Horns Rugby Compete in Fit 5s In-House League 2020

With the sun still down and the late November air crisp, the women of the UofL Pronghorns team gathered at the University of Lethbridge’s Gym. Less than 12 hours previously, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro had just announced the cessation of all non-professional team sports in the province for a minimum of 3 weeks. Following a semester marked by ebbing and flowing restrictions on personal contact and restrictions on sports teams and facilities, it meant that the 6:30am inter-squad touch tournament was going to be the sole competitive event for any of the Pronghorns teams in the fall 2020 semester.

 The tournament featured 3 teams formed through an in-house draft who played a competitive tournament of 10-minute mini games over the span of 2 hours. Competing for the glory of being the only winning Pronghorns team in fall 2020 were Rob’s Rebels, JJ’s Juggernauts and Neil’s Ninjas.

Charlie Mitchell, a 4th year player on the Horns’ Rugby squad and Public Health major, played on Neil’s Ninjas. Charlie scored 4 tries over the tournament, bringing her team to a victory over the other two squads, although it did come down to a tiebreaker between Neil’s Ninjas and JJ’s Juggernauts. When she’s not lighting up the scoreboard, Charlie is working towards a long term goal of earning a Master’s degree in Health Promotion with an eye to a future career in healthcare education.

Charlie spoke to us after the tournament and gave us some insight into what it has been like to be a student athlete in the second half of 2020. “This year has been hard.” She says right off the bat.

“We started the season doing the regular amount of training – working out every day, practicing every day – but then we had to cut down to virtual workouts and that was just strange.”

She acknowledged that the oddities did come with some benefits, as the lower workload meant some players had the opportunity to recover from recurring injuries and build strength that they otherwise would not have had. But in spite of that, it meant that Charlie and many of her squadmates favorite part of playing the sport, namely the camaraderie with the team, was sorely missed this season.

Looking back on her Fit 5 tournament victory, Charlie really enjoyed that each of the 5-person teams were introduced to their own “pump up song” and had their own energy activity. Some carried key players in on their shoulders, others had choreographed handshakes or dance moves to intimidate the competition.

“The coaches really went out of the way to make it feel like a game atmosphere and it mimicked the camaraderie we get playing with other teams. It felt like normal.”

Being in her 4th year, Charlie is optimistic about graduating in 2021 and pursuing her higher academic and career goals, which would make this her final year as a Pronghorn. On the athletic front after her Pronghorn career wraps up, Charlie says “I hope to carry on knowledge our coaches gave us to others in some way. I would like to coach and I know it’s beneficial for girls to get into contact sports like rugby and lacrosse. It’s cool to be confident and be strong.”

We wrapped up with Charlie by asked her if she had any thoughts on the world right now she wanted to share. She told us: “It’s a tough time and everyone is struggling, reach out if you need help and we’ll all get through it.”

Congratulations to Charlie and her teammates on their victory, and good luck to all of the Horns athletes in their upcoming Final exams.