Johnson unusual rugby journey ready for another season

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Jerry Flaws is a nice man, an excellent educator and a wise athletic coach. He is very understanding for the most part, except for one occasion four years ago, when he told Avery Johnson, one of his former students, that she had to sign up for rugby.
Johnson was just minding her business at Strathmore High School when she was given an offer she couldn’t refuse.
“I was in the gym one day and Flaws came up to me and told me I didn’t have a choice and that he signed me up for rugby,” recalled Johnson, who is about to start her second season with the University of Alberta Pandas. “After that one season, I felt like I shot myself in the foot by not signing up earlier. I absolutely love the sport.”
An athlete growing up in Strathmore once her family moved here from Edmonton at the age of 10, Johnson competed in individual sports for the most part. She has competed in several triathlons (her mother is the Tri-Smore director), she raced with the Strathmore Silver Sharks Swim Club and she ran with the Strathmore High School cross-country team.
“I knew she was a very determined athlete, she was very coachable and would try anything you asked her to do,” said Flaws. “Those factors turned her into a great rugby player.”
Each year, Flaws enters the exhibition season for the Spartans girl’s rugby team with a handful of players that have never played a second of rugby before. So when he finally convinced Johnson and her mother that rugby was a perfect option, he was used to dealing with athletes that were green to the sport.
“As a team, the first couple of games are always rough,” said Flaws. “Nobody fully understands the game, but Avery picked it up very quickly. Maybe it only took her one game to figure some things out, but she took off from there.”
One year of rugby wasn’t enough for Johnson, so following her freshman year at the University of Alberta, she signed up with the Edmonton Rockers Women’s Rugby Club, where she was spotted by an assistant coach with the University of Lethbridge, who tried to recruit her to come play rugby in Lethbridge. But Johnson had bigger ideas for her future.
Changing things up after her first year of college, Johnson took an 18-month break from the sport and departed for Nashville, Tenn. on a mission with her church to help people overcome obstacles in their life.
Upon returning, she still had an itch for rugby. She returned home after the trip and signed up with the Calgary Saracens Athletic Club women’s team. Realizing she still had the skillset to be an effective player on the pitch, Johnson showed up to the open tryout for the University of Alberta Pandas program.
“(Lethbridge’s) assistant coach came up to me one day a while back and asked me to come try out,” said Johnson. “I really liked my program at the U of A, so I thought if I was good enough for Lethbridge, why wouldn’t I be good enough to tryout for the U of A team?”
The Pandas hold an open tryout each year for anyone interested, along with all the recruits from the offseason each August.
“I didn’t know too much about her beforehand, I knew she had a little bit of experience at the high school level. I noticed that she had good size, she had a good tryout and I figured she would be on the edge for the final cuts,” said Pandas Head Coach Matt Parrish.
Making the jump from AA high school rugby to the U Sports level is a massive one, so for the most part of last season, Johnson was towards the bottom of the depth chart.
But that didn’t dampen her spirits.
Now back in Edmonton for her third year in the music education program, Johnson has already achieved Academic All Canadian Status for being a varsity athlete at the U Sports level with a GPA higher than 3.5.
“It’s kind of crazy to think that I have found this sport and I’m playing it at the collegiate level after only playing it for one year in high school, but I love it,” said Johnson. “It’s a complicated sport and I’m learning more and more every day. I just want to develop into the best rugby player and best athlete I can be at this point.”
Now back for her second season, Johnson is hoping to play a bigger role on the team that captured the national championship in 2014.
Johnson spent all summer training with one of the top women’s teams in the province, the Strathcona Druids of the Women’s Premier League.
“Our assistant coach coaches the Druids here and so I watched her play a couple games this summer. I gave her an ultimatum at the end of last year that she needed to up her fitness, and to her credit, she has put the work in, stayed here this summer and showed me that she wants a bigger role this year,” said Parrish.
Johnson is currently going through training camp with the Pandas and hopes to be on the opening day roster Sept. 9, when the Pandas host the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.