It’s no secret that women’s sports are covered significantly less in the media than men’s sports. The Women’s FIFA World Cup had less coverage than its male equivalent. Katie Ledecky, a swimmer, just beat Michael Phelps’s record of the most individual world championships but has not received as much attention as the male athletes at her level. It’s a pattern, so it’s important to highlight when women and girls excel in their athletic practices and to celebrate their wins as well.
CVR student Peyton Welburn has had quite the year when it comes to rugby. 2022-2023 was the first school year during which she was able to play school sports, due to the COVID restrictions when she was in grades 7 and 8. She joined the rugby team last fall, and that launched her into a very exciting year.
“I initially started with field hockey, but I didn’t really like it, and the other option for fall was rugby and so I tried it for 7s and I loved it,” she says. She went on to play 15s in the spring and says, “We ended up losing in the finals, but I just fell in love with the sport and then I signed up for summer rugby this year.” Though the Ormstown Saracens did not have a team for her to join this year since only three girls signed up, they merged with Chateauguay and spent the summer playing with them.
Then she headed to Quebec City to try out for the U17 provincial team. Welburn was one of the younger athletes at tryouts; this was supposed to be the age division for people born in 2006 and 2007, and she was born in 2008. Welburn says that upon her arrival, “There were a lot of people, and I was really nervous and I found out it was the last tryout.” Nonetheless, she impressed the coaches and was invited to do a final selective tryout with 40 other girls. She made the cut and was selected to be one of 29 girls to play for Team Quebec.
Busy summer
She has spent this summer traveling with the team to Beaconsfield, Sherbrooke, St. Catharines, Ontario, and more. The final tournament took place in St. Catharines, where they played against New Brunswick, Ontario East, and Ontario West. After beating New Brunswick and losing to both Ontario teams, they played New Brunswick again for third place, winning against them once again and taking third.
It was a busy summer for Welburn. “We had all the tournaments on Sundays and then we had practice right after, from 3 to 5 p.m. So, it was a long day. There was one Sunday where we had practice from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.” She describes that one long practice as “very exhausting.” This was just the schedule for Team Quebec; she was also balancing playing for Chateauguay (that team ended up placing first in their league).
The rush of the game has been what’s most enticing for Welburn, “I think it’s the adrenaline I get when I’m playing. I don’t know how to explain it; when I tackle and when I get tackled it just gives me a rush… Or when you score a try, and it makes you feel so good,” she says. But besides the game itself, the community has been a huge plus. “Going there I didn’t know anyone. There was no one from my school that made the team, so I was pretty nervous, actually.” But she and her roommate became particularly close, and the whole team got along very well. “I clicked with a lot of girls from the team and that’s another reason why I love rugby so much: your team becomes kind of a family,” she explains.
Welburn hopes to see women’s sports becoming more popular and accessible for female athletes. “With men’s hockey and basketball, they make such a good salary, and they have such good contracts – but you never hear about that in women’s sports,” she laments. If there were more opportunities for women, she says, “I’d love to keep playing as an adult. And I know they have teams for that, but what does it do for you besides [letting you play] the sport? You have your job [also]; you’re going to have a lot to do. But if rugby was my job, that would be amazing.”
Welburn plans on being back on the rugby team this fall as she starts grade 10 at CVR. She hopes to continue playing throughout the spring and summer as well. She encourages more girls to get involved, so that the Saracens can have enough players for a summer rugby team next year. “It’s a great experience, and we need more people to make that team!” she says.