NAME: Janine Helland
UNIVERSITY: Alberta
CATEGORY (Student-Athlete, Coach, Builder): Student-Athlete
SPORT: Women’s Soccer
YEARS ACTIVE: 1988-1992
DEGREE(S): B.P.E. (Alberta 1993)
HIGHLIGHTS:
CIAU women’s soccer champion and tournament MVP in 1989
Four-time CIAU women’s soccer All-Canadian
Two-time Canada West women’s soccer player of the year
1992 University of Alberta most outstanding female athlete
BIOGRAPHY:
Helland, who was born in Edmonton and attended Ross Sheppard high school, played for the University of Alberta’s women’s soccer team from 1988 to 1992, helping lead the Pandas to a Canadian university title in 1989 when was named MVP of the CIAU championship tournament.
She earned many individual honours over a stellar Canada West athletic career, as a four-time women’s university soccer all-Canadian; two-time Canada West women’s soccer player of the year (1991 and 1992), two-time Panda soccer most valuable player (1991 and 1992), and two-time academic all-Canadian (1990 and 1991) and Universiade scholarship recipient. She won the Edna Bakewell award as the University of Alberta’s female athlete of the year for the 1991-92 season.
Helland captained the Canadian women’s soccer team at the 1993 Universiade Games held and went on to play 10 years with the women’s national soccer program, suiting up for 47 games and appearing in major international events including the 1991 and 1994 CONCACAF championship, as well as the 1995 and 1999 World Cup. She was Canada Soccer's 1997 Player of the Year and was named to the All-Time Canada XI team as part of the Canadian Soccer Association's Centennial Celebrations in 2012.
In 1997-98 Helland played semi-pro soccer in Germany for Brauweiler. She was a member of the elite amateur Edmonton Angels Soccer club for over ten years, captaining national championship teams in 1995 and 1999.
Helland has served women’s soccer in numerous administrative roles at the national and international levels, including as a member of the organizing committees for the 2007, 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments.
Additionally, Helland was an accomplished ringette player, who represented Edmonton and Alberta at numerous provincial and national ringette championships and was an all-star member of the world ringette championship-winning team in 1990. That team has been inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. Helland is also a member of the University of Alberta Sports Wall of Fame, Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame, and Soccer Hall of Fame in Canada.