At the Games
After suiting up for the province’s soccer team in Week 1, Ashley Stringer is staying in Winnipeg to compete in Week 2 tennis
Week 1 done, Stringer ready for Week 2.
Ashley Stringer got to be a tourist Saturday, but not for the whole day. The competitive part of her wouldn’t allow it.
Stringer is a rare two-week athlete at the Canada Summer Games. She was a goalkeeper for the Newfoundland and Labrador women’s soccer team, which competed in the Games’ first half, and is set to begin play today with the province’s tennis team at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club.
So while her two sets of teammates were flying out of, and into Winnipeg on Saturday during the Games’ turnaround weekend, Stringer stayed put … sort of.
“I trained. I hadn’t played tennis in a while, and I felt I had to get a nice hit in,” said the 16-year-old from St. John’s. “I actually hit with Team Manitoba. They let me play with them, which was really nice.”
Stringer did get to visit The Forks, the historic area/entertainment centre/tourist attraction just outside the Winnipeg downtown core, in what turned out a busy Saturday, especially since some may have thought she had a day off.
She also said goodbye to her older sister, Lauren, who was part of Newfoundland’s rowing team in the first week, and was heading back to St. John’s to prepare for the start of her university year.
Outside of the opening ceremonies,
it was the only time they saw each other in person all week, since the Games rowing was conducted in Kenora, Ont., two hours east of Winnipeg.
“But we Facetimed each other and kept in touch that way, and I’ll know she’ll be doing the same this week. We’ve always supported each other,” said Ashley.
A St. Bon’s student — she’s entering Grade 11 in the fall — Stringer only played in one of
Newfoundland’s four women’s soccer games as the backup to Sydney Walsh, but is being counted on as a leader for the tennis team, since she has Games experience, and we’re not talking about last week’s soccer competition.
Stringer is one of two players on the eight-member Newfoundland court contingent — 17-year-old Emma Murray of St. John’s is the other — who competed at the 2013 Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que.
Stringer got into tennis early — her mother, Katherine, was a player and introduced her to the sport — but was attracted to soccer because her friends were playing it.
She soon came to love it and found enough dedication to play both at a high level.
When it was suggested to Stringer the sports seemed fairly incongruous — like finding out Carey Price was somehow an accomplished badminton player — and then asked whether she had found a connection, she smiled.
“To be quite honest, I’m not 100 per cent sure there’s anything more to it than I like both sports a lot,” she said.
“I find watching the ball in tennis does help with my goalkeeping, and following the ball in soccer probably helps with my reaction in tennis, but really I think it’s just that I love them both and I want to play both for as long as I possibly can.”
That means a lot of schedule judging — “Practices overlap sometimes, which is kind of sad, but my coaches have been good at understanding when I miss a soccer practice for tennis or the other way around” — but like so many accomplished student athletes, Stringer is already adept at time management.
She’s even considering adding another sport to her roster.
You see, her family is originally from South Africa. Michael and Katherine Stringer moved to St. John’s from Port Elizabeth in 2002, when Ashley was one and Lauren was three.
Since then, Ashley has tried her hand at gymnastics, swimming, baseball and basketball, in addition to tennis and soccer. But she hasn’t yet had a go at the sport that is a South African, and her Dad’s, passion.
“I haven’t played rugby yet, but I want to. Dad wants me to … he’s a big fan. Maybe in the future.”
Which is understandable. She’s plenty busy now.