Two Meadow Lake athletes recently took their skills not just south of the border, but south-south of the border. MacDowell Rugby Academy is a high-performance development program based out of British Columbia with satellite locations across Canada. Athletes scouted by the academy were recently invited to join the MacDowell squad for a week in Mexico City. Two of these athletes were Charlotte Dimond and Denzara Crawford of the SheDevils rugby program in Meadow Lake who joined the U17 girls team.
“Charlotte was the youngest player on the team, but more than held her own,” explained SheDevils rugby coach Rufas Crawford who accompanied the girls to Mexico City. “She made huge defensive plays that impressed teammates and coaches, and had the Mexican fans ‘oohing’ on the sidelines. It’s been a long time since Charlotte hasn’t scored a try in a game, and Mexico was no exception. In spite of the age gap and the elite level of competition, Charlotte scored for her team. Denzara also scored a try on a long run where she broke three tackles.”
Rufas Crawford went on to describe the Mexico rugby tour as an elite training experience. “Two MacDowell boys teams and two MacDowell girls teams stayed at the Mexico Olympic village, he said. “The teams ran on the Olympic track every morning beside boxers from Brazil and Mexican track stars. After morning activation, a nutritious breakfast was served in the Olympic village cafeteria – no McDonald’s breakfasts for the elite rugby athletes.” Breakfast was followed by morning training. “World-class coaches ran the athletes through rugby drills and skills,” Crawford said. “Rugby athletes from across Canada only had three days of practice to get familiar with each other and learn the coaches game plan.”
Crawford himself also had the privilege of tagging along as a small part of the coaching staff. “It was a huge learning experience to see rugby coached at this level,” he noted. After training was lunch, ice baths, physio and a short period of quiet time. “Afternoons were filled with extracurricular activities,” Crawford added. “On day one, the squad visited the city centre – this included the presidential palace, cathedral, local crafts and a lot of bartering in broken English and Spanish. “
On the second day, the athletes boarded the bus to travel to the Teotihuacan Pyramids for the afternoon. On the way home the bus stopped at a restaurant built inside a cave. On the third day, the athletes spent the afternoon in a huge open-roofed shopping mall. Evenings were spent eating supper at the Olympic village, team meetings and free time before early lights out. Come day four, however, it was all rugby. “Two buses full of Canadian rugby stars traveled up the side of a mountain to play in Dos Rios rugby park,” Crawford said. “It’s 8,600 feet above sea level and a big shock to the athletes used to playing at sea level where the academy is located. The four MacDowell teams played in the mud and rain all day against the Mexican regional squads. It was high-calibre rugby in every match.”
The tournament ultimately saw the U19 MacDowell girls team win gold and the U17 boys team win bronze.