As part of the Canadian Football League’s inaugural Women In Football program, Tara McNeil will be working with the Calgary Stampeders for a four-week period during training camp.

McNeil brings more than 25 years of experience in the field of exercise science to the Stampeders and will be providing assistance with strength and conditioning during her time with the club.

“We are excited to welcome Tara to the organization,” said Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson. “She has tremendous expertise and experience in the area of strength and conditioning and I believe she will help our players improve their performance. Women In Football is an exciting program with tremendous potential to be mutually beneficial for both Tara and our team and we look forward to having her at our 2022 training camp.”

“I am incredibly grateful to be chosen to participate in the Women in Football program,” said McNeil. “I have had the blessing of supporting football athletes and coaches in my career, but the opportunity for a woman to even explore coaching football at this level was previously not only inaccessible to me, but considered an outright crazy idea.

“This is a very exciting and ground-breaking time in sport, so to be provided with this unique experience is an unexpected gift. I am still processing it, but really look forward to learning from the Stamps and discovering what this journey could offer.”

McNeil is the president and founder of Red Horse Performance Consulting and through her association with organizations including WinSport, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, the Canadian Luge Association and the Canadian Sport Institute, she has assisted in the development of many world-class amateur athletes during her career. McNeil has in the past also worked with numerous professional athletes including members of the Calgary Stampeders.

McNeil has a science degree from the University of Dalhousie and a Master’s degree in Kinesiology from the University of Calgary. She is once again a student at the U of C working towards her long-time goal of obtaining a doctorate.