Maddy Ashby remains hopeful she'll get to Rio for the Olympics. Source: Philip Hillyard / News Limited
SHE is the 13-year-old who wants to rewrite the record books and become Australia's youngest rugby player - but won't be allowed because she is too young.
Meet Madison Higgins-Ashby, an athlete so talented that within just three months of playing rugby Sevens her coach and parents have decided to lobby the ARU to allow her to compete for a place in their women's team to play in the 2016 Olympics.
Her coach, Sy Lagaaia, is the same man who discovered Australia's youngest rugby player Tiana Penitani - who at 17 made her debut for the senior women's Sevens team last year. Lagaaia says Higgins-Ashby is as promising at 13 as Penitani was at 16.
But the ARU says that because Higgins-Ashby will only be 15-and-a-half years by the time the Rio Games are held, she will miss the age limit cut-off by six months.
"I believe in myself, and that I'm good enough to be with these girls and go even higher," Higgins-Ashby said.
"My dream is to go to the 2016 Olympics.
"I don't think age should come into it, if you have the talent to do it you should get a chance."
Under IRB and ARU rules, the age limit for a senior team is 18, although they will consider players aged 16 and above if they have parental consent and show they are able to handle the physicality.
"There is a process if you fall within two years of the 18-year limit, but we can't open it up to three, four or five years, simply because of safety regulations," said Anthony Eddy, the ARU's general manager of Sevens.
"She will get an opportunity for youth Olympic teams and youth Commonwealth Games teams, but until she is 16 she won't be playing in a senior rugby side."
Madison's father Clinton Ashby feels as though the rules are outdated, and wonders how much more physically advanced she get in the six months between the Olympics and her 16th birthday.
"I wouldn't put my daughter in a position where I felt she would be in danger or couldn't handle herself," Mr Ashby said.
"She is a tough girl. We're very confident she is good enough to go to the Olympics - without boasting - we're just confident in her ability.
"She is already playing against 19 and 20-year-olds now, the way the rules stand, it's another two-and-a-half years before she's actually supposed to be doing that."
Higgins-Ashby may have only entered her teens in January, but has already been selected for an under-20s invitational tournament in Hawaii, representing the Pacific Barbarians, after showing up rivals six years older.
And the 52kg dynamo is no stranger to giving it to the boys - she has carved up opponents 40kg heavier on the rugby league field, and as a competitive mixed martial artist, has made rival male competitors submit.
"She has no fear, she has been smashed by boys twice her size, she gets up and says 'I'm going to get you' then scores three or four tries,," Mr Ashby said.
Coach Lagaaia added: "There are a lot of similarities between Maddie and Tiana, they both have an unbelievable drive that makes you forget how old they are.
"I am seeing in Maddie now what I saw in Tiana at 16."
In a potentially telling encounter, Higgins-Ashby is listed as a shadow player for the Pacific Barbarians team when they play the senior Australian women's Sevens side in a practice match in two weeks.
Higgins-Ashby, a year eight student at Penrith's McCarthy Catholic College, has no qualms who is put in front of her.
"You just look at them like they're your enemy and beat them," she said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Thirteen-year-old’s Olympic sevens dream
Dengan url
http://sportlivestyle.blogspot.com/2014/04/thirteen-year-oldas-olympic-sevens-dream.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Thirteen-year-old’s Olympic sevens dream
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Thirteen-year-old’s Olympic sevens dream
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar