In sports, it’s often said that there is no substitute for experience, and if that is to be believed, then the Semiahmoo Totems’ senior girls rugby team is in good shape.
After all, one would be hard-pressed to find a single player in province – not to mention three – with more senior rugby experience than Berlyn Seselja, Dasha Peter or Kate Richards.
The Totems’ trio of Grade 12s have not only been on the school’s highly regarded senior side since Grade 8, they’ve also started every game they’ve ever played.
And while none of the three has many specific memories of that Grade 8 season in which they went up against players five years their senior – and with boatloads more experience, size and strength – Richards is able to sum up rather succinctly how she felt as she stepped onto the pitch for her first-ever game.
“Terrified.”
“The first time I got on the field, I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” she said. “For us, I guess it was kind of a rare thing to do – normally Grade 8s don’t start – but I guess we were an exception to that. But ever since Grade 8, I’ve been hooked. I met an amazing group of girls and I just kept coming back.”
All three players are natural athletes – and all play multiple sports at Semiahmoo, from soccer to volleyball to basketball – and though all three admit to a steep learning curve that first year, the adjustment was more or less a smooth one. Nobody got seriously hurt, the team played well enough to make it to the Tier 2 finals – where Peter said they “got creamed by Clayton Heights,” – and everyone enjoyed it enough to return the following season.
The team has had plenty of success in the years since – four straight appearances at Tier 1 AAA provincial championships highlighted by two fourth-place finishes, plus one B.C. Tier 2 crown. And this year, they’re again among the provincial-title contenders, along with what Kaye calls “the heavyweights”: Carson Graham, Yale, Cowichan and G.P. Vanier.
“We’ve been up there the last three or four years, too,” he said. “And we’re in good shape again this year to make the final four in the Valley, and if we do that, we’ll be in good shape to make it into the top tier of provincials.”
At Fraser Valleys in early May, they’ll also likely have to get past Yale – a team with whom they’ve cultivated quite a rivalry in recent years. Last year, the Totems edged the Abbotsford-based Lions to claim their first Valley title, but Yale returned the favour in provincials, beating Semiahmoo for third place.
“They’re our measuring stick,” Kaye said. “I’m sure they’d like to take the Fraser Valley trophy back from us, and we’d like to keep it.”
Seselja echoed the statement of her coach, and stressed the importance of last year’s Valley win.
“That was a pretty big moment for us. We’d lost to Yale the previous year and we’ve always been just underneath them (in the standings),” she explained. “But we’ve crawled back… winning that game was amazing.”
The play of Seselja, Peter and Richards will likely go a long way to determining if they Valley title stays in South Surrey or moves east this year. But Kaye – who has coached them in each of their five years – is confident they’re up to the challenge, and knows their experience will only help his squad.
“They haven’t just been on the team – they’ve literally been starters every game,” he said.
“It would be very difficult to find someone who has done more than what they’ve done at this level.”
Kaye also marvels at their durability, pointing out that between the three of them, they’ve only ever missed two games – one each for Seselja and Richards.
“It can be very hard, and I think it’s one of the very few sports where you’ve got younger players (mixed in) against older ones. I have mixed feelings about that. I’m sure it turns some kids off the sport,” he said.
“But these three girls – they’re not big – and they weren’t exactly huge in Grade 8, but you learn how to tackle, and we try to coach proper technique. And if you have the proper technique, generally speaking, you should be pretty safe out there on the field.
“It’s not that they’ve never been hurt – you’re going to get your nicks and bruises. But they’re mentally tough and they’re able to carry on.”
Their multi-sport prowess has also helped them perform on the rugby pitch, Kaye said. And not only have that excelled in other athletic disciplines, they’ve also succeeded at multiple spots on the rugby field, too.
Richards began her high-school career as a scrumhalf, but this year switched to outside-centre to fill a need on the roster.
“She’s just such a dynamic, explosive, ball-carrying runner… she’d be the best No. 9 in the province if we’d left her (at scrumhalf) but now she’s the best-0utside centre in the province,” Kaye said.
Seselja, too, has moved around the field, and is now settled in as the team’s starting standoff. Peter, meanwhile, began as a hook – “But that didn’t last long, because she’s so tall,” Kaye explained – and played lock until this season. Now, she’s playing No. 8, as the only senior on the team’s back row.
And while all three are quiet leaders, according to Kaye, the three veterans have taken something of a leadership role on the team, along with a handful of Grade 11 players. There are a handful of Grade 8s and 9s on this year’s team, and with the ability to draw on their own experiences as underage players, Peter said she’s given one important piece of advice to the rookies.
“Don’t be scared.”
