Pam celebrates making it to 50
EVER present Simi Pam is busy balancing life as a doctor and a semi-professional rugby player but last weekend reached an impressive milestone as she made her 50th appearance for Bristol Bears.
Pam, 28, has been at the club since 2018 and has seen many changes, including the new state of the art performance centre that rivals any sports team in the country.
She said: “With us moving to the performance centre, the integration that we have with the men’s team is second to none. When I first started there were times when some of the male players would come and do coaching sessions with us but it’s more consistent integration now and it’s integration not just with the players, it’s now with coaches as well. It feels like one big collective with everyone working towards Bristol being a successful rugby city.
“The performance centre is the most elite I’ve ever seen, everything we need is on site. We don’t have any excuses, we can’t say our pitches aren’t up to standard or our gym isn’t stocked enough. It’s just about how hard we’re willing to work and push ourselves.”
Despite the recent 36-5 loss to last year’s champions Saracens, the Nigerian-born loosehead prop was proud to bring up her half century and used it as an opportunity to reflect on her career.
She said: “I’m very honoured, I started rugby quite late and it felt like a bit of a pipe dream making it into a Premiership club. Having started at Bristol University, getting to Bears was a big goal I had that I wasn’t sure I could do.
“I didn’t know if I had what it took, so I remember how proud I was to get one appearance for Bristol but I kept racking them up. Last weekend really gave me the chance to reflect back on the journey I’ve had in the last five years.
“It’s been a balancing act with me being a doctor as well but the club and coaches are really good. Apart from the internationals, everyone’s got a job or is in full-time education.”
Pam, who has a background in athletics and was in the shot putt final at the 2016 indoor British Championships, below, is yet to be capped by England – but after playing in every game this season and showing his finishing prowess with three tries, the front rower is knocking on the door of an international call up.
She said: “My goal is to be the best player I can be and I feel the best version of myself is good enough to be an international. Whether that happens this season or in a few years time I don’t know but I have so many things I want to work on as I’m far from the finished product, so my focus is on working on ways to improve. If England comes as I’m working on them then great but I’m definitely appreciating the journey and being a key player for Bears.”
Bristol sit mid-table and after recent back-toback defeats, Pam stresses they must fix their red zone efficiency.
She said: “We know how good we can be and we saw how good we were last year getting to the final, so it’s frustrating we haven’t been able to click on that front at the moment. I think we’re getting there and although we lost the Saracens match, the first 25 minutes we were unplayable but didn’t capitalise when we were in the ascendancy. We’re happy with how we’re playing but just need to be more clinical in the opposition 22.”