A rugby star is born

Times Contributor

 

All it took was two games. A star player in volleyball, basketball and boys’ lacrosse,  sixteen-year-old Jade Ballance is now also a rugby star.

After playing  just two  games for the Strathmore High School (SHS) Spartans, the Grade 10 student  qualified for the Alberta summer regional rugby team during  trials in Calgary on April 29, and will soon compete for a place on the provincial squad.

“I played boys’ lacrosse for four years (with the Strathmore Venom) until the boys got too big,” said Ballance.

“I’m glad I’m playing rugby now because I missed contact sports.”

SHS coach Jerry Flaws describes Ballance as “fast and aggressive,” both good qualities for a rugby player at the fly-half position.

It was Flaws who recruited Ballance to the school’s rugby team.

“She was our best volleyball and basketball player at SHS. She could easily make a university rugby team right now,” said Flaws.

Ballance was introduced to rugby during a family reunion when her uncle  and her father showed her how to play. It was the first time she had ever laid  eyes or hands on a rugby ball. 

Ballance has no sports idols but calls her father Scott  her “biggest inspiration.” She plays better when she knows he is in the stands, watching her every move. Yet, knowing he is there also makes Jade a bit nervous, said Scott Ballance.

Scott had some concerns when his daughter began to play rugby.

“I was worried about the basics of the game. But after watching her play the first time, I knew she was okay. She excels and catches on quick,” said Scott. 

Jade’s father played soccer, football and rugby while in high school in Okotoks. In 1988 he set four world junior records in power lifting at the World Championships, then held in Victoria, B.C.  He  also competed in the 1992 World Championships in Stone, England, but retired from the sport when things got “too political.”

Although rugby is a tough contact sport, rugby players don’t wear protective equipment except for headgear for the ears and mouth guards. Jade isn’t sure mouth guards count as “equipment.”

“I am not too familiar with rugby,” said Jade’s mother Janine. “But I figure it out  a bit more with each game I attend.”

Janine was a competitive gymnast in elementary school and a track athlete and badminton player in high school.

Jade’s “extremely proud” brother Seth, 18, is  also an athlete  but  has been out of action for a year with a broken foot. Seth hopes to get back to lacrosse soon. In the fall he is headed for Mount Royal University and  the broadcasting program.

“It would be really cool to get a sports scholarship to university,” said Jade.

Any one of basketball, volleyball or rugby could get Jade a scholarship, said Scott.

“We have no preference. We stand behind her. We’re  so proud,” said  Janine. 

The University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge and the University of Alberta all have women’s rugby teams.

There are two types of rugby: seven and 15 to a side. Sevens rugby will be included in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.