Her message was simple: be a good teammate and set goals.

National ski team member Dahria Beatty hosted a Fast and Female Power Hour Tuesday afternoon at the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club.

The 20-year-old Yukoner spent two and a half hours with the city’s next generation of female skiers in hopes of motivating them towards future goals.

Nearly 40 skiers age eight to 18 spent the afternoon with Beatty, skiing an obstacle course set up on the local ski trails.

Features included hula-hoops, a slalom course, and skiing blindfolded.

The event wrapped up with a spirited Zumba class.

“There’s a great group of girls in Whitehorse right now on the Yukon Ski Team,” Beatty said. “They’re a great team and I just wanted to continue with that message.

“Even though skiing is such an individual sport, you spend so much of it with your teammates. It’s important to have a supportive team.”

Four years ago, Beatty herself attended a Fast and Female clinic in Whitehorse during the Haywood Ski Nationals, led by Olympian Chandra Crawford, the founder of the organization which works toward gender equality, female empowerment and changing the culture around girls in sport.

After moving to Canmore, Alta., to train full-time with the national team, Beatty volunteered to join the movement as an athlete ambassador.

“This is the first event I’ve brought up to Whitehorse and led on my own,” Beatty explained. “I think it’s great for the girls to have an opportunity to have these days.

“I know when I was younger, having national team athletes come and talk to you and just knowing that they know your name is an inspiring thing,” she said.

“Chandra did that for me, and I just want to give back to my community and inspire these girls the way I was growing up so that they’ll want to pursue their dreams, whether it’s in skiing or another sport or academics.”

The event also included a unique video presentation from Olympic athletes Emily Nishikawa and Heidi Widmer, said Amanda Deuling, the local ski team’s assistant sport coordinator.

“We want to make sure that we are supporting our girls,” said Deuling. “It was a great day that Dahria Beatty led. The girls had a great time talking about what it means to be a good teammate to each other, how they can support each other’s goals and celebrate each other’s successes in skiing.”

Having ambassadors like Beatty and Nishikawa is a boon for the local ski community, Deuling added.

“They’re fantastic role models for the next generation of skiers,” she said. “For these girls to hear that Emily’s been through this program and Dahria’s been through this program ... they know that they too, with a lot of hard work, can get to where those girls are at.”

The Fast and Female movement inspires young girls to push towards their goals, said Beatty.

“There is a lot higher dropout rate for women in sport than men,” she said. “So I think it’s important to have days like this to try and keep more girls in sport past the high school age.”

Members of the Yukon Ski Team and biathlon squad attended the event, alongside their coaches.

For the youngest female skiers, Tuesday’s event marked their first time on skis this season.