Creativity can be hard to come by during self-isolation, although the Bisons women's soccer team seems to be having no worries.
 
On top of their weekly virtual team meetings, co-captains Shaylyn Dyck and Hayley Ward collaborated for a fantastic out-of-the-box idea: an online team cookbook.
 
"We had an idea that it not only would be good to share different cultures because on our team we have… I want to say seven girls that are from outside of Canada," said Ward.  "But it would be a cool thing too because now a lot of people have more time to cook."
 
About a week after the self-isolation period began, Ward set up a Google Sheet where each team member could share and try each other's recipes.
 
As Ward mentioned, the variety of cultures within the soccer team made a team cookbook even more enticing. The team's currently with players and staff from Canada, America, Mexico, India, Brazil, and Colombia.
 
The online cookbook features healthier options, and also the odd cheat day treat.
 
"Our players are really well educated in terms of what is good for them and how they have to take care of themselves but of course it's never bad to also have, once in a while, a nice dessert," said head coach Vanessa Martinez Lagunas.
 
Going into her eighth season as head coach, Martinez Lagunas is contributing to the cookbook herself. She's added recipes for Mexican guacamole, chicken fajitas, and a pound cake.
 
"One that really caught my attention was a cake that Janelle shared with us, it's called a popcorn cake," said Martinez Lagunas. "It has popcorn and some other sweets — marshmallows, jelly beans, some M&Ms — it's really interesting and creative."
 
Sports dietitian Janelle Vincent is all for the cookbook, submitting a stir fry on top of her cake.
 
Vincent's extended the soccer team's cookbook to the women's hockey team. They're fully on board too, calling it their "Quarantine Cookbook."
 
"There's players from many different countries so it'll be super cool to see what they decide to submit whether it's cultural recipes or family recipes or whatever," said Vincent.
 
Sharing recipes isn't the only creative idea teams are using to stay connected. Ward said in the future there are plans for online cooking classes, and her team does yoga once or twice a week.
 
With so much uncertainty in sports, Martinez Lagunas is using her glass half-full perspective. She believes the cookbook might be a team bonding tool of hers for years to come.

"I think the positive side of this time is that it's helping us to see opportunity," said Martinez Lagunas. "We're finding some really good things that we can keep using not only during the quarantine time but moving forward."
 
It's safe to say it helps that the opportunity can be a tasty snack.