The Yukon Rugby Federation is working on assembling the territory's first rugby sevens team to compete at the 2025 Canada Summer Games, scheduled from Aug. 8 to 16.
Yukoners around high school age are being offered an identification opportunity to join the Yukon Rugby Federation’s coaching programs geared toward establishing territorial athletes to represent the region on the national stage.
World Rugby master coach trainer, John Long, explained that the Yukon coaches needed a second level of certification to enter candidates onto the National stage. Long, a Calgary resident, was in the territory to coach the coaches while they were scouting for potential talent at the identification sessions.
“They've done all their theory. We did that online in a blended version, and then this weekend is all about doing their application piece. And once that's done, they have a transcript that we certify as competent, so it's a competency-based piece,” Long said.
From Jan. 2 to 4, registered candidates for the identification camps were mentored by Yukon Rugby Federation staff along with World Rugby’s master coach, Long. The sessions were divided into U15/U16 boys and girls, U20 boys and U18 girls categories.
The Yukon Rugby Federation had organized high school rugby tournaments throughout 2024, said the club’s girls team coach, Charlie Feht. Approximately 100 students participated in rugby games last year, he added.
Feht highlighted the success of last year and said it would be a good opportunity for the Yukon Rugby Federation to push forward with the momentum of interest and send over a contingent from the Yukon to the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John's.
Around 30 or 40 F.H. Collins high school students and students from Porter Creek and St Francis secondary school participated in previous rugby tournaments organized through the club. The identification club sessions led between Jan. 2-4 were setup to gauge interest in candidates participating in competitive rugby sevens, Feht said.
“We're trying to see who wants to give it a shot, who's athletically minded, and then we'll try to encourage those players to play in the high school season. Then we can kind of make our selections from there after a couple of months of high school rugby,” Feht said.
The Yukon Rugby Federation’s coaches are looking to monitor each candidate's athletic performance over the next few months in the lead up to the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John's.
Feht said that by May the Yukon Rugby Federation hopes to select a team to go on tour in Calgary in the lead up to the 2025 Canada Summer Games. There will be another warm-up tournament in Anchorage, Alaska, he added.
In July, the Yukon Rugby Federation will host a tournament in Whitehorse to get some additional game time in before the rugby sevens in St. John's, Feht added the trip to the games would be funded partially by the Yukon government.
Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com
