when you check in?

13:37  
Guest services? 

13:38  
Yeah, they like they won't even talk to me directly.  Will talk to her helper, you know, like, like, she will say like, does she need help to do this? Or does the lady need this kind of service? Wow. You know, like, I'll be there and be like, well, you can talk to her yourself. You know, like, she has a voice, right. 

14:00  
For founding Access Now she earned her bachelor's in Radio and Television Arts, and a master's in digital media at Ryerson University. Since then Maayan advisors is the Clerk of the Privy Council of Canada and is a board member of the Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Center for Independent Living and recently won Toronto's communicator of the year and Canada's top 100 most powerful women. Her goal for the future is to map accessible places around the world and educate others on how to invest in the city to make it accessible for everyone.

14:29  
It was more so like an experience that started from when I was very young, to advocating for equal services in school and equal customer service out in the world. To now when I see that there's something wrong, I pick my battles, but, you know, I know that things can be different. So it's just I believe in how it should be and so I'll do what I can to make it that way

15:01  
For RSJ radio. I'm Vittoria Rubido.

15:04  
We actually have Vittoria here in studio today. Hello, Vittoria. What drew you to this piece in Maayan's story?

15:10  
I think her story as a strong, independent woman who's experienced so many challenges throughout her life and decided to create a solution that would help others and also inspire people around the world. I found it really interesting that she had the confidence to know that if things needed to be different, that there are possible solutions, and you need to be creative. And you need to be passionate, and you need to advocate for yourself because you aren't the only ones facing these kinds of issues.

15:35  
On the topic of strong, independent women. In 2015, Becky Hammon became assistant coach in the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. However, she is only the second woman to take on the role and there is still a huge ratio of men to women in senior positions in the sports industry. Amelia Green spoke diversity assistant at Ryerson University, Aliya Grassia, who found the ratio of men to women in their sports management program impacted upon her experience as a student.

16:09  
I feel like kids always just play the sports that their parents play, but my mom played like provincial level soccer like she played for Ontario. I played soccer from like, four, I think, yeah, it just took me really far and then I got injured really bad. I tore both my ACLs so that really hurt because I always wanted to kind of play sport in university or even maybe professionally one day. But that just kind of like set me really back.

16:36  
Aliyah Grassia graduated from Humber College in 2018. with a degree in sports management, She now works as the varsity assistant for Ryerson University. While studying her degree, at only 17 years of age, she immediately began facing problems due to the ratio of men to women in her class.

16:53  
I remember when I was getting my degree, probably, I would say 95% of my class was male. So I felt that I did have to work a bit harder. Even though a lot of the time I already knew I was better. It is still a very male dominated industry, so showing that I not only was just as good but better than some of the guys that I was getting the same degree as was a big part of my school playing.

17:19  
In a 2004 study posted by Research Gate, statistics showed that women were underrepresented in managerial roles in professional and collegiate sports. Other than pushing female athletes, surely encouraging young women to enter sports programs at a university level and aim for sport management roles is the next step.

17:39  
Male sports are much more emphasized and highlighted in the media and in just everyday life. The opportunities to get people into sport may be exhibited more highly to males than females. I don't think it had anything to do with admission requirements or anything. I think it's genuinely just the fact that I think that these opportunities are much more available to men and women, you know, kind of have to seek them out and work a bit harder. Right now the NBA is doing pretty good. There's a full like, female ref team that's been going on in the G League. There is a lot more women being hired in CEO roles and things like that, but it's not going to be it's not going to be fixed really until that is normalized. Like until I walk into an office and I'm not expecting to see a male president or a male CEO, then that's, you know, that's when I think the inequality will have officially been diminished in the industry. So going forward, I'm gonna work my hardest and make it to the top so that that can be banished as fast as possible.

18:56  
Nike recently released their latest advert starring Serena Williams, highlighting the strength of female athletes in the face of adversity. Gillette's 2019 campaign target  toxic masculinity and locker room behavior. Both adverts received backlash online from male audiences.

19:14  
Probably the most annoying thing I see right now is that usually the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams, they'll play other other schools on the exact same day. But the thing is, they will leave the primetime slot always for the men. So usually women will play around four, and then men will play around six. Ryerson as an employer is surely diverse, so a lot of the department is comprised of woman. I've seen no inequality there.

19:46  
Jessica Roque, head assistant coach of the Ryerson Rams women's team believes the biggest issue facing female athletes is the coverage they receive at a university level.

