RUGBY: Ogunjimi dominated CW en route to national sevens squad

Brian Swane, Special to Canada West

EDMONTON – How do you make it Canada's rugby sevens senior women's program?

Start playing soccer and running track as a kid in Nigeria. Move to a new country where you take up wrestling in junior high, then during high school give rugby a shot. Become a Canadian national wrestling champ, and then become a Canada West rugby 15s and sevens champion.

Also, earn a university degree with lofty career objectives and pick up as many awards – academic and athletic – along the way as possible.

Ok, so maybe it's not that easy, but that's the path charted by Temitope Ogunjimi, who is the first Canada West sevens alumnus to be part of the national senior rugby sevens program.

After graduating from the University of Calgary and being recognized as Canada West's top student-athlete in 2018, the 23-year-old is now centralized with the national program in Victoria.

"It's been interesting, amazing, challenging, eye-opening – it's been a lot of things," Ogunjimi says of her first few months with the sevens.

A standout playing back row in the 15-person game, the five-foot-six Ogunjimi is now training alongside the nation's best at scrumming seven per side.

"It's a learning curve of getting with the program and learning the new systems and all of that has been challenging, which is amazing - it gives you something to always look forward to," she says.

"It's not like I'm waking up every morning thinking, 'Oh there's nothing more for me to improve, I'm just going to go and practice and do what I know.' I'm waking up every day (thinking) 'I'm probably going to be learning something new that I'm going to develop better.' It's so different, it's amazing."

Ogunjimi aims to expand her role and become a regular in the lineup for Canada women's rugby sevens, which is trying to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

"The team's very focused, and everyone's working so hard together and as individuals, trying to make sure we do each and every thing so that we can come tougher and make the best team possible to qualify for the Olympics," she says. "It's so awesome to be in that environment, and I hope in the next year or so I'm up to their calibre in there right alongside all of them, working just as hard."

Several months ago, Ogunjimi was still a student-athlete, though anything but an average one. Over five years attending the University of Calgary, she won five gold medals at the Canada West wrestling championships, one gold, one silver and two bronze at the U SPORTS Wrestling Championships, while she was part of Dinos rugby 15s teams that captured Canada West gold twice and added a bronze at the U SPORTS championship.

Ogunjimi's greatest individual honours came in her final year, as she graduated from the Faculty of Arts, she was named the Canada West Female Athlete of the Year and received the U SPORTS Student-Athlete Community Service Award for 2017-18.

"Getting the (Canada West Female Athlete of the Year) was something I didn't even think was going to happen," she says. "In most cases, the sports of wrestling and rugby tend to get overlooked, so I was just ecstatic to get the (award) … because it helped to show that the hard work I'd been putting in for the last five years was not going unnoticed, and it was great for both sports to get such recognition."

As a youngster in her native Nigeria, Ogunjimi's loves were soccer – the country's national pastime – and track, which she participated in at school meets. After moving to Calgary at age 10, she gave wrestling a try in Grade 7 at the suggestion of her physical education teacher. Ogunjimi's exposure to rugby came three years later at Centennial high school.

"I thought, I like running, I like hitting people and tackling people in wrestling, and rugby gave me that opportunity to do that," Ogunjimi explains.

When she began attending Calgary in 2013, Ogunjimi's athletic focus was exclusively wrestling. Announcing her arrival by winning the Canada West Wrestling Rookie of the Year award, she dominated from day one, and even found time to win Wrestling Canada senior and junior national titles over the course of her university career. In 2018, Ogunjimi was recognized as U SPORTS' Outstanding Female Wrestler.

She first returned to the pitch during her third year, practising with the Dinos at the invite of coach Simon Chi. She officially joined the team for the 2016-17 season.

"In high school when I was playing, Simon was very impressed with my ability, my speed, and how I was able to open tackle people," she says.

"I kept in open communication with him and every time I talked to him, he was always like, 'I'm super-excited, whenever you come out with us, and come play for us or come practice with us. We really think your speed and your ability to tackle very well is something that's going to make a difference on the team.'"

Her coach was right. Despite going three years without playing a competitive match, Ogunjimi played at such a level in 2016 that she was named a Canada West All-Star and First-Team All-Canadian while helping the Dinos win the first Canada West women's rugby championship in program history.

"That was pretty amazing that I was able to do that with so many girls that had been on the team for years before me, and even for the alumni," she says. "There was a lot of alumni that were out there watching and supporting us, and that moment was very humbling for me and very heart-warming."

The Dinos repeated as Canada West champs in 2017, when Ogunjimi was once again feted as a Canada West All-Star and selected to the U SPORTS First Team.

Ogunjimi still sees wrestling in her future. She's also an aspiring lawyer who's currently studying to take the LSAT (Law School Administration Test).

But right now, sevens is No. 1, and as the sport continues to grow, with the Canada West Women's Rugby Sevens Series set to open its third season on Jan. 19 and 20 at the University of Alberta, Ogunjimi takes tremendous pride in being the first of what will surely be many conference alumni to lune up for rugby sevens internationally.

"It's amazing," she says. "I'm glad that other girls can look at that and have something to push them."

CW sevens action returns this weekend

The 2019 CW Women's Rugby 7s Series returns this weekend, as the University of Alberta hosts the first of three tournaments this season. Tournament details can be found below, along with the complete tournament schedule here.

Tournament 1: January 19-20

• VENUE: Foote Field Dome
• LOCATION: Edmonton, Alta.
• HOST: University of Alberta Pandas
• COMPETING TEAMS (8): Alberta Pandas, UBC Thunderbirds, Calgary Dinos, Fraser Valley Cascades, Lethbridge Pronghorns, Regina Cougars, Thompson Rivers WolfPack, Victoria Vikes