Sevens star Blyde buoyed by team’s future but long wait ‘bummer’
Black Ferns Sevens star Michaela Blyde has expressed relief after being given clarity over the team’s future.
The women’s side reunited for training this week for the first time since the Covid-19 lockdown, with many eager to discuss what could be in store in the coming months.
There has been little talk around the future of the sevens game as Covid-19 restrictions worldwide continue to block international travel.
However, Blyde said they were greeted with good news.
“With all things going well with the borders and the rest of the world, our next World Series will hopefully be in December,” she said. “Before that, we’re going to have a development tournament in October with our squad and other girls in development.
“It’s a bit of a bummer that the rest of our World Series for this year won’t be continuing but we’ve moved on from that. We understand health is extremely important and we can’t risk that with our team or any other.”
Blyde acknowledged the lack of clarity had been frustrating but said there were silver linings.
“It was difficult to train with a lot of uncertainty around us and not knowing if we were going to continue with the World Series this season and then obviously the Olympics being postponed threw a massive spanner in the works,” she said.
“For some of us, we’ll potentially not be playing any rugby for a while but the benefit is that some girls are preparing to play club rugby . . . so that’s really exciting.
“We can give back to our home community and the clubs and get some sort of rugby under our belts.”
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics left plenty for Blyde to consider during the lockdown, with the speedster having to rethink her training and admitting she battled through a tough period of negativity.
“Just thinking it was unfair and I was so gutted and upset. I had a cry to my coach on the phone . . . all high performance athletes train for this one event and then for it to be extended and taken away from us is actually quite a hard process to go through,” she said.
“It’s almost like you’re grieving because you dedicate your whole life to potentially being selected for the biggest sporting event in the world,” Blyde added.
“It was hard for me to think positively at the beginning but now I’m in a place where I’ve accepted that we’re going to have to train for another 13 months . . . we’re just going to try and make the most of it.”
For now, Blyde said she was looking forward to watching partner Aidan Ross play for the Chiefs in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
“It was about time that one of us needed to start playing rugby sooner or later,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s good that he’s back fulltime so I get to support him and be able to watch him on TV soon.”
It’s a bit of a bummer that the rest of our World Series for this year won’t be continuing.
Michaela Blyde