Erin Walton is a receiver and previous quarterback for the Calgary Rage Elite woman's tackle football as a part of the Western Women's Canadian Football League (WWCFL), she was also inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame with the University of Regina 2000-2001 women's basketball team.

Walton started out in basketball but there was one woman Crystal (Heisler) McGregor who convinced her to try her hand at woman's football. Walton was taping her (Crystal) ankles one day before practice and Heisler suggested to her that she should try something new. 

"She told me that I am a great athlete and that I should come and play football. She said it is how they all stay in shape throughout the year and that was how I got into football, and they taught me how to long snap and they realized that I can also throw a ball."

Walton says that she has now been with the WWCFL and the Calgary Rage for 13 years and throughout her time on the team and that this has been much more than just a physical game for her.  

"It challenges me mentally, not just during the games, but in practices too it's fun, it feels like high-speed chess. It takes every foundational sports skill that you might have within your athletic background."

Basketball, volleyball, badminton, and even track and field are just some of the sports that Walton has played, "Every piece of those previous athletic endeavors, as a child and youth still help me today in football because you need so many different types of skills to excel in this game and that's what keeps me coming back."

When it comes to football, Walton has made sure that she can do anything within the game. 

"I've been blessed with a skill set where they can say, hey Walton, you know what we know you can throw the ball, but we need you to catch the ball this year because we have someone who can throw the ball just as good as you, she is younger than you, she is more athletic than you, and this is who we need to build a program around, you're a veteran so we need you to take on the role that we're asking you to take on."

The impact that Walton wants to have on the sport of football and on female athletes as a whole is a monumental one explaining that the women in the WWCFL take a lot of pride in the teams they have built and the league they want to see grow, taking what they have learned from the men and women who have put in the work before them. 

Walton explains that women think about the sport differently, coach differently, and interact differently within the sport than men do.

A lot of men have grown up playing the sport since they were five years old, Walton says, "So when you are taking someone who's maybe coming from a different sport, even if they might have an athletic background and a foundation, they don't have football foundation yet and that's what we have to teach them. I'm always challenging our coaches to remember that in our version of football, you're not going to get women who are showing up and just knowing what football is."

Walton expresses that it is their job to build the players in the sport, to get them to know what football is, and to live up to their potential. She said that she still will practice her fundamental skills for the game every day as well so she is as effective as she can be and doesn't lose her skill set. 

The Rockies became the Rage in 2009 The Rockies were 2007-2009, then the name was changed to Rage in 2009. .Then in 2010, Football Canada announced that they would have the first ever women's national team that would participate in the IFAF World Championship that was being held in Sweden. That was when Walton began to think about her own career in athletics. 

"I thought to myself, if I'm ever going to play a sport at its highest level, this is the sport that I'm going to be able to do it in, so I did. I was on the 2010 team as a running back. I was able to participate on the 2013 team on the O line (offensive line)."

The WWCFL league forming essentially in 2011 and the trip to the World Championships were two life-changing amazing experiences for Walton, establishing in her mind that this was more than just a game it was a passion to not only play but to share what she has learned and work to build the league. 

There are two other Calgary Rage football players that are from Strathmore, Chantal Vogel and Angelina Palardy. Walton says that they bring a different pedigree to the team. "They both are amazing."

Walton loves being able to show her passion for the sport. She came out to the PALS program in Strathmore and showed the members how to play football. 

"We got two teach football to a whole group of people with diverse needs and we got to help people understand the game that maybe didn't know much about it before."

Along with playing for the Rage, Walton is also a personal trainer in Strathmore and recently started working with Active Solutions here she facilitates their adaptive oxygen contrast training program to help train and work with people who may be preparing for a sports season, marathon, or even a mountain climb, in addition, they work with people with chronic conditions to just help improve their quality of life through really cutting edge and natural ways of doing things. 

If someone wants to see what the sport of football is and experience Calgary Rage, then they can head over to their website calgaryrage.ca, "We will invite you out to a practice and you can see what it looks like."

The league which includes teams from Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, ( making up the Western Conference) and Saskatoon, Regina, and two teams in Winnipeg (making up the Prairie Conference) are finished their regular season and are getting ready for playoffs that are set to begin on June 10 and 11, June 17 and 118 with the finals being held this year in Saskatoon on June 24th. 

The next game for the Rage will be the Conference Final matchup against either Edmonton or Lethbridge on Saturday, June 17 at 2 pm in Calgary at Hellard Field Shouldice Athletic Park. 

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