Pagans seeing increase in girls playing rugby
“I’m from a small town and so are they, so if they put the hard work into it then they can do it,” she said.
Pagan Suzanne Aasheim-Sorsen, 14, heard at least five young players say they were going to make it to the Olympics now.
She said having an Olympian come from their club is a great thing for young Pagans to see.
“I think it’s a really good thing ... for the younger kids to see that that’s a possibility that that could happen to any one of them,” Aasheim-Sorsen said.
That could explain the increase of young girls joining the sport locally in the last few years.
Under-8 Pagan coach Karen Penkman said she had 25 kids signed up this season, 11 of which were girls. They only had a handful of female players when Penkman started coaching a few years ago.
The increase in numbers gave them enough girls to compete with their first all girls U-8 team in Ajax last weekend.
“That’s never, that I know of, been done before,” said Penkman.
Seeing a former Pagan compete at Olympic level was a pretty big deal for her female players.
“The girls have been inspired by Hannah,” she said.
Canadian women were an inspiration overall at this year’s Olympics, bringing home 16 of Canada’s 22 medals.
Sam Baker, who coached Darling in minor ruby, was impressed by Canada’s female Olympics.
He said what they achieved this year really speaks volumes about Canada and women’s rights.
“By God, they were successful. I’d match Canadian women against any women in the world and we’ll come out on top,” Baker said.