Canada sends its first ever mixed ability rugby team to international competition in Ireland

·3 min read
Oshawa Vikings Rugby Club will represent Canada the International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament, which will be held in Cork, Ireland from June 5 to 10. (Tek Ang - image credit)
Oshawa Vikings Rugby Club will represent Canada the International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament, which will be held in Cork, Ireland from June 5 to 10. (Tek Ang - image credit)

Canada is sending its first ever mixed ability rugby team to the International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament, which will be held in Cork, Ireland from June 5 to 10.

Oshawa Vikings Rugby Club will represent Canada, and Jeff Stralak and Elliot Smith are both excited to be part of the history-making journey team.

"It's something that very few get to do, to represent your club or your country in an international tournament, and to do it with this group of athletes it's humbling, exciting. We're nervous, we're jacked up," said Jeff Stralak, a long-time rugby player.

"To do it together and to be the first, not only the first Canadian team to ever play a mixed ability contact rugby game at a World Cup — we're the first from North America to enter a team in this tournament, and we're hoping to do our club and country proud. It's really exciting for all of us."

Elliot Smith, a player with autism, says he's just happy for the opportunity to represent Canada.

"We're just going to be showing that we're there to have fun at the tournament," he said.

"No matter if we win or lose, we're just there to have fun and be inclusive".

Some 1,100 rugby players from 14 countries will gather in Cork to compete. The six-day event will also see the inaugural Women's Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament.

Now we're going to represent our club and our country overseas in a full contact rugby game, it's just been amazing. - Jeff Stralak, long-time rugby player

For Smith, playing with the Oshawa Vikings Rugby Club is all about "having fun" and "enjoying yourself."

"[It's] just being inclusive and working together with [players with] disabilities and players without disabilities," he said.

Meanwhile, Stralak says playing mixed abilities sport has been "a light bulb moment" for him.

He says "I've had the time of my life" working with athletes who have never touched a rugby ball, and seeing them become formidable players.

"Now we're going to represent our club and our country overseas in a full contact rugby game, it's just been amazing," he said.

Tek Ang
Tek Ang

As someone who played sports all his life, Stralak said he assumed everybody got the same chances he did.

But after talking with the athletes, their parents and family members, he realized that was not the case, and some people just weren't given a chance.

Additionally, he said there were "barriers" — not with the athletes and the people with disabilities, "but society just putting barriers up in our minds or assuming the barriers are there that these athletes couldn't play the game."

"Once that gets taken out, once that dropped in my mind, it all clicked. Like, Elliot's gone from not knowing how to play rugby to now being a beast on the field, and it's just great to see," Stralak said.

Tek Ang
Tek Ang

Elliot says he's become "very good at rugby," and he has some words of advice for anyone who's never played the game.

"Just get out there, be active, show that you're there to have fun and learn how to work together with disabilities and without disabilities."

Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting

Latest Stories

  • Strong earthquake kills 5 in southern Iran

    TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Five people were killed and 44 others injured in a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in southern Iran on Saturday, state television reported. Rescue teams were deployed near the epicenter, Sayeh Khosh village, which is home to around 300 people in Hormozgan province, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, the report said. People went into the streets as aftershocks continued to jolt the area after the early morning quake, which also damaged buildings and infra

  • Pope urges Congo, South Sudan to work for peace, prosperity

    ROME (AP) — Pope Francis urged the people and leaders of Congo and South Sudan on Saturday to “turn a page” and forge new paths of reconciliation, peace and development. Francis issued a video message on the day he had planned to begin a weeklong pilgrimage to the two African countries. He canceled the scheduled trip last month because of knee pain that makes walking and standing difficult. In the message, Francis said he was “greatly disappointed” to not be able to travel and promised to visit

  • Dogs rescued from Afghanistan arrive at Ontario sanctuary

    International animal rescue organization No Dogs Left Behind has helped secure and provide passage for cats and dogs left behind when U.S. troops evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021. The final 10 dogs, which were originally left behind because they were too young or not strong enough to travel, have now arrived in Canada and were brought to the group's sanctuary in Scarborough, Ont.

  • Greece gets European assistance for summer wildfire season

    ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece is receiving European assistance for the summer wildfire season, with the first group of firefighters arriving in Athens. The 28 Romanian firefighters were welcomed Saturday by Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Christos Stylianides and the leadership of Greece’s Fire Service. A total of more than 200 firefighters from six European countries will eventually be deployed to Greece. “Romania is happy to join the pre-positioning program with a specialized firef

  • Crowds gather for Ottawa's first in-person Canada Day celebrations since 2019

    For the first time in three years, thousands of people were able to party without COVID-19 restrictions at the Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa. David Akin explains why this year's event changed venues, how it made history, and how it recognized the road to truth and reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

  • AP Top Stories July 1 A

    Here's the latest for Friday July 1st: Ukraine says Russian missiles hit Odesa residential buildings; Poll shows abortion and women's rights becoming higher priority in US; Supreme Court ruling could affect Biden climate policies; 9 shot in Newark, NJ.

  • Kentville grocery store damaged in Canada Day fire

    There's no word on when a grocery store in Kentville, N.S., will reopen after a fire Friday afternoon left the front of the building damaged. Kentville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Scott Hamilton said crews responded a call for a fire at an Independent Grocer location on Main Street at about 4 p.m. Friday. Hamilton said firefighters found heavy smoke around pillars at the front of the building. He said the fire travelled up one of the pillars to the roof. The store was closed for Canada Day.

