A rugby player from 100 Mile House got the chance to test herself against players from Ireland earlier this month.
Joelle Kuyek, who is going into her final year at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School, was among a dozen athletes invited to play for the Celtic Barbarians Rugby Football Club's recent tour of Ireland. The Celtic Barbarians are an invitational rugby program that draws players from across North America. Kuyek said it was an incredible experience to be a part of.
"It was so much fun being able to see the rugby culture in Ireland and be able to connect with these girls worldwide," Kuyek said. "I was shocked to be considered for such an amazing opportunity but I was so excited (to go)."
Rugby is a relatively new passion for Kuyek who picked it up just over two years ago playing first for the PSO Eagles and later for Prince George's Aurora Wolves. A classic pianist who enjoys hiking, Kuyek said she has come to love the supportive nature rugby community from her fellow players to her coaches.
Kuyek said the opportunity to play for the Celtic Barbarians came in early July when her coach for the Aurora Wolves asked her if she would be interested in going on a tour through Ireland in August. With little time to decide Kuyek chose to take a chance and join the team, reasoning this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"The tour was 14 days. We flew into Dublin and it was girls from all over. The Celtic Barbarians pull from all over the world but the girls from this tour specifically were from the United States and Canada," Kuyek explained. "There were 28 of us and it was a rugby immersion."
During the tour, Kuyek said they spent several days at rugby academies in Ireland learning and training with Irish players. They also got the chance to play four games, three against local rep teams and one against a local house team. Kuyek said the Celtic Barbarians went on to win two of the games against local rep teams and one against the house team.
"With the games, we would always have a meal with the girls we played against, so we were able to talk to them and hear about their rugby experiences in Ireland. We really got to know what it's like for them being able to play rugby from such a young age because rugby is such a prominent sport in their country," Kuyek said. "Rugby there is basically like soccer here."
Despite the Celtic Barbarians' ultimate success, Kuyek said playing against the Irish players was still tough. She noted she had never played with any of her fellow Celtic Barbarians before this tour so they had to build a team dynamic on the fly and work together.
"We were a very good team. All the players I was with were super-skilled and we did well against them. It was tough because these girls have been playing rugby their whole lives while most of us have only been playing for maybe two or four years," Kuyek remarked.
Kuyek's personal highlight from the games was the celebration after each win and how the girls lifted one another up during the games. She also scored an average of two to three tries a game, noting that she was playing wing so the ball naturally would come to her as the game progressed. That being said, one of Kuyek's tries stood out so much that the founder of Rugby Academy Ireland made it his try of the week on Instagram.
With the tour now behind her, Kuyek said it has inspired her to see if she could become a professional rugby player after high school.
"I'm hoping in the next couple of months to go to some training camps and maybe find myself a future in rugby."
