Not everyone can point to a specific day as the moment his or her future was clearly determined.

He can.

It was Apr. 6, 2013. A Saturday. The Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs winger and aspiring hockey star was sitting by his computer waiting to see his name pop up in the Ontario Hockey League draft. This announcement would surely launch him on his way to a terrific junior career and eventually, maybe a spot in the pros.

Then for hour after painful hour, silence.

"I still remember my draft day being a long and disappointing day," Will Kelly says.

At the time he probably would have said very long and very disappointing. By the time 15 rounds had passed, his name hadn't been called. A number of teammates had seen their dreams realized, but not him.

For some, this would be crushing. It sure felt that way at the time for Kelly. In retrospect, however, it looks like a blessing. Because early next month, the 21-year-old from Ancaster will play his first game with Canada's national rugby team at the Americas Championship in Uruguay.

At the same time he was thinking about a future in hockey, Kelly was also starring in rugby. His dad had been an excellent player at Cambridge University back home in England before moving here to become a doctor at McMaster and later, the Juravinski. Kelly had grown up with the game on TV and rugby balls around the house. He'd developed a passion for this second game, as well.

Of course, finding someone start a neighbourhood pickup game with was a challenge.

"In Ancaster, all the kids are playing hockey," he says. "None are playing rugby."

Funny how things work, though. A teacher of his at Hillfield-Strathallan was a massive fan of the game. He really wanted to kick-start the sport at the school and started an afterschool program when Kelly was in Grade 4. By Grade 7 when the young student could try out for the school's first real team, he was hooked.

It turns out all those years of watching the games with dad had helped. While other kids were trying to figure out the nuances of this new sport, he already got it. That separated him from the pack and within a year he'd been asked to try out for Ontario's under-14 team.

Eventually, the flyhalf landed at McMaster where he won the OUA rookie of the year award. After two years as a Marauder — and time on the national under-20 team — he was trying to figure out how he'd make the gigantic next step to cracking the national team roster. He ended up being put in touch with an agent who found him a spot on an academy team in Wales.

That may sound like a school team. It's not. He's a pro who's being paid to play on the Newport Devils' farm team in his mother's homeland. The money isn't great but the experience is.

He's up by 5:30 most mornings to hit the weight room. Then it's film sessions and team meetings before two on-field training sessions. This full immersion into an all-rugby-all-the-time life is exhausting

"My body has held up for most of the year," he says.

In rugby terms, anyway.

One shoulder creaks a bit. He's rolled both his ankles a couple times. He usually feels sore. Several times he's been in a head-on collision with a bigger player and admits he thought, Wow, that really hurt. And in his first pre-season game, an awkward tackle partially tore a ligament in one ankle. He was supposed to be out 10 weeks at least but made it back in six.

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Rugby players are not normal. He admits that.

"I'd be lying if I told you that more than once I didn't say, 'Why am I doing this?'" he laughs.

The answer came earlier this month.

After getting a call from Rugby Canada in December asking if he might be available for the Americas Championship — the top competition between teams in North, Central and South America — things went quiet. Every day he wondered if this would be the day the called and every day, crickets. It was like the OHL draft all over again.

It was another quiet day in the first week of January that he convinced himself he wasn't going.

Within an hour, the head coach called.

He's in British Columbia this week for training. Saturday he flies to Montevideo. Canada's first game is Feb. 2 against the hosts. It's going to be huge.

Nearly six years after that disappointing hockey draft day, he has no regrets how it's played out. In fact, he's not entirely sure this wouldn't be the same story even if he had been picked. His future might've just been delayed a few seasons.

"I think rugby still would've prevailed."

sradley@thespec.com

905-526-2440 | @radleyatthespec

Spectator columnist Scott Radley hosts The Scott Radley Show weeknights from 6-8 on 900CHML