Indigenous athletes taking to rugby in PA
- Chelsea Laskowski | June 10, 2017
The Prince Albert Dragons have an increasing number of Indigenous teen athletes learning rugby from a man whose native country is deeply tied to the sport.
Tuks Ratuki moved from Fiji to Prince Albert a year ago, and started volunteering with the Dragons’ coaching staff this season.
In Fiji, rugby is huge – think soccer in Eastern Europe. Ratuki has been playing since he was three, and said his cousins play rugby on the national scale. His great-grandfather also played on a high level.
“Now it’s kind of culture to us, playing that kind of sport it’s like a big thing,” he said. “Over here (in Canada) it’s a little bit slow.”
Ratuki thinks on the high level for the kids he helps coach, too. He shows different techniques he’s picked up over the years “because one day you never know, they might play for Canada.”
Players like Royce Brittain, a four-year high school rugby veteran, aren’t thinking too far ahead, although he is interested in continuing on with a city adult team or a provincial team once he graduates from Prince Albert Collegiate Institute (PACI) this year.
Brittain and 13 other Dragons players are Indigenous. With half the team comprised of First Nations and Metis players, the Dragons have much stronger representation than any of the province’s other high school teams.
Some of this is attributable to assistant coach Jim Woodcock, a PACI staff member who invited Brittain and others to give rugby a try.
Brittain is already involved in a number of sports, but said rugby has taken priority over the years.
“It keeps me motivated to see that I can do greater things as getting a try or getting a basket like in basketball, a touchdown, anything. Just getting that in that moment feels just amazing. It’s like you’re going somewhere, you’re succeeding,” he said.
What appeals to him most is simple: the camaraderie and the leadership role he’s taken with newer players.
Fellow PACI Grade 12 student Dayton Bennett is also attracted to the teamwork component of rugby. Like Brittian, Bennett came to the sport through Woodcock’s recommendation, and has a goal of improving his fitness level throughout the year.
In early May, the Dragons played and won their first game of the season in Saskatoon.
That was Bennett’s first-ever rugby game and when speaking right after the physical match, he was left with a good impression.
“It’s great. It provides a new experience and is not at all what I expected. And it just shows me what I can work on as a rugby player,” he said.
As the team continues to grow, Ratuki said his family is keeping tabs. Some of the players have been eager to get to know about his family, so they’ve made video calls and learned the word “bula.”
“Now all these kids know how to speak hello in my language,” he said.
For Ratuki, coaching is a chance to stay connected to rugby, and to his home.
“I make my family proud because I continue what I love to do,” he said.