After the retirement of hockey鈥檚 Hayley Wickenheiser, the three most recognizable Canadian athletes in women鈥檚 team sports are probably Christine Sinclair in soccer, Kia Nurse in basketball and the heavily tattooed Jen Kish in sevens rugby.
The latter returns to the Langford-based Canadian sevens team for the first time this week at the Sydney Sevens since winning bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics last summer.
It has taken flexibility within the program to keep veterans Kish and Ashley Steacy in the national team fold. The sa国际传媒 players must relocate and live and train full time in Greater Victoria.
Exceptions have now been made for Kish and Steacy, who have been allowed to carry on with their family lives in Alberta, and fly into Victoria for camps before World Series events, such as this week鈥檚 Sydney Sevens.
鈥淭hey have been a big part of our success and still have a lot to offer,鈥� said Canadian head coach John Tait.
鈥淲e hope they will want to continue to play.鈥�
Tait is willing to accommodate the mature athletes, who are at points in their lives with other obligations.
鈥淚鈥檓 taking it year by year,鈥� said Edmonton鈥檚 Kish, when asked about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
鈥淚 will go as long as I can, but I don鈥檛 have a crystal ball.鈥�
Kish, who turns 29 in July, will no longer captain sa国际传媒. That honour now falls to Ghislaine Landry.
鈥淚鈥檓 happy to be back and playing a new role,鈥� said Kish, during a recent training session at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence, before the Canadian team left for Sydney.
鈥淚鈥檓 just another member on this team.鈥�
sa国际传媒 placed an underachieving sixth without Kish, who was injured, at the 2016-17 season-opening World Series tournament in Dubai.
鈥淲e definitely missed her presence in Dubai,鈥� said Tait. 鈥淚n particular at the restarts and breakdown where she is so effective. She has done a lot of work back home getting herself back to full fitness along with rehabbing the injury that kept her out of the last round.鈥�
Named by Tait to the team for the season鈥檚 second tournament in Sydney are Rio Olympic veterans Kish, Steacy, Landry, Britt Benn, Hannah Darling, Bianca Farella, Megan Lukan, Kayla Moleschi, Natasha Watcham-Roy, Charity Williams and newcomers Julia Greenshields and Breanne Nichols.
鈥淲e鈥檝e put a lot of years into the program. We are lucky that [Tait] trusts us enough to consider this arrangement,鈥� said Steacy, who turns 30 in June, and will now get to spend more time with her husband in Lethbridge.
sa国际传媒 opens pool play Thursday in Sydney against France, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
