Three of Castlegar’s female rugby players will be touring New Zealand come spring.
Naomi Nichvolodoff, Hope Cwynar and Bryn Spiller-Tisserand, who currently play for the Stanley Humphries Secondary School (SHSS) rugby team, will be joining the NorKam Saints from Kamloops on a tour of New Zealand in March 2017.
“Their teacher mentioned something [about how] they were going to New Zealand and they needed more players so three of our girls — me and two other girls — decided to go,” says Nichvolodoff, who started playing on the SHSS team last spring.
The trip will include stops in Auckland, Wellington and a few places in between where the girls will play against local rugby teams.
“I’m really excited — kind of nervous,” shares Nichvolodoff.
The girls will be accompanied by Kathleen Dempster, a teacher and coach at SHSS, and Stacey Charlton, a community coach.
To pay for their trip, Nichvolodoff, Cwynar and Spiller-Tisserand are organizing fundraising efforts. The girls are currently seeking prize donations from local businesses for a raffle they’re organizing. They’ll also be selling coffee and are planning a bottle drive for January.
Those who’d like to help the athletes get to New Zealand can contact Stacey Charlton at stacey__charlton@hotmail.com or visit their Go Fund Me page at gofundme.com/2jcjp4as.