  • Edmonton girl, 13, missing since June 24 found safe in Oregon Saturday

    A teenage girl from Edmonton, who was first reported missing over a week ago, was found safe in the state of Oregon Saturday, police say. A man, 41, from Oregon has been arrested. The Edmonton Police Service say they will be charging him with child luring under the Criminal Code of Canada, though more charges may be laid as the investigation progresses, including charges from other police agencies, said Insp. Brent Dahlseide, of the EPS' major crimes branch, during a news conference Saturday mor

  • Medication abortion is common; here's how it works

    Medication abortions became the preferred method for ending pregnancy in the U.S. even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. These involve taking two prescription medicines days apart — at home or in a clinic. Abortion procedures are an invasive medical technique that empties the womb. They are sometimes called surgical abortions, although they don’t involve surgery. Abortion by pills involves the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. As more states seek abortion limits, demand for the

  • Hezbollah sends drones toward Israeli gas rig in disputed waters

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Saturday it had sent three unarmed drones towards an Israeli Mediterranean gas rig, which the Israeli military said it had intercepted. There was no immediate response from Lebanese authorities to the incident, which came amid tensions over the location of the Israeli rig and long-standing but so-far fruitless U.S.-mediated efforts to agree on a maritime border. Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Hezbollah was "preventing the state of Lebanon from reaching an agreement regarding maritime borders, which are critical to the economy and prosperity of the Lebanese nation".

  • Carifiesta parade returns to downtown Montreal

    The colourful Carifiesta parade returned to downtown Montreal on Saturday after three years of celebrations being put off because of the pandemic. The 45th edition of the parade down Saint-Catherine Street celebrating Caribbean culture almost didn't happen because of costs, but luckily organizers were able to scrape together enough to get three floats. "Today is a cultural celebration," said Everiste Blaize, the president of Carifiesta Montreal. "Carifiesta is a celebration of Caribbean history,

  • Libyan protest movement says it will step up its campaign

    TRIPOLI (Reuters) -Libyan protesters will keep demonstrating until all the ruling elites quit power, they said on Saturday, after rallies in most main cities on Friday culminated in a crowd storming the parliament building and torching parts of it. The protest movement said it would step up its campaign from Sunday, urging demonstrators to set up tents in city squares and practise civil disobedience until they achieve their goal of ousting political institutions and holding new elections. Security vehicles surrounded government buildings in the capital after sunset on Saturday and there was no sign of new protests after Friday's rallies demanding change.

  • Convoy protesters return to Ottawa for Canada Day

    Freedom Convoy protesters returned to Ottawa during the first in-person Canada Day celebrations since the pandemic. With vehicles unwelcome, protesters marched on foot in the capital, angry about COVID-19 restrictions and at the government.

  • Northern scholar wants to make land claim agreements more reader-friendly

    Land claim settlement agreements can be full of legal jargon and complex writing, but Marlisa Brown said she has an idea of how to make them more accessible. Her policy research paper Reconnecting to Our Relations: The Need for Formal Land Claim and Self-Government Education in the Northwest Territories, looks at the current resources in place aimed at helping people better understand self-government and land claim agreements and gives policy recommendations to further support this. One of the r

  • Ecuadorian Indigenous people celebrate deal to cut fuel prices

    Ecuadorian Indigenous people celebrate after their leaders and the government signed a deal that would cut fuel prices and end cost-of-living protests that largely paralysed the country for 18 straight days.View on euronews

  • Before Sharknado, there was an actual 'gater-nado' in South Carolina

    On this day in weather history, an alligator might have enjoyed a trip in a waterspout.

  • Twin brothers identified as armed bank robbers killed by police in Saanich, B.C.

    RCMP officers in Saanich, B.C., have identified 22-year-old twin brothers Matthew and Isaac Auchterlonie as the two armed bank robbers who were killed by police in a shootout on Tuesday.

  • Warm, mild spring means earlier strawberries, but not everywhere

    A burst of good news for strawberry-lovers and farmers: the plump, juicy berries are maturing early this year, at least for one grower. Lots of moisture last fall and this spring, and the lack of late frosts, are making for a bumper crop, according to David Walker, the owner of Sunset U-Pick in Fredericton. "It looks like it's going to be one of the best seasons we've ever had," he said speaking to Information Morning Moncton. Walker said Canada Day will mark the peak of the season at the U-pick

  • Trudeau, ministers bid to reclaim flag from freedom protesters in Canada Day speeches

    OTTAWA — Thousands of celebrants who flocked to the national capital for Canada Day festivities heard an impassioned appeal for unity on Friday as the prime minister urged them to reclaim the Maple Leaf as a national symbol. The exhortation from Justin Trudeau and other dignitaries came on another potentially divisive day in Ottawa, as those intent on marking the first in-person Canada Day celebrations since the COVID-19 pandemic honoured the occasion alongside protesters opposed to public healt

  • Great Danes loves to catch falling raindrops

    Maddie the Great Dane loves to catch raindrops. Watch and laugh as while her sister Ellie wants to stay dry, Maddie happily catching raindrops in her mouth, not caring that she is getting wet during a beautiful Florida Sun Shower.