{"id":9271,"date":"2018-12-17T22:40:44","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T02:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=9271"},"modified":"2018-12-17T22:40:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T02:40:44","slug":"waverleys-peyton-leaving-her-mark-on-the-rugby-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=9271","title":{"rendered":"Waverley’s Peyton leaving her mark on the rugby pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

WAVERLEY: <\/strong>For all the success Brooklyn Peyton is having in her short time since picking up the sport of rugby, the Waverley girl owes one person a lot of credit for getting her involved\u2014her best friend Kiera Hiltz.<\/p>\n

Peyton was convinced to give Lockview High rugby a try by Hiltz last February, having never touched a rugby ball or for that matter know much about the sport. She was a soccer player.<\/p>\n

VIDEO: Brooklyn on sacrifices<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
(Larry Peyton Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, that quickly changed after she took to the pitch for her first tryout with the Ken Baker-coached Lockview High girls rugby Dragons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both tried out for the team and had no idea what we were doing,\u201d said Peyton. \u201cOur coach pretty much taught us everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was also told by coach Ken Baker that rookies usually don\u2019t play\u2014except Peyton was on the starters list each game. That\u2019s how much the coaches were impressed by her progression.<\/p>\n

Now Peyton, 15, is also making a name for herself by donning the jerseys with the N.S. Keltics; in the Academy program with the Keltics; the Riverlake senior team; Enfield RFC; and in 7s rugby with the Exit 5 Fall River squad; and the U18 7s team.<\/p>\n

VIDEO: Brooklyn explains her start in rugby<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

With the N.S. Keltics she won gold at nationals and silver at Eastern Canadians; won Keltics fall rugby against University club teams; and won Keltic 7s Selects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a very successful past 10 months,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been very crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Larry Peyton Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peyton, whose favourite sports athlete is New Zealand All Blacks rugby star Beauden Barrett, has also recently learned she is one of five named to an U18 7s team reserves\/training.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Peyton\u2019s dad Larry will do the sprints with his daughter. He sometimes regrets that.<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby is going to be the death of me,\u201d he said with a chuckle. \u201cI do kicks with her. I\u2019m her tackling dummy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Hanratty, Rugby N.S.\/Rugby Canada U20 women\u2019s head coach\/Canadian Senior women\u2019s assistant coach commented about Peyton\u2019s work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood athletes need to be self aware and self driven, two things that can be associated with Brooklyn,\u201d said Hanratty. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see what the future holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

VIDEO: Very exciting past 10 months for Brooklyn<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Peyton also got accolades from N.S. Keltics U16 provincial coach Emma Delorey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith only having less than a year under her belt, Brooklyn has exceeded the provincial coaching staff\u2019s expectations in her training and performance,\u201d said Delorey. \u201cShe is a dedicated player, who works hard at training but goes above and beyond by committing her own time to refine her skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith another year left at the U16 age group we can expect big things from her during her high school season at Lockview and with the U16 Keltics squad in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Larry Peyton Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baker said Peyton made an impact on the coaching staff\u2014even with no previous experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Brooklyn came out, for the first couple of tryouts she was just one of 80 girls we had, and as we progressed we knew she had speed from playing soccer,\u201d said Baker. \u201cWe identified some things that we knew would work with her. For someone in Grade 9 to show up with that dedication, and to ask a lot questions\u2014she asked me a lot\u2014that helps me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Peyton went from the development stage to the progression stage faster than some of the players who were returning from the previous year.<\/p>\n

Baker said she improved on everything they asked of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the season progressed, we put her in some impossible positions but we knew she would show up and to come in, make mistakes but only make them once that\u2019s all we could ask of her,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what stood out the most in Brooklyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peyton is also hopeful other girls will see her success as a challenge to them\u2014so they too will take up the sport and see what girls can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby has a true meaning. It\u2019s family,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just an amazing sport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WAVERLEY: For all the success Brooklyn Peyton is having in her short time since picking up the sport of rugby, the Waverley girl owes one person a lot of credit for getting her involved\u2014her best friend Kiera Hiltz. Peyton was convinced to give Lockview High rugby a try by Hiltz last February, having never touched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21],"tags":[171,172,5,173,174,175,16],"class_list":["post-9271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","tag-brooklyn-peyton","tag-jack-hanratty","tag-lockview-high","tag-n-s-keltics","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-n-s","tag-waverley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}