2010 FISU world university rugby sevens championship: Canadian team announced

OTTAWA – Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Monday the student-athletes and support staff who will represent Canada at the fourth FISU world university women's rugby sevens championship from July 21 to 24, 2010 in Porto, Portugal.

Suzanne Chaulk, head coach of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, is returning for her fourth Championship, having steered Team Canada to gold medal performances in Beijing, China in 2004, and Rome, Italy in 2006 and a silver finish in Cordoba, Spain in 2008.

Chaulk is joined by several of her University of Ottawa coaching staff, including Jean-Philippe Lavoie, an assistant coach with the Gee Gees program, who will joining the program for the first time in the combined role of Team Leader/Assistant Coach. Hussan Saeed, also in his first appearance with the program, will be serving as the team’s Strength and Conditioning Coach. Rounding out the group is Carrie Smith, Team Physiotherapist and a veteran with the program, having worked with Chaulk at all three previous World Championships.

The squad was chosen at a selection camp held in Ottawa the third week of November which featured thirty-five of the top athletes from universities all over the country. Chaulk, in highlighting the exceptional quality of athletes competing for a spot on this year’s team, believes that this is a reflection of the talented athletes and coaches competing within Canada’s universities. “There is absolutely no comparison to that first camp in 2004. And that’s high praise indeed when you consider that the majority of the players who participated in 2004 were National Team athletes.”

The Canadians are heading to Las Vegas this week to participate in the prestigious U.S. Invitational Women’s International Sevens Tournament, which is held in conjunction with the IRB International Men’s event. Although it’ll be first taste of international-level competition for many members of the team, against far more seasoned competition, this is a very important tune-up in our preparations, Chaulk says. “This will be our only opportunity to actually play games, and in a tournament format that is similar to what we’ll face in Portugal.”

Despite facing more senior competition, Chaulk believes that this team is more than capable of competing in Las Vegas; pointing out that in 2008, Team Canada finished a very respectable fourth with an inexperienced roster. “This time around we have a number of athletes with experience at the international level, including four returning players from the team that competed in Spain. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see us finish in the medals.”

“More importantly, this preparation takes on even greater significance when viewed in the light of an expanded FISU Tournament and the level of competition that we will encounter there,” explains Chaulk. Until now, the women’s side of the FISU tournament has been limited to 6 teams, but this year will see an unprecedented 15 teams participating, with some of the world’s strongest rugby countries represented for the first time. “I suspect that this is a reaction to the recent addition of 7-a-side rugby to the Olympics in 2016.” says Chaulk. “There’s no doubt that the addition of Australia and South Africa will raise the competitive level of the tournament significantly, but this sudden increase in participating teams also confirms that university rugby is viewed by many rugby powers as a key development stream for their national team programs.”

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Name - University - Hometown

Shannon Court Lethbridge Calgary, Alta.
Jessica Dovanne Saint Mary’s Victoria, B.C.
Annika Eriksson Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Lisa Gauthier St. Francis Xavier Ottawa, Ont.
Michelle Joslin Guelph Waterloo, Ont.
Ghislaine Landry St. Francis Xavier Toronto, Ont.
Janine Martin Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Marlene Nedved Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Karen Paquin Laval Quebec City, Que.
Jocelyn Poirier Queen’s Ottawa, Ont.
Laura Russell Western Ontario Bolton, Ont.
Charlotte Vallières-Villeneuve Laval Quebec City, Que.
Natasha Watcham-Roy Ottawa Gatineau, Que.
Karlye Wong Queen’s Ottawa, Ont.

TEAM CANADA STAFF

Suzanne Chaulk is returning as the program’s head coach after leading the 2004 and 2006 Canadian teams to gold in Beijing, China and Rome, Italy and a silver medal in Cordoba, Spain in 2008. Suzanne lives in Russell, Ontario and works in Learning Design for the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Ottawa. Suzanne has been coaching the Gee-Gees since the program’s inception in 1991. Over the years, Suzanne has coached at a variety of regional, provincial and national level teams and in 2004, she spent a year studying at the National Coaching Institute in Victoria, B.C. where she received her Diploma in High Performance Coaching while completing her NCCP Level 4 certification.

Jean-Philippe Lavoie is making his debut with Team Canada but he is no stranger to international competition. JP is the former Team Manager for Rugby Canada’s National U-17 Men’s program and will be putting the extensive experience gained with that program to good use as Team Canada’s Assistant Coach and Team Leader. JP lives in Gatineau, Quebec and works as a High Performance Coaching consultant with the Coaching Association of Canada.

Hassan Saeed is completing his Masters in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa where he also serves as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for five of the university’s varsity sport programs, including the Gee Gees women’s rugby program.

Carrie Smith returns for a fourth championship run with the program having worked as the team’s therapist for the 2004, 2006 and 2008 campaigns. Carrie brings a multi-disciplinary approach to her therapy and has amassed a wealth of experience working with high performance athletes; including two Olympic Games (Nagano in 1998 and Vancouver in 2010), the ’99 Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg, and more recently, several appearances with the Canadian National Men’s Rugby team. Carrie is a full-time physiotherapist and a co-owner of two physiotherapy clinics in eastern Ontario.



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