Former all-Canadian comes full circle
On-time Badgers rugby standout back at Brock coaching women’s team
Stefanie Pavlovich once again is bleeding Badger red, this time with a clipboard in her hand and a whistle around her neck.
In her first two seasons as head coach of the Brock University women’s rugby team, the one-time All-Canadian has built a strong program at her alma mater, leading the Badgers into the playoffs and putting them in a position to make history.
After going 2-2 and losing in the first round of the playoffs last year, Brock went 4-0 this season, scoring a province-leading 352 points, and opened the the playoffs Friday night on the road against the York Lions.
Winner advances to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) final four, where the Badgers women’s rugby team hasn’t been since 2005. Pavlovich was a standout player on that team, and she helped lead Brock to bronze, the first and only medal in the team’s history.
Repeating that mark, and perhaps improving on it, will be a challenge, but Pavlovich, a native of Stoney Creek, believes the Badgers have the talent it needs for a legitimate shot at a medal at provincials and a trip to the nationals for the first time.
Pavlovich changed the culture of the program when she took over has head coach at the beginning of the 2016 season. Focusing on dedication, she emphasized commitment to athletic and academic success, as well as off-season training.
Pavlovich also wanted to create a family atmosphere.
“The main focus of our culture change is all about being committed and having a positive mindset, and that’s not just the expectation of the student-athletes, it is what we model as coaches,” she said. “These girls know that we are committed to their overall well-being both on and off the rugby pitch, and they have to be committed as well.
“They have to believe that they are worthy of doing great things. We believe in them and know that they are highly capable of being successful.”
Pavlovich surrounded herself with coaches who bring out the best in everyone.
“We want to empower these young ladies and provide them with as many opportunities as possible. That is a key piece to our family culture.”
Expanding that family has been key to the Badgers’ success.
The 2017 starting lineup includes nine key returnees led by OUA leading scorer Meagan Hart, along with five rookies.
Pavlovich recruited two of the top young players on the national team radar in Jenna Rainville and Taylour Hurd, who have both played key roles in Brock’s success this season.
That recruiting effort, along with a year-long training plan led by the Brock Sport Performance Centre, will continue into the future.
“In three seasons from now we want to be one of the top teams in the OUA,” Pavlovich said. “Each year our goal is to go one step further, and if we continue to recruit high-calibre athletes that want to buy into our system, then I am confident we can get there.”
With only three players graduating, and with recruiting for 2018 already underway, the future for women’s rugby at Brock looks bright.
Pavlovich, a standout fullback in high school and club rugby, made an immediate impact on the pitch, as well as in the classroom, when she arrived at Brock in the fall of 2005.
She finished her post-secondary career as a two-time OUA AllStar and Canadian Interuniversity Sport first-team All-Canadian. She was also a three-time Academic All-Canadian, graduating from Brock with three degrees, bachelor, education; bachelors, physical education; masters, education.