Welcome to Strong Girl Talk, where we dive into the latest in sports science, performance, and well-being—all with a focus on women and girls in sport. This week Sasha and Molly talk to Hannah Silva-Breen is an incoming provider at Skadi Sports Psych and part of the team developing Body Confident Sport. This episode is a must listen with so many knowledge nuggets and practical takeaways for athletes, coaches, parents and guardians.

Before we dive in, do us a huge favor and make sure you give the podcast 5 stars and click follow:

.

Other big news we just have to share with all of you. Marley Blonsky is joining the Strong Girl Publishing family! Her debut middle-grade novel, The Rag Tag Best Friends Bicycle Club, coming Spring 2026, is a heartwarming celebration of friendship, movement, and finding your place in the pack.

Who is Hannah Silva-Breen?

Hannah is a provider at Skadi Sports Psych, a PhD Candidate at West Virginia University, a youth basketball coach, and part of the team who developed the Body Confident Sport Program. You may have seen the Body Confident Sport Program or the CoachingHER work. This work was sponsored in part by Dove and Nike and featured during events like the SuperBowl!

In this episode Hannah shares with us the collaboration between the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, Centre for Appearance Research (CAR), as well as Dove and Nike. We discuss her work on body confidence in sports, emphasizing the need for neutral language and supportive coaching practices.

On the topic of Body Confidence, in Sasha’s lab a colleague is conducting a study on body image and weight inclusivity. We need help from Canadian sport coaches to participate to evaluate this coach training program. Interested? Follow the link for details! (https://uoft.me/bB2).

Sport Highlights:

Angel City FC proudly declared itself “Immigrant City Football Club,” distributing 10,000 shirts with the message “Los Angeles is for Everyone” in English and Spanish—raising funds for immigration advocacy and celebrating the diversity that makes LA stronger. You can get your shirt here. But more importantly this is a rallying cry for us all to stand up for what’s right, for what we believe in, recognizing that our differences unite us instead of dividing us.

Canadian Swimmer, Summer McIntosh, was on a record breaking tear again last week at the national swim championships. She holds the most number of world records currently!

It also has to be karma! Molly dove into the fit of hydration packs wondering why the designs seem to be so male focused. Interestingly enough, RAB is asking women what they need in a vest fit. Tell them what you need in a hydration pack.

Over on Sasha’s Instagram, she did a sport science and engineering deep dive into Faith Kipyegon’s sub-4 minute mile attempt coming up on June 26th. No women has broken the 4-minute barrier in the mile; the current world record is 4:07.64, held by Faith Kipyegon. See why Sasha thinks it’s possible with all the technology and planning for Faith to break 4!

The UCI announced a new rule to come in effect Jan 1 2026 for handlebars in road races to a minimum of 400mm, ignoring differences in male and female physiology, where for some smaller riders this handlebar width is just too wide. Let’s see if they update their decision.

Tell us what knowledge nuggets you took from the conversation with Hannah.

Remember you can follow Molly and Sasha on Social Media including:

Molly – @mollyjhurford @stronggirlpublishing

Sasha – @SGollishRuns @Yellow_Running_Shoes

Listen, Subscribe, Rate + Review on Substack | Spotify | iTunes

Get full access to Strong Girl Society at stronggirl.substack.com/subscribe