CW Girls on the Rise !

The CW girls program is entering its 5th year and it is an appropriate time to pause and celebrate this accomplishment. It is more notable to celebrate some of it's original members that are now beginning to make their presence felt at he representative levels. The athletes listed below were part of our original 12 girls that joined the inaugural program led by Marley Riordan and David Crossley and ably assisted by Charlotte Haley (fmr Velox player) and Selina McGinnis (current Westshore player) over 4 years ago.

The hard work that the program, it's coaching staff and the athletes is starting to bear fruit. We have recent graduates that are playing at university level and some of our more senior youth players are now pushing for national honours.

Our first group of girls have been working through the player pathway and have represented their province at different levels and game formats. During this week, 2 of these girls will be travelling to Ottawa to take part in the National U18 Camp. Sofie Kennedy, Sophie DeGoede and Shaye Tudor were selected from the U16 and U18 CRC tournaments to attend this National U18 camp. These girls are competing for places on a national U18 squad that will tour England in April 2016.

http://www.rugbycanada.ca/leagues/newsletterarchive.cfm?leagueID=0&clientID=3817

Sophie DeGoede was one of the original girls in the CW mini program. From a family steeped in rugby tradition (both parents were Captains of their respective National teams), she is a multi-sport athlete that has represented her province in rugby and basketball. Sophie has been building towards this opportunity with multiple provincial representation honours for 15s and 7s.  She is an attendee at the CSS (2nd year) and is benefiting tremendously from the S&C and overall athletic development that this program provides. Unfortunately, Sophie is nursing an injury which will prevent her from attending the camp, but we are confident that she will be considered during future selection camps.

Sofie Kennedy is one of our original 12 girls from our inaugural 2011/2012 season and joined us from Bayside Middle from Richard Cook's girls program. Both a hockey and rugby player, she has made steady progress within the program. In the last year and a half, she has had break out performances where she represented regional and BC teams at the U16/U18 levels in the last 2 summers tournaments and is now poised to spring unto the National stage at the U18 selection camp next week. Comfortable at both hooker and flanker, this athlete has her sights set on university rugby scholarships next year.

Shaye Tudor joined us 2 years ago in the 2013/2014 season. Coming to us from an elite diving background, she has brought a strong work ethic to her approach to the game. In a short 2 years, Shaye has represented her province at the Vegas 7s and 15s national tournaments. She is also a student of the game and is already giving back thru providing refereeing services to our younger U14 age group.  A hard-hitting player, she is a strong flanker that will be hard to get by !

CW and the women's and girl's coaches wish these girls the best of luck in their National camp.

This is the first in a series of articles on our program - stay tuned for articles on the evolution of the female program to a Senior Women's prgram and on the new crop of upcomers within the club !