Canada’s sevens win example for B.C. kids
National team coach will be on hand for high school junior tournament in Vancouver
In a country obsessed with hockey, and to some degree baseball, it can be hard to make a dent in the protective dome of the Canadian sporting consciousness. But every once in a while, an international triumph in a non-traditional sport draws notice.
Rugby, as an example, seems to manage that feat once a year or so.
In 2014, there was the national 15s squad making the Women’s Rugby World Cup final. In 2015, there was the men’s Rugby World Cup, which as an overall event thrilled to no end, even if the men in red struggled.
In 2016, there were the Canadian women winning bronze in rugby sevens at the Rio Olympics. The sport was dubbed by many as the summer’s breakout sport.
Fast-forward to last weekend. The Canadian men’s rugby sevens squad took a triumphant bow on the big stage, winning the Singapore Sevens, the first tournament win for Canada on the World Rugby Sevens Series.
It’s got people talking, online and on the airwaves. And in high school hallways.
“It’s all the chatter this week,” West Vancouver Secondary rugby coach Moreno Stefanon said Wednesday. “(The players) have been watching it all week.”
The timing is perfect, too: This Friday is the third annual junior boys provincial invitational sevens tournament, hosted at St. George’s School in Vancouver.
“Interest (in sevens) has really exploded the last couple years,” Stefanon said.
He points to programs on the Sunshine Coast as an example. Schools such as Chatelech, Pender Harbour and Elphinstone dipped their toes into the sevens realm and have now built their programs to full 15s teams as well.
Where the national sevens program goes, the rest of the sport will follow.
St. George’s head coach Mike Stiles knows success well. His school’s senior squads are perennial title contenders in both sevens and 15s. And he sees the same impact on interest as Stefanon does.
“A lot of our boys are pretty excited about the win,” Stiles said. Of course, his is a school where rugby “is ingrained in our culture.”
“That said, we start with a lot of guys who are not rugby players.”
That the school — which places academics as the priority, he emphasized — has also produced some recent national-team players helps as well.
“Conor Trainor is a big factor for our guys,” he said.
Trainor, now playing professionally in France, was a star player for the last half-dozen seasons on the Canadian sevens squad.
“They’re seeing Conor’s success and it inspires them to keep playing.”
That kind of progression is something national team coach Damian McGrath hopes to see more of. Fresh off his team’s triumph, he’s headed to Vancouver this weekend to watch these young players play and handout trophies at the end.
“I agreed to go weeks ago, to show there’s a pathway,” he said. “I’m hoping what happened (last weekend) is a real boost. That it turns minds to a possible career. I have to show there’s no glass ceiling.”
Even this season, he’s brought in players from outside the program: like Jared Douglas, who played the last two tournaments after showing well for the Canadian development team at an event in Vancouver last month. Or CFLer Tevaughn Campbell, who was recruited by ex-national teamer Robin McDowell. Campbell travelled with the team to Hong Kong and Singapore.
Friday’s junior event isn’t an official provincial championship, but with 16 schools from around the province involved, it sure feels like one.
“I created the tournament to ensure our athletes had exposure to sevens at the junior level heading into the senior years,” Stefanon said.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of sevens opportunities for the average kid, especially at the junior level. The hope was this tournament would be a stepping stone for kids to dabble and enjoy sevens.”
Good timing; looks like it’s working.