TASSS team touring U.K.
Griffins girls rugby team to wear Team 55 logo tartan sashes on 13-day March Break tour
The Thomas A. Stewart Griffins girls rugby team will spread a special message on their United Kingdom March Break tour.
As a continuation of their season-long support of the Team 55: Let’s Tackle Suicide Awareness initiative, the Griffins will wear special tour jerseys with a Celtic theme that includes a tartan sash with the Team 55 logo as the clan pin. The girls leave Wednesday night for a 13-day trip through Scotland, Wales and England.
In September, the Griffins participated in the Team 55 Friday Night Lights fundraising event to raise money for Canadian Mental Health Association suicide prevention and awareness programs.
Their participation had added significance as team captain Kate Miller-Booth lost her brother Jordan to suicide last year. Kate’s mother Becky Booth is joining the tour as a chaperone along with coaches Craig Harris, Jeff Challice, Carolyn Scott and some spouses and parents as well as 29 girls.
“It has a real direct and special meaning to the girls on our tour especially the older ones,” Harris said.
“Kate’s mom is coming with us much like (Team 55 founder) Dave Pogue came and retraced Mitch’s steps, Becky is coming with Kate and you’d like hope the two of them will be able to find a little more peace through the Team 55 connection and knowing they are doing something to combat the forces that took their brother and son. They’re doing something positive and we’re honoured and grateful to be able to participate.”
Pogue, who started Team 55 after his son Mitchell’s suicide, took the tour last year when the Griffins boys retraced a similar journey Mitchell took with an Adam Scott team. The TASSS boys also wore a Team 55 logo. The Thomas A. Stewart Griffins girls rugby team will wear special jerseys, including the Team 55 logo, when they tour the United Kingdom from Wednesday to March 20. Team members include (front l-r) Matilda DeBues, Nadine Shilling, Lizzy Fenn, Kyla Smith, Taylor Bartlett, McKayla Dick, Georgia Thompson, Mel Fydirchuk, Suzanne Aasheim-Sorensen. (Middle l-r) Jessica Regan, Jamie Burnett, Destiny Doran, Olivia Williams, Roo Thompson, Meghan Elliott, Kate Miller-Booth, Sarah White, Theresa Butwell, McKie Dummitt, Loren Moher. (Back l-r) Victoria Clark, Brooke Borgatti, Julia Shebib, Ashley Evans-Knott, Dani Johnson, Kayla Wilford, Ashlyn Hynes, Brooke Youngblut. Thomas A. Stewart Griffins rugby player Matilda DeBues shows off the special tour jersey, with tartan sash and Team 55 clan pin, her team will wear on its trip to the United Kingdom. While he is not going this year Pogue said he’s happy to hear the girls are spreading the Team 55 message.
“It wasn’t until I had the opportunity,” Pogue said, “to join Jeff, Craig, Dave Donald and Vik Kulla last year with the boys team on their Ireland-Scotland tour did I realize the impact these tours made on my boys, particularly Mitchell when he toured in ’07 and ’09 with Vik at Adam Scott. It’s a great story that we can help spread the word of mental health and suicide awareness, through sport. It’s interesting to address the questions that the jerseys spark with the billets and opponents overseas.”
While on tour the girls will play friendlies against Stirling Rugby Club in Stirling, Scotland on Saturday, the Seven Sisters RFC in Seven Sisters, Wales on March 15 and the London Scottish in London, England on March 18.
Along the way they will cruise Loch Ness, visit the underground city at Edinburgh, see Stonehenge, attend a Shakespearian play in Stratford, descend a coal mine in Wales, ride the London Eye and climb the Tower of London.
The Griffins alternate boys and girls tours every other year. Boys teams have been touring since 1991 and the girls first tour was in 2000.
Later this spring the girls will take a Safetalk course aimed at recognizing the signs of someone at risk of suicide and how to get them help.