Team OKC Highlights Opportunity and Resilience at Women and Girls in Sports Fireside Chat

As Oklahoma City prepares to welcome the world in 2028, Team OKC brought together three elite athletes at the Paycom Center to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day and reflect on how sport creates opportunity, builds confidence and shapes leadership.

The fireside chat featured:

• Kelly Garrison-Funderburk, Olympic bronze medalist at the 1988 Seoul Games and University of Oklahoma standout
• Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, four-time Paralympian and four-time medalist in sitting volleyball
• Jayda Coleman, USA Softball Women’s National Team member and three-time Women’s College World Series champion

The event aligns with Team OKC’s role as the local organizing committee partnering with LA28 to stage canoe slalom and softball during the 2028 Summer Olympics. Oklahoma City will host canoe slalom at RIVERSPORT Rapids and softball at Devon Park — positioning the city as a global stage for two premier Olympic sports.

For the athletes on stage, however, the conversation focused less on podiums and more on pathways.

More than medals

When asked what National Girls and Women in Sports Day means personally, Garrison-Funderburk framed it around access.

“I look at it as opportunities,” she said, referring to the impact of Title IX and the doors that opened because of it. “You don’t know where sport’s going to take you.”

Her journey from Olympic competition to entrepreneurship and professional leadership reflects that reality. The discipline, resilience, and communication skills developed through sport, she noted, extends far beyond competition.

Kanahele Maclay, who joined the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team at age 12, spoke about discovering the Paralympic movement and the power of representation at an early age.

“The amount I’ve learned from sports, my hope is that this next generation of athletes have the same opportunities, more opportunities than even we had,” she said.

Coleman, who played multiple sports growing up, emphasized that participation itself is transformative.

“Sports really bring people together,” she said. “There’s so much more than just, ‘Oh, you got to go play college.’ It’s the relationships, the memories, the hard times and the grinding.”

Mentorship, identity and resilience

A consistent theme throughout the discussion was mentorship — from parents to coaches who saw potential before the athletes fully saw it themselves.

Garrison-Funderburk spoke about the balance her mother provided, reinforcing that identity is not tied to results.

“The Olympics don’t define us,” she said.

Coleman delivered a direct message to young women navigating pressure.

“You are a person. You are loved,” she said. “Know that you’re a person separate from whatever you do.”

Kanahele Maclay added that vulnerability is not a weakness, particularly in high-performance environments.

“You don’t have to go around pretending like everything’s okay,” she said. “It is okay to not be okay.”

The athletes also reframed failure, as fuel. After earning silver at the London Paralympics, Kanahele Maclay and her team reevaluated everything — ultimately leading to three gold medals in subsequent Games.

“Any type of loss or failure is really just a jumpstart to how you’re going to win the next thing,” she said.

Building momentum toward 2028

For Team OKC, the fireside chat is part of a broader effort to connect young people across the region to sport in meaningful ways before the 2028 Games arrive.

Encouraging multi-sport participation, elevating women in leadership roles and highlighting diverse pathways in athletics — from athletes to trainers to administrators — are all central to the legacy vision.

As canoe slalom and softball take center stage in Oklahoma City, the goal extends beyond hosting world-class competition. It is about inspiring the next generation to get active, find community, and see themselves reflected in the Games.

“Don’t limit yourself. Don’t put yourself in a box and certainly don’t let somebody else put you in,” Garrison-Funderburk said.

When the Olympic spotlight shines on Oklahoma City in 2028, young girls across the state will not just be spectators. Thanks to conversations like this, they will already understand that sport is a space where they belong.