Lily Stewart makes switch to sevens rugby
TASSS student competing with Ontario Jr. Blues at national U18 championships
Lily Stewart is embracing a new style of rugby.
After representing Canada and Ontario in traditional 15’s rugby, Stewart, 17, left Tuesday to play for the Ontario Jr. Blues at the Canadian Under-18 Sevens Rugby Championship in Burnaby, B.C. starting Thursday.
The Grade 12 Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School student has helped Ontario win a gold medal in 15’s rugby at the U16 nationals in Markham in 2016. Last summer, she played for Canada’s U18 15’s squad in a series against the United States in B.C.
Last fall she was introduced to sevens rugby when she tried out for and made the Toronto Elite Reds team. Reds assistant coach John Price is from Peterborough and suggested Stewart try out. From there she was invited to tryouts in November and December in Guelph for Ontario’s U18 sevens side.
“I had a lot of fun in the fall,” Stewart said. “It’s a much different game than 15’s and it was fun to try something new. It’s a lot faster and with the shorter time, it’s only a 14-minute game, a lot can happen in that 14 minutes.”
Stewart thinks she is more suited to 15’s but she’s open to playing sevens which is an Olympic sport now.
“I’m not the fastest player and there is a lot more contact in 15’s and I like contact. There is a lot more ball handling in the sevens game,” she said.
She was excited to learn she had made the team.
“It’s another chance to represent my province, which is very exciting, and a new way to play rugby. It will be a fun new experience,” she said.
The eight teams are split into two pools and Ontario will play in a round-robin with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semifinals and medal games. They’ll get a day of practice on Wednesday.
“I think we’ll do well. A couple of my teammates were just out in Las Vegas for the Youth Olympic qualifiers and they won their division which is very exciting so I think we’ll do pretty well,” she said.
Stewart has already committed to Queen’s University’s rugby program for next season. She’s been accepted into both the engineering and kinesiology programs at Queen’s and has a decision to make.
She will join two Peterborough Pagans alumni, Harlee Bruce and Kyra Maybee, who play for the Gaels. She will also be following in the footsteps of her sister Georgia Stewart who helped the Ottawa Gee Gees win the U
Sports championship in the fall.
“I’m really excited. It will be a new experience playing on a higher level team like that,” she said.
The Stewart sisters, the daughters of Jeff and Ann Stewart, have never played against each other.
“Queen’s and Ottawa usually have exhibition games against each other in the first couple of weeks. That’s something to look forward to,” Lily said.
Ontario has a second women’s U18 sevens team called the Tropical 7’s which will compete at an event in Orlando, Fla. on March 30 and 31. Peterborough native Suzanne Assheim-Sorenson was selected to the Tropical 7’s lineup.