“It’s my dream, my chance to do what I want to do.
“There’s no words, I’m just so excited,” said 17-year-old, 17-year-old rugby player from Houston who was selected to tryout for the Canadian Youth Olympic team.
Jamie says she was asked by Rugby Canada to come to Victoria for an evaluation, where she did a fitness test and practiced with the National Canadian sevens rugby team.
“It was probably the hardest rugby practice I’ve ever played in my life and it was over so quickly.
“It was incredible experiencing what it’s like to train at the elite level.
“I learned so much, even just from an hour and a half… it was fantastic,” she said.
Jamie says the Youth Olympic tryout is a five-day camp in Langford, B.C. next March, where she will play with the top girls in Canada, grades 11 and 12.
Twelve girls will be selected for the 2014 Youth Olympic team, competing in Nanjing, China next August.
“If I could make this team, it would be a dream come true,” Jamie said.
“Even having the opportunity to go to this camp and learn from the best and spend a bit less than a week learning about rugby, making my skill better, and building friendships with these girls – it’s amazing.
“I’m just so excited to learn more about rugby and how to get better.
“For me, this opportunity is just unbelievable,” she said.
After her evaluation, Jamie was put on the non-travelling reserve list for the Canadian sevens team, so if a player from their team couldn’t compete, she would compete in their place, she said.
Jamie says that between now and the Youth Olympic tryouts, she will be training and grabbing every opportunity she can to play rugby.
She will tryout for the Vegas Sevens Rugby team – a provincially-based team one step down from Nationals – which she played on last year.
She will also make a few trips to Duncan to play with a club team there, just because they can play rugby in winter, she said.
In late-April she will play in the High School Provincials with the Houston Secondary School team.
Training hard, eye on the prize, Jamie prepares for the chance to live out her dreams.
“If I could be there, standing with my team, hearing the national anthem playing… that would be the glory,” she said.
