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Olivia De Couvreur was a full-fledged soccer player, with a decade’s worth of experience, when she tuned into the 2016 Summer Olympic Games on TV.

The moment she saw women’s rugby sevens, which made its Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, her life veered in a new direction.

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De Couvreur’s imagination took her from being restricted only to kicking or heading a round soccer ball to being able to touch, pass and carry an oblong, rugby ball up field, powered by her speed and tenacity. She couldn’t wait to enter the intense, controlled chaos of those 14-minute games.

“When I watched rugby sevens (at the Olympics), my heart rate was racing. It was so intense and precise. There was contact and passing. I know for sure it was something I wanted to do,” said De Couvreur, who had played competed in soccer for the Gloucester Hornets and track and field at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School.

Photo by Chris Wilson / islandwavephotography.com

But there was an issue. Her parents stepped forward with concerns.