I have a great support team behind me from my peers to my parents
- Brydie Parker
REPRESENTING your country at the Olympics could be one of the biggest moments of an athlete’s career.
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And, next week, Muswellbrook’s Brydie Parker will become one step closer to the dream when she dons the “green and gold” at the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games.
The talented rugby sevens player is looking forward to playing the sport and, hopefully, bringing home gold for Australia.
Parker said the contact, vision and teamwork were some of the code’s most enjoyable aspects.
Her background of elite touch football, sprinting and league tag prepared her for the challenge of learning the craft.
She said one of her biggest challenges in adapting the different code was perfecting the correct tackling technique.
On top of studying for the Higher School Certificate, Parker also has a strict training schedule, which includes travelling to Sydney weekly, Newcastle and Armidale.
“To make the Australian Youth Commonwealth rugby sevens team has been a major goal of mine and I have worked extremely hard to make this a reality,” she told the Chronicle.
“I have a great support team behind me provided by my peers, my coaches, my personal trainer, my sprint coach and my parents.
“I have learned to balance each task efficiently and to conquer each step at a time and to try and work as efficiently as possible.
”I’ve had a fair bit to do with all the girls that are in my [Youth Commonwealth Games] team.
“We are given a training schedule which requires us to train nearly two times a day throughout the week.
“So we do two sessions a day and also travel down to Sydney.
“We’ve had four training camps with the girls as a group in Narrabeen.
“[It can be hard] training as a team because we have girls from western Australia and Queensland.
“So that requires us to do our individual training routine, and be on fire when we get to camp.”
As she works towards each step of her goal, Parker will continue to build on her big Olympic dream.
“It would be pretty amazing to be able to represent your country playing a sport you love,” she said.
In rugby sevens, Parker plays in the backs and is mostly positioned on the wing or in the centres.
She began in the sport in 2015 with the Hunter Women’s Rugby Sevens at the Championships, successfully vying for a place in the NSW Waratahs’ under-17s.