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From when they began the Olympic year, last August following the Pan Am Games, the Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team has put in nearly 3,000 hours of outdoor and indoor training at Westhills Stadium and the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a crazy amount [of time],鈥� said Canadian Olympic team captain Jenn Kish.
The past two weeks, before the team left Victoria on Saturday for Rio de Janeiro, via staging in Toronto, was spent training at Wallace Field on the University of Victoria campus. That is because Westhills Stadium and the PISE pitch are turf fields and Wallace Field is natural grass. The Olympic tournament, from Aug. 6 to 8, will be on grass.
鈥淭hese last two weeks at Wallace were important because the ball bounces differently on grass and it鈥檚 tougher to run on grass. It can seem like quicksand after you've spent a lot of time on [artificial] turf,鈥� Kish said.
鈥淵ou have to change your cleats. There are adjustments you have to make. Turf is better for turning and cuts. But grass is easier on the body, especially when you have a lot of [aches].鈥�
Ranked No. 3 in the world and looking for the Olympic podium in Rio, the Canadian team is leaving nothing to chance. 鈥淭his [grass] is the surface we are going to play on in the Olympics,鈥� said Canadian head coach John Tait of Mill Bay. 鈥淲allace has a great field and UVic very good facilities, and we are appreciative of the support UVic has given us. We are now in the nervous excitement, fine-tuning phase.鈥�
More than 50 Island or Island-based athletes will compete for sa国际传媒 in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics next month and Rio Paralympics in September. The Olympics opening ceremony is at Maracana Stadium on Aug. 5. The Canadian women鈥檚 rugby team will not march in the opening because they play the next day.
