Maggie Alphonsi: My Greatest Mistake

from The Guardian:

Maggie Alphonsi

Maggie Alphonsi began her sports career in athletics before deciding to give rugby a shot. Photograph: Paul Seiser

Before going into rugby at 14, I did athletics. I was a discus thrower and got funding from my local authority to represent the [London] borough of Enfield entering national competitions. But as time went on I realised I really wanted to give rugby a shot. So I went down to my local rugby club and pretty much became addicted to the sport.

I gave up athletics. I could have gone on to represent England in the Olympics but abruptly, I chose to take another course in life.

The biggest reaction was from my mother because she was very keen on athletics – you saw athletics on the TV and there were women involved in it – but rugby union is not really a female sport. She was surprised rather than disappointed and tried to persuade me to stay in athletics. My mother didn’t really understand why I would want to take up rugby. Where I lived, near Tottenham in north London, people were more into football – you watched Spurs or Arsenal, you played football or did athletics. But now she appreciates the sport much more.

I got into rugby because of one of my teachers, Liza Burgess. She played herself and I was quite impressed with what she had achieved.

I loved playing rugby. It’s one of those sports where you can be multi-disciplined – I run, throw, I can tackle. When I was growing up, just doing one event didn’t feel as though I was being pushed as much. In rugby, I could show off more of my strengths.

I’ve faced barriers – trying to push for opportunities to train depending on when the guys wanted to train, promoting girls’ rugby, finding facilities – but I have been very fortunate. I have had very good coaches and people in sport to help me find opportunities.

I still look at athletics and think: “Could I go back and give it a go?” It’s one of those things you look back at and wonder what could have been. But I gave up my Olympic dream to play rugby at a high level. Thankfully, rugby is now in the Olympics for 2016. It’s nice to see it is starting to become a bigger sport.

So my greatest mistake probably turned out to be the best thing I could have done. I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

I would say do what’s important for yourself, don’t think too far ahead about the awards and achievements that may come from the sport, think about the activity – if it makes you happy, you should pursue it.

Maggie Alphonsi supports the RFU president’s XV awards, with QBE, insurance partner of England Rugby.

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