Women ready to ‘tackle’ new season

(CNS): Following up on a successful 2009 season, the Cayman Women’s Rugby team has been in training since the first week of January in preparation for the first tests of the season coming on 24 & 27 March and the team says it is out to make 2010 a successful year. New faces on the Cayman side including Claire Hughes, Liz Austin, Marion Trail and Katie Scott who have been training for the past few months and say they are ready for game action, while veterans Loletta Hanna, Sumari Naude and Sharon Whitmore will look to lead the squad to their first wins of the season.

The Cayman ladies have a busy 2010 season with another visiting side from Bermuda coming in May, a social tour to the Midnight 7’s in June, NACRA 7’s in Guyana in July and most importantly, the NACRA 15’s in Bahamas in August.  Hopes have been set high for this season as the Cayman women’s squad aims to maintain its winning streak but says silver at the 15 won’t be good enough this time around and hopes to improve on all its 2009 results.

In order tog et in shape the ladies said they have been participating in a number of athletic pursuits since their last rugby matches in November including the Cayman Islands Marathon, Cross Island Relay, Scotiabank Corporate Relay, National Flag Football Team, NOMA Off the Beaten Track Race, St. Patrick’s Day run, and Captain Rowena Lawrence even climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. 

Gretchen Hammes completed her first marathon while the team of Hammes, Krista Pell, Yi Jing Chen, Rowena Lawrence, Cara Hennessy and Ashley Puschman won the ladies division in the Cross Island Relay.  Runners such as Emily Davies, Jane Robson, Lisa Kehoe and Fiona Brander are constants at all the running events with Brander and Kehoe forgingthe triathlon programs as well.

 Flag footballers Cindy Blekeitas and Ann Marie Douglas represented the Cayman Islands in Orlando in January and were victorious in a number of matches.

All of which has prepared the team well for the visiting MIT side who are the current NSCRO National Champions.  The MIT side is well known for their speed and agility while the Cayman side will look to challenge those skills with their tenacious play and tough tackles.