The most successful sports organizations realize the big wheel never stops turning.

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The immediate issue for the Langford-based Canadian women’s rugby sevens team, which has qualified for Rio, is its preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

But planning for the Tokyo 2020 cycle has already begun, with 17-year-old prodigy Caroline Crossley of Victoria named to the Canadian team for the Dubai Sevens on Dec. 3-4.

The team flies from YYJ on Monday after months of training at Westhills Stadium and the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence.

“These are all my idols that I look up to. I never imagined I would be practising and playing with these players, who are the best in the world,” said Crossley, a Grade 12 Oak Bay High student.

“It’s such an honour. I’m nervous, which is to be expected. But mostly, I’m excited,” added Crossley, who played for the Maple Leafs national development team last season at the Hong Kong Sevens and won silver with Canada at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa.

Her father, the former UVic Vikes and Castaway Wanderers player David Crossley, wanted his daughter and her peers to have a place to play. So he created the CW girls’ team four years ago and the CW women’s team this year.

Canadian captain Jennifer Kish hopes to see more of that across the country. Canada is ranked No. 2 in the world and Kish hopes an Olympic medal at Rio 2016 will do for women’s rugby what the bronze at London 2012 did for women’s soccer in Canada.

“Canadian girls want to play soccer now because of that Olympics medal. If we do as well, I believe women’s rugby will explode across Canada,” said Edmonton-native Kish.

“The Pan Am Games gold medal at Toronto over the summer put women’s sevens on the radar in this country. As much as we try to play down the Olympics [in terms of not adding undue pressure], we all know it’s the biggest stage. We are medal contenders, so there are high expectations. For me, it’s about what an Olympic medal would mean for the development of women’s rugby in Canada.”

And beyond.

“The program is already thinking ahead to Tokyo 2020 and to 2024, and it’s important to get some young girls into senior international play,” Kish said.

Even at that, Crossley’s rise has blown away many observers.

“To play at the senior international level at 17 is pretty amazing,” said Kish.

Also making her senior national team debut at Dubai will be Megan Lukan, a cross-over athlete who played NCAA basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The veterans travelling to Dubai are Kish, Magali Harvey, Kelly Russell, Ghislaine Landry, Britt Benn, Arielle Dubissette-Borrice, Julia Greenshields, Mandy Marchak, Kayla Moleschi and Karen Paquin.

Canada will be in Pool B with the U.S., Dubai, Fiji and Ireland.

After Dubai, the women’s World Sevens Series continues at Sao Paulo on Feb. 20-21, in Atlanta from April 8-9 and at Westhills Stadium in Langford on April 16-17.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com