Sevens women training hard

With each hurdle faced the Cook Islands womens rugby sevens movement has grown stronger and more determined to prove their critics wrong.

The womens rugby squad to represent the country at the Pacific Games in Noumea later this month has been named a balanced team of locals and overseas based players.

Many of the players in the Pacific Games squad are the founding members of womens rugby in the Cooks who in their first international tournament last year placed third and won the plate grand finals at the Asia Pacific Womens tournament in Borneo.

The journey to the Pacific Games has been a hard one including raising a daunting $22,000 plus for the 15 squad members and dealing with a still small and developing pool of local women rugby players.

But the team have fundraised since February this year and committed to gruelling training sessions with head coach Nooroa Maui.

With the team fragmented by way of location it makes training, monitoring and learning game patterns and set moves that more difficult, says team manager Lara Sadaraka.

It also requires a high degree of mental toughness from the athlete to remain focused when numbers are low and there isnt that sense of having the full contingent for training.

When men go to rugby training they grab their boots, hop on their bike and head off to the rugby field.

When our women train it often includes young children on the sidelines desperately wanting the attention of their mothers. Some are in pushchairs, others just old enough to hobble their way into the field of play and cause a disruption.

Another struggle the team has faced during the long months of training has been finding teams to play against, however a number of under 16 and 19 boys club rugby teams have been willing to rumble with the women during Saturday games.

Despite the challenges and disruptions, women rugby players, their coach and manager have stuck in there and less than a month away from the Pacific Games the team have received confidence boosting and exciting news.

The squad has been invited back to the Asia Pacific Womens tournament in Malaysia after the Pacific Games.

This is a testament to the role the Cook Islands is playing in the global explosion of womens rugby sevens.

From the outset they were determined to participate (in the Pacific Games) regardless of the challenges, says Sadaraka.

The women rugby players, coach and management team would like to thank everyone who has supported them through their campaign and look forward to proudly representing you all and the country at the Pacific Games and in Malaysia following the games.