19:56  
I think at Ryerson, we try to be division one, if you will, we just don't have the big ESPN, you know, sports coverage. Like nationals is being televised on TSN but none of our games during the season. You can watch them online. That to me would be like the next step. That's that's really the, to me, the biggest difference is the scale on which things are done. We watched the men's final because our men played in the National Finals in Halifax. And I just remember thinking this is an incredible experience I'm sure for the the athletes in the game, but even as a fan and a spectator to have that like March Madness feel because I didn't know that one, how much television coverage there was around nationals. But even for the women's side, I was surprised which I I shouldn't be but I was very pleased that there was TV coverage. I think it's fantastic. I think the more like young girls can have access to seeing, you know women play on a highly competitive level is only going to be beneficial for the country down the road. We're trying to qualify internationally as a country for the Olympics. I think this is where it starts you like these are where the dreams start right?

21:19  
Women still have a mountain to climb regarding the gender gap in pay and prestige. However, with the likes of Serena Williams and NBA coach Becky Herman leading the way, the end goal is starting to seem extremely achievable.

21:32  
[Song: Light catches my eye...] 

21:44  
Coach Jessica Roque specified that the coverage that women's teams receive at the university level is the biggest problem currently. Speaking of women's sports, last week, the Canadian Women's Hockey League actually announced that they would not be continuing to operate. This is big news and not only for the hockey world, but also for the climate of women's sports, which continues to change every day. Ryerson's own, Ryerson's own women's hockey team has been making great strides in the development of the sport. They finished off the greatest season ever earlier this month by making the OUA semi finals Matthew Rodrigopulle spoke to defenseman Mariah Hinds, goaltender Fanny Vigeant and center Erika Crouse, who said that despite the seasons, ups and downs, they were able to stick together and are confident that they will only get better from here.

22:40  
 But the Ryerson Rams are headed back to the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history. The last time they were there, we're setting the bar really high. We knew that we did well last year and we wanted to do even better this year.

22:55  
Scores! They Score!This hockey game. The expectation from day one was to reach the MaCaw Cup. A shot that scores. Erica Crouse. 

23:08  
We knew we had a really good group going into the season.

23:12  
What a save there by Vigeant. 

23:14  
I kind of knew that it was going to be a great year just from the start. I'm Fanny Vigeant I'm goalie for the Ryerson Rams.

23:25  
My name is Mariah Hindes. I play for the Ryerson Rams. I play defense.

23:29  
My name is Erica Crouse. I am a center for the women's hockey team.

23:33  
I think we started the year with like five or six wins. So that was good. We finished first in the first half of the semester. 

23:41  
It was close to the beginning of the year I think November? U of T, first time we played them we lost seven one like that was a devastation to us. That really took us down a notch because I'm pretty sure it was one of our first losses of the season. So it's a reality check. We then we came back and we won like seven games straight.

23:58  
But then moving on after the U of T game, there were big games such as Guelph.

24:03  
from the beginning of the week, we knew it was gonna be a big game because Guelph always secured number one, two spots. We had high intensity and just gave it our all in one. Meeting one of the top teams is always, always amazing. That's just the reassurance for us to know that we're sitting up there with them.

24:21  
I was confident that we were able to go really far in playoffs.

24:26  
 Going into the first round we were playing Queens and it's a team that we had split a series with. Going into the game we had high energy. I think because we had such higher energy we came out with a fight, the fight quickly died out when Queens scored their first goal. I believe in the second period Queens scored their second goal so we made it two - two and then they scored on the lucky bounce. 49 seconds were left when Queens put their third one in at that moment we kind of knew we lost the game. I felt like playoffs were over because it's a three game series and they were already had one up on us. Game two of Queens, it was a do or die game. We all went into it hoping we'd win high energy. We were winning one nothing and then Queens scored in the third period to make it one one. And then we went in first overtime and then second overtime. We knew this was our moment to show what we had and then sure enough Crouse scores top shelf causing us to win and leading us to game three.

24:26  
 It was just an incredible feeling like I've never experienced it before.  

24:26  
Our confidence shot back up pretty quickly. We knew that we had a third game to play and this was definitely a do or die game. 

25:35  
This was it. We were going in Queens and we knew that nothing was gonna stop us. It was another tie game. It was just back and forth game and then they scored the first goal. So we scored a goal in in the third and then we went in overtime again.

