Red Deer's Paige Farries and Rimbey's Courtney Holtkamp were among the 30 athletes named to the Canadian women's rugby team last week for the upcoming WXV 1 tournament.
The WXV 1, the top tier level of WXV, is a global women's rugby competition set to take place in Vancouver from Sept. 29 to Oct.12, featuring the top six teams worldwide.
The countries participating in the competition include the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations which are England, France, and Ireland.
They'll also feature the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series including Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S. To qualify for the WXV 1 Canada beat all three teams in the Pacific Four series.
Farries and Holtkamp are not new to Team Canada. They have represented their country on the international stage for nearly seven years.
"It means everything," Farries told The Advocate.
"It's been a lifelong passion of mine to pursue sport at the highest level, especially in rugby which I think is such a wonderful community, and to represent Canada which is a wonderful country. It goes hand in hand and it's an absolute joy."
Farries and Holtkamp competed in the WXV 1 last year in New Zealand. Farries described the tournament as the crème de la crème of rugby.
"It's the world's best competing against the world's best and there's no easy weekend. There's no easy games so you have to show up," she said adding they claimed third in last year's tournament.
It also adds to the excitement that they'll compete on home soil. Historically, Canada hasn't been able to host many international rugby tournaments but Farries said it's starting to happen more often.
The women's program has also been slowly growing momentum and Farries is confident in their chances of winning it all.
"Next year is the World Cup in England so that is our projected target. We don't together all that often but I do feel every time we do we're better than when we left off," she said.
"Everyone goes away and works their butts off and commits themselves to excellence. You can really feel that we're building toward greatness."
Holtkamp, who will suit up for Canada as a forward, is a member of the Red Deer Titans Rugby Club, and Farries, who plays back three, plays professional soccer in England for the Saracens.
Holtkamp, 25, said representing her country has been an honour.
"Any chance I get to put the jersey on I'm filled with pride and remember my beginnings with the Red Deer Titans Rugby Club," she said. "It's been great."
She said the WXV 1 tournament is a great way to get some games in which will be held every year except in 2025.
"The level of competition is super high which only makes our team and rugby around the world better for the women's game," she said.
"We've had a good little training block these last couple of weeks. We haven't trained as much as the professional teams out there but everyone on the team is feeling really good. We're feeling confident and I know we're going to give our best effort in every game we play. We're feeling ready to go."
Canada will play their first game of the tournament against France on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 4:45 p.m. MT at BC Place. They'll then face Ireland on Saturday, Oct. 5, and England on Saturday, Oct. 12.
