Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

KAMLOOPS RUGBY CLUB

Kamloops Rugby Sevens tournament continues to grow

Oct 15, 2019 | 5:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — Over the weekend, BC Rugby was in town as the host of the fourth annual Kamloops Sevens tournament. It started back in 2016 as a U14 girls tournament and has grown exponentially, reaching 75 teams this year, across several age groups for both girls and boys.

Sevens is a wide-open version of rugby that relies on speed and skill.

“I like Sevens because it’s so short and you get to show off how fast you are,” Kamloops Rugby Club U19 athlete Caleigh Silversides says, adding, “It looks better, I think.”

Halle Smith, of that same U19 squad, agrees about the speed factor.

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“There’s a lot more opportunity for open field play,” Smith explains. “For running and creating gaps.”

Canada has a strong presence in the Rugby Sevens, as both the Men’s and Women’s national teams compete with the top international teams. Thanks to a bronze medal finish at the 2016 Olympic games for the Canadian Women, female athletes across Canada and especially BC continue to flock to the sport.

“Having the Canadian women do so well at the Olympics created a platform for girls rugby development,” tournament organizer Darcy Patterson says. “That has created this explosive growth where we’re at. I think this tournament is 65 per cent female-dominated, which is pretty cool.”

The Kamloops Sevens tournament is a unique opportunity for the young athletes of the Kamloops Rugby Club. They are usually forced to travel to take on the high-level competition, so getting these games on their home turf helps the athletes to improve.

Image Credit: CFJC Today

“Often, we have to travel to other places, but having it in the Interior is great, and having it on home turf is awesome,” Halle Smith says.

That development is what pushes many of the KRC athletes to continue playing the sport.

“The ability to continue to grow in the sport is super awesome,” Silversides says. “You’re always improving, and you can see when you play those teams you see all the time.”

The tournament is also an opportunity for BC Rugby to identify talent that could represent BC on one of several provincial teams down the road.

“It only makes us stronger to get this high level of competition [in Kamloops],’ Kamloops Rugby Club’s Derek Pue tells CFJC Today. “[Our athletes] can get seen, and then hopefully [we] get a few more of our players in BC shirts. Then with a lot of hard work, they could end up in a Canada shirt, one day.”

Despite taking place over a holiday weekend, 2019 was the biggest Kamloops Sevens event yet, with teams from as far away as Calgary and Vancouver Island. Tournament organizer Darcy Patterson says she still sees room to grow the game.

“I think we can grow. There are two more fields [at McArthur Island] that we haven’t tapped into yet,” Patterson says. “The only way we can grow is through the support of Kamloops and all the volunteers. I think next year we could probably get to 90 teams, which would be quite the feat.”

The Kamloops Rugby Club U19 girls elite team were ungracious hosts, as they won their division. A pair of Kamloops/Kelowna split squads had success, finishing fifth in the U16 girls elite, and seventh in the U19 girls’ division. On the boys’ side, the KRC Raisers finished seventh in the U17 division, while the U19 boys’ squad finished up in sixth place.