TASSS student captained Central Ontario to U16 title
Suzanne Assheim-Sorensen played in three national, international rugby events this year
It’s been quite a rugby season for Suzanne Assheim-Sorensen.
The Grade 11 Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School student played in three major national and international events this year.
Most recently she helped Central Ontario win the Eastern Canadian Under-16 Rugby Championships from Aug. 12 to 19 at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
They went undefeated in eight games and gave up just one try which came in their 33-7 win over Nova Scotia in the final.
Also on the team was Lindsay’s Maddy Donnelly who plays on the Peterborough Pagans U15 team. Assheim-Sorensen plays on the Pagans U17 side.
It was her second time playing for Ontario U16 team. Last year she helped them win gold in Calgary at a national championship.
Her experience earned her the captain’s role.
“It was a goal I set for myself last year and was something I was trying to work toward,” said Assheim-Sorensen, 16. “I was really happy to get it and be a leader on the team.”
In July, she also played in the Ontario Summer Games in London for the Toronto Reds who lost in the final to Niagara Region. The Reds are an elite sevens academy team that participates in tournaments. She’ll play for them at the New York Sevens Series in November. Donnelly also recently joined the Reds.
It was a unique experience to participate in a multi-sport event like the Summer Games, she said.
“It was really interesting. The first very professional tournament for sevens I have been to. The other tournaments aren’t such a large scale especially with all the other events going on,” she said.
“It was definitely very different and a very enjoyable event. All the sports got together in their uniforms and walked into the opening ceremonies together at Western University onto the football field.
“There was a stage up front and parents and spectators behind it. There was a lighting of the Games’ flame and a couple of performers. It was a really fun night. I knew some people in other sports from school or other sports. It was a really cool event.”
In March, Assheim-Sorensen was part of the Ontario sevens team which participated in the Tropical Sevens international tournament in Florida.
“It was really fun to go somewhere else to play and make a real trip out of it,” she said.
Amid all those events she also played for the Pagans who finished fifth in the Toronto Rugby Union.
“It’s always fun to come back and be with friends. It’s a really different atmosphere,” she said.
“It’s a lot of rugby but it’s something I enjoy so much. it’s amazing to do something I love for most of my summer,” she said.
“It’s a lot of sacrifice because there are things I can’t do with rugby going on so much but it’s something I enjoy and love so I’m OK with it.”
She’s given up hockey and rowing to concentrate on rugby.
“I want to take rugby as far as I can. I have no idea where it can lead me but I’m trying to keep as open a mind as I can,” she said. “I’m trying to take all the opportunities I can to take it as far as I can.”