The Lake City Falcons senior girls rugby team is getting ready to take flight for this year’s high school season.
As the host of the 2016 Provincial High School Rugby Championships, head coach Morley Wilson is looking to carry some strong momentum going in through the season.
“That will be a pretty big deal,” Wilson said. “We’ll have roughly 700 kids in town, 24 teams, from three divisions of eight — A, AA and AAA teams.”
The Falcons — last year’s fifth-place team at the AA provincials — will return to the pitch following spring break, however, they have been getting in some solid workout sessions at Kix 4 Chix twice a week.
Grade 12s Tasha Johnson, Anna Bracewell, plus Grade 11s Emma Pfleiderer, Laura Pfleiderer, Skye Forcier and Carleigh Walters will lead the Falcons this season, Wilson said.
“[Johnson and Bracewell], they’re our leadership core, then we’ve got a really strong group of Grade 11s,” he said. “We’ve also got some strong junior players like Emma Feldinger and Ayme Desmond.”
The team will spend the remainder of March and early April gearing up for the prestigious Kamloops Rugbyfest tournament from April 9-11, before the Rugby Sevens Provincials take place April 16-20 in Victoria.
“During that same time Team Canada and Kayla [Moleschi] will be hosting their Women’s Sevens World Series event so that will be pretty neat that the girls will get to watch her play,” Wilson said.
A tentative home tournament is scheduled for the group from April 24-25 with teams from Smithers, Vanderhoof, Houston, Prince George and Kamloops showing interest.
In May the 15-a-side provincials take centre stage in Vancouver. Williams Lake will need to beat Prince George and 100 Mile House to qualify.
As for the 2016 provincial championships in the lakecity, Wilson is hoping to drum up some hype and community support.
“Hopefully we can get some diverse support from the people, resource industries and women’s business representatives and get them involved in some capacity,” he said.
“We have some excellent, outstanding athletes in this town and you see year after year B.C. rugby and Rugby Canada looking to Williams Lake for talent.”
