High school graduation is often seen as a huge moment in a student's life, as it marks the end of 12 grades of hard work and a new journey with many paths ahead. While graduation was definitely important for rugby player Miranda Green, for her there was something even more important: joining her younger teammates in the provincial tournament.
"Life is like a team sport to me and we worked so hard to get there... school is important, grad is very important, but sports got me through school so having the opportunity to get a gold and go to something that I guess is the last opportunity I would have got to get gold in high school, and to support my team just meant the world to me," she said.
Green's commitment paid off in a big way, as she played a big role in helping the team win its first-ever championship. She's played rugby for five years and has a true love for the sport, and said winning the gold was even sweeter because of the growth some new players had and how well they worked together.
"It just made me so happy that I got to get gold, especially rugby because I worked so hard on it, the other girls did too. As a team we all grew, at the beginning some of them have never played rugby before and I was so proud of them that we got gold."
Things worked out well for Green, as she was actually able to celebrate graduation after the provincial championship and made it in time for the dance! While she was still wearing her rugby gear she was happy she got to celebrate with her other grade 12 friends.
"I got to celebrate a little bit with my friends, they all saw me. I was in my rugby shorts though, I was all taped up and stuff and I had my eye black on dancing. All my friends got pictures of us in their princess dresses, and then there's just me, it's pretty funny."
Green's commitment to sports and her decision to skip graduation may not have been a surprise to some who knew her, as she's shown time and time again that she will outwork anyone on the field. Earlier this school year she was the only girl to be on the Spartans football team, and she played arguably the most physical positions in the sport on the offensive and defensive lines.
"I had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to work out every day to keep up with them (the boys on the team), so I'd be doing 3 hours of working out, on top of practice and just working at home. So I put a lot of time in trying to catch up."
Miranda Green as a member of the Spartans football team.Photo courtesy Country Roots Photography, Darlene Hooge
While trying to make up for the difference in strength was definitely a challenge, Green said all the boys on the team were fantastic and the coaches really helped her to keep pushing forward.
"Coach Danny Warrack, Bob, Coach Tucker, they made sure everything worked and they taught me important things like commitment and how valuable that is. And even if it gets hard mentally because sometimes it was difficult because there is like a difference in strength biologically, they still kept me pushing through the hard times."
As for the future, Green knows she wants to stay involved in sports and rugby, but isn't sure where exactly that will be. She's looking into several university rugby teams to see what could be the best fit for her, but regardless of where she ends up we can expect her to be just as dedicated as ever to sports.
#61 Miranda Green with the football team.Photo courtesy Country Roots Photography, Darlene Hooge
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Sat, Apr 27, 2:00 PM
