A desire to provide diverse opportunities in sport for her own children as well as the youth in her community of Thunderchild First Nation is what drives Jerricka Wapass in her many roles in sport, including that of a coach.
When Wapass began her own athletic journey as a child, the sports available to her and other youth on the First Nation were few and her choices were even further limited by her own family forcing her hand.
“I definitely came from a male-oriented family, so I didn’t have a lot of choice,” she laughed. “I grew up with a lot of brothers, so they would drag me along to ball to either pitch or catch, whatever the easier job was.”
Although Wapass enjoyed the team bonding and competitiveness she was able to engage in through volleyball and softball, given her limited opportunities, there was a want for more. It wasn’t until years later, however, that she would be able to make it a reality.
In 2020, Wapass was offered a position doing sport programming at Onion Lake First Nation. Despite the job requiring her to leave her community for the first time, it set her on the path to create opportunities at home.
“I ended up doing really well over there, but eventually I realized it was time to come home and do that work for our own youth,” she said.
Upon her return, Wapass began working for the Thunderchild Wellness Centre (TWC) organization and took on the task of creating new minor youth leagues, including hockey and ball for U7, U9 and U11 age groups, believing that having those options during important building years for kids was key.
“It was great for our community,” said Wapass, who also pulls double-duty as a coach with the programs. “Those teams are still going strong and now, when any new sport comes our way, those kids have bonded, so they are willing to take on new challenges.”
At the same time, Wapass’ own children were participating in different sports while attending school in Turtleford. Since those programs were already well established, Wapass took the lessons, tips and information those organizers shared with her and applied it to programming in Thunderchild.
As participation and opportunity grew for youth in her community, so too, did the chance for Wapass to gain new experiences, leading her to be involved in the Tony Cote Summer Games. She first attended in 2024, solely accompanying and assisting with the softball programs, but at the latest edition of the event in 2026, Wapass took on expanded duties.
“This year was a whole other learning experience because I was a coordinator for my First Nation, so I coached for softball, beach volleyball and for track. I also took 32 kids to the games for my own First Nation.”
Through all of her work, from creating programming, to recently being named the Director of Sport for TWC and as a coach, knowing that she has helped to create a special memory for a child is what is most important to Wapass.
“When an athlete says, ‘Thank you’ I just take it in and know that I’ve played a part in being a part of a memory. I always look back as an athlete and remembered those people particularly and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be is someone like that. Sports saved me many times. So, if I do that for even one kid, I’ll be proud of that.”