25:52  
So I was on for the last shift. I'm a defenseman so I'm typically at the blue line, but I saw an opportunity to sneak in so I was a brown the tops of the circle and I saw Carly Numakowski with the puck behind the net. I was like Carl Carl, I need the puck right now. And so when I got the puck, I was like this is the time this is we're gonna win the game. And then I scored in the same spot Crause did the previous game leading us to a second round of playoffs. Everyone was going crazy. Like it was just like a moment of history, I guess for the Rams. 

26:23  
Basically, it was the first time that the woman's hockey was making it to the semi finals. It's really nice to see that this group accomplished something really big.

26:33  
We didn't know we're playing Guelph originally, we're going through all the games in our group chat. And then we figured out we're playing Guelph and everyone is excited because we've beaten Guelph and they've beaten us like it was a 50/50 chance of winning the series. Going into Guelph, it was more serious, like people weren't as talkative. The game started and in the first period, I happen to give them the puck away in front of the net and they scored. I was like, this is the end of me I don't want to play anymore. Like I'm just done. You could see some of the girls on our team getting down. The game continued on a we felt we could still win we saw the chance. Then they had gone back and scored again and then again. 

27:13  
And we were like oh no, like this the end. And then we had gotten another one. So it was three, two. And then at the end of the third they had scored again to make it four two. And that sucked because we had tried our hardest and we weren't getting the bounces.

27:27  
It's always hard when you're losing the first game but we knew that it was not impossible to win the series. Game two was important for us because if we were losing then our season was going to be over. The morning of that game, everyone was really excited.

27:46  
The energy in the room was very high. That game was very nerve wracking because there was girls on our team that could have been their last game.

27:53  
That game was neck and neck throughout the whole first period, it was back and forth, back and forth. And then they had a couple of power plays.

28:01  
We knew that we had to stay out of the box against them because they have a good power play. Unfortunately, they capitalize on one of their bounces.

28:11  
The draw got one back to the point and we had a miscommunication in front which led two of our players to go down,  a D to be out of place and another forward to try and be a hero and slide into our goalie and just the puck trickle in on the other side of the net. All the players on the ice were very devastated. I went over and tapped on Fanny and she's like, it's okay, we're gonna get it back. Well, we're just trying, as a goalie to stay focused and like keep my team in the game. In the third period, I guess our hopes dropped a little bit. The devastation of losing the game was still there because the score was still one nothing. Closer to the end of the game we shortened our benches. We got pucks on man. We did everything in our power, but we couldn't get the puck to hit the mesh.

28:53  
There are lots of people there supporting us, which helped. But there was just nothing we could have done. We literally laid everything out there and if I had to change anything, obviously it would be the score but you don't always get those bounces.

29:12  
So the final few seconds ticked away and we were still in their zone trying to score till the very last second. At the end I was just hoping for someone to find the back of the net. The clock was just ticking down and we lost the game. Yeah, we lost one nothing.

29:28  
And it's over, as the Ryerson Rob season comes to an end. 

29:32  
The loss meant that the season was over. When the time ran out their bench immediately emptied. Everyone came onto the ice throwing gloves and sticks. So seeing them celebrate right in front of us just crushed us.

29:44  
I was very sad. There were a few tears shed even before I got off the ice. Well, I first of course you're thinking about it. What you could have done better, but I think that afterwards, we knew that we had to be proud of what we accomplished.

30:06  
Well, next season we hope to actually make it to the championship game the MaCaw Cup we will be a more experienced team. This year we had 10 rookies, which means we are one of the least experienced teams in the league this year here ours and I think the development went way up there three years ago, the team was struggling to reach like five wins in a short amount of time. We proved that a program can improve. It's just going to get better. I think that it made people realize that it's fun to watch women's hockey and Ryerson has a really good team.

30:45  
So how have the Rams changed the game?

30:49  
Well, as we heard there, the Rams are excited for another season that will surely be better than this years historic season. Fannie Vigean told me that they have always felt as if they were overlooked by basketball or even men's hockey. But now they really feel like they have made a difference and can be seen in greater light compared to all those sports. 

31:07  
And that's our show. Today we looked at Ryerson's his new self defense program, an app that helps people with disabilities find accessible areas, how women are changing the sports landscape, and how the Ryerson Rams women's hockey team are continuing to look ahead. Thanks for listening and keep changing the game.