Good things happen to those who wait — and for those having a strategy in place to cope with the waiting period.
“We are significantly stronger than we were last year – night and day,” said Jeff Mason, head coach of the Foothills Falcons girls rugby team. “This is the third-year Chris Isherwood and I have been doing this. What we have been teaching is it is not about today’s game but how can we get better for tomorrow.”
The present looks awfully good as the Falcons are 3-0 in the Big Sky Rugby Union after the Oilfields Drillers were forced to default to Foothills due to injuries on Thursday. (The affable Falcons agreed to play a friendly sevens game with their sister school to the west).
The Falcons coaches have been able to mould a solid team in the last three years due to talent and a good attitude of the players they are working with.
“They have teachability, commitment and they understand what it takes to win — that is a result of the past two years,” Mason said. “We have seven Grade 12s or so and they are providing leadership to our younger players.”
Those Grade 12 leaders include Annaliese Curtis, Landry Stasiuk, Tara Fenner and speedster fullback Olivia Glabus.
They are new-look Falcons from a year ago.
“The combination of forward play for winning the ball and distribution of off-loading by the backs is much better than last year,” Mason said.
Taken advantage of that good passing and her speed is Glabus. She likely needed oxygen after racing up the field for trys in the wide-open sevens friendly. She admits to being more of a leader this season.
“I have stepped up and the girls come to me for questions – stuff like their positioning and what to do,” Glabus said. “I think we are more of a unit this year, we feel more confident with each other.”
While they have leadership in Grade 12, they also have a lot of talent in Grade 11 with Larissa Little and Rylee Krauss.
Falcon flanker Ireland Mcanally said she is one of several players who benefitted from the Foothills Lions program.
“It helped a lot – a lot more practice and play time,” she said. “And it’s good to learn from other coaches.”
Mason agreed, adding the Falcons were benefactors from the Foothills Lions Rugby Academy last winter at the Crescent Point Field House.
“We had a handful of girls involved in that and there rugby confidence has gone through the roof,” Mason said. “It’s all those things coming together. The Grade 11 players coming into their second year of experience and our Grade 10s, we have no problem putting them on the field with our seniors.”
The Falcons took on the Springbank Phoenix on May 9 but results were too late for the Wheel’s press time. The Falcons will host the Holy Trinity Academy Knights on May 18 at 5 p.m.
“It will be good to see how our girls fare against a good time like HTA,” Mason said. “They have beaten us up over the last few years.”
The Knights improved to 2-1 by beating the Highwood Mustangs 40-0 in High River on May 3. They will host the Strathmore Spartans on May 10 at 6:30 p.m. The Drillers are back in action when Bow Valley visits Black Diamond on May 11 at 5 p.m.
