Promising Heriot’s Blues Women player Emily Flavell is eager to get back to training at Goldenacre and prepare for her debut game for the club.
The19-year-old centre joined Heriot’s Blues Women during the Sarah Beaney Cup campaign, which was cut short by the coronavirus lock down.
‘‘At Heriot’s, straight away everyone was putting effort into learning my name and getting to know me,’’ Emily said.
‘‘Everyone has the same attitude to rugby; they want to do well and they want others in the team to do well.’’
At 16, Emily first played rugby through her local club Caithness RFC, where her father Mike Flavell also is a coach.
‘‘My Dad is from New Zealand, I only started playing a couple of years ago but I think it was inevitable,’’ she said.
Her favourite rugby memories so far were created playing in the Girls U18 Cup Final for Caithness against a strong Stirling County side.
‘‘We had never beaten Stirling ever. It was the hardest game and we ended up winning. It was such an up and down game; we came from behind,’’ she said.
Emily has also developed as a player through the Scottish Futures U18 and U20 programmes, part of the Scottish Rugby Academy.
‘‘It was quite hard, there was a lot of travelling but I improved a crazy amount and you get pushed hard. My knowledge of the game improved so much,’’ she said.
Soon Emily will travel back for her second year of study at Edinburgh University and return to training at Goldenacre.
‘‘I am excited to start the season with the team,’’ she said. ‘‘At the start of lock down it was nice to have a break from everything but now I am itching to go back to training. It is nice to focus on you own fitness and skills but you start missing your pals.’’
Photo credit: James Gunn Photography