We played our first rugby match of the season. We won 24-0!!
He said
While the Cheer season wrapped up last weekend with Sov’s final competition at the Canadian Nationals, that certainly wasn’t the last of sports for Emelia for the year. Sure, wrestling is over, but very quickly we made the transition from Cheer parents to Rugby parents as Emelia’s first Rugby match of the season came Thursday at Western’s Alumni Stadium. And, very soon, down the road Emelia’s Softball season starts back up! While it does involve a lot of us shuffling our schedules (mostly Danielle’s) to make sure she is able to get to all the practices, games and competitions, as Danielle says, it won’t always be this way as one day she’ll be an adult and off on her own. And to be honest, we just love watching her get out of her comfort zone, challenge herself and finding her identity and confidence through sport.
So the Rugby match on Wednesday was against Woodstock Collegiate Institute a team that Emelia suspected might be the best way to start their season as their win/loss record last season was more on the loss side. But, regardless of outcome Emelia was just excited to get their season kicked off and going. As luck would have it, I was off work for the day and could go to the game, and Danielle was able to work it into her lunch break as it was on campus. As Danielle and I arrived and were walking over from the parking we heard cheers for what sounded like a try on the opening play of the game as we were running a but behind, as I was coming from a checkup with our family doctor. As it turned out, they had scored a try and it was the first of four total on the day!
The team this year looks a lot more comfortable with the play and more skilled in the game. And the good news is Danielle & I are starting to understand the game even more than last year. Emelia started the game and played the entire first half as a loose head prop which apparently relates to the scrums, but also means she can carry the ball on rushes. And, we got to see Emelia carry the ball, make some tackles and take on her familiar position of lifting the jumper in the line outs. In the second half with the game in control and Lucas comfortably ahead, a lot of the first year players got to sub in and play. In the end the Vikings won 24-0 and there were smiles on the entire team. Emelia was delighted with the start to their season.
This weekend marks one week out from my very first bike race of the season, Paris To Ancaster which goes this coming Sunday. I have been consistently been getting in the rides to make sure my legs are ready (and they are!). After, last year’s rainy and cold affair, I am happy to see the forecast warm and much more dry! I’ll be doing the 45km Brevé route and excited to see where my fitness takes me. Last year my finish time was 25 minutes longer with all the walking and mud removing I had to do off the bike. With this year’s forecast and adjustments to the route, I am hopeful for a time much closer to my first year. And the better news is I won’t have to wait long for my next race as the Scrappy Badger goes the very next weekend!
She said
Another week and another busy one. Emelia continues to keep us on our toes. She has moved fully into her rugby season and is loving it again. After weeks of practices the girls were nervous but excited to get back on the field. Last season I was only able to go to one of her games since they were all played in the middle of the day and across town. This year their home field is at Western so with John having his day off he and I both got to see the girls play their first game. And wow what a game, the girls are clicking well already and are playing at a bit higher level in game one than they did in their last game of last season. Emelia is once again a starter and is loving it. They were happy to get back and the team got a 24-0 result in their first game. Lucas is really proving to be a strong rugby school so much that they have a junior and senior for the boys and a large strong team for the girls.
The other big sports update for Emelia was today when her cheer gym was doing team assessments. This year has been a rough one for her team and with most of the team either aging out or off to post secondary the majority of Emelia’s friends are not coming back next season. In fact of the 19 girls on the team only 4 are coming back from her team. I am honestly not sure how they will place for next season. Emelia is excited for a new team but nervous at the same time. She is ready for whatever the gym places her, she would love to move up only because she has friends on the level up but she knows she will make new friends and hopes that if she stays on Sov next year that some of her friends from other teams are moved over with her. The assessments continue in the coming weeks with stunting clinics and assessments so she won’t know where she places for a while
The rest of the week for me was focusing on work. Western is in the middle of a Graduate Teachers Assistant strike, what this means is exams could have been impacted as TAs are heavily involved in exams. My division was tasked with organizing the entire staffing to ensure the students could still write their exams. It has been a ton of work on our end and it has meant I have been working a lot of extra hours, both earlier in the day and late at night. In fact it is 10:50 at night and I only got home 20 minutes ago. I am happy that the students have been able to still write their exams but I will be happy when this is all done.
That is our week, more of running it at both ends and trying to keep it all together. For now we are getting through this month and counting down until we go back to the trailer. It will be here before we know it.