Hinch to join the scrum at UBC

By Dale Woodard on April 28, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

Already a multi-sport athlete, Kiera Hinch added one more to her impressive athletic resume in Grade 8.

That sport will now take her to the Canada West university level with the product of Cardston recently committing to the UBC Thunderbirds rugby team in Vancouver.

“I’m so excited. It’s going to be a crazy jump,” said Hinch, who lines up at prop.

“Especially with everything that has been going on recently. I haven’t played for the last year, but I was lucky enough to play the summer of 2019. I was able to play on Team Alberta and we went to Kelowna (UBCO) and that’s what piqued my interest in going to B.C. to play.”

The path to UBC’s rugby program started in Grade 8 when Hinch, already a volleyball and basketball player as well as a competitive swimmer and skater, was introduced to rugby by her father, Kirk, and her brother, Liam, both players themselves.

The fit was immediate.

“I thought it could be fun to try out and right off the bat the coach wanted me to play varsity just because of my size and my strength,” said Hinch.

“I guess having natural talent is obviously fun, but I really enjoy rugby because it’s such a team sport. You can’t make a play without every position doing their own part.”

However, athletics had already played a big role in Hinch’s life.

“I’ve always played sports since Grade 5,” she said. “I’ve done everything and it has been a way to release stress. At that two-hour practice you don’t focus on anything else, just the sport. It’s just time to give yourself a break.”

Those days of basketball, volleyball, skating and swimming paid off nicely when making the shift to rugby scrums.

“Especially with skating,” said Hinch.

“I had to have really good balance for that and I’ve noticed even with weight lifting and training for rugby, that balance carries over. It’s the same with basketball, just the intensity and strength has really carried over, especially to my position.”

Starting in Cardston in Grade 8, Hinch sat out her Grade 9 year with an injury before suiting up with Fort Macleod in Grade 10 and half of Grade 11.

Then as a member of Team Alberta, Hinch and her teammates headed to Kelowna two summers ago.

It was the scenery she was looking for.

“We went and stayed at the UBC Okanagan campus,” said Hinch. “We played there and afterward I thought it was really pretty and I definitely wanted to come out there.”

But with the UBCO being a club team, Hinch shifted her focus to the west coast in Vancouver.

“There was a combine in November of 2019 in Red Deer and it was put on by the coaches at UBC,” said Hinch. “I went up there and played and it was just a one-day camp. We did some physical testing and some rugby for fun.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic wrecking havoc with sports, Hinch reached out to the UBC coach last November.

“I said where I had played and that I had gone to the combine (last) November. He remembered me and we were able to set up a Zoom call. I think once he saw my face he put together the name to the face.

“It was bit different in my position because it had been so long since he saw me play. Normally, I would have sent game film, but because I didn’t have any of that.”

Still, it was enough to make an impression and in mid-August will join the Thunderbirds for a pre-season tune-up.

In pre-COVID years the team would travel to such locales as Ireland and Australia.

“But this year I think the plan is to go to either UBCO in Kelowna or Jasper,” said Hinch, who will study business the UBC. “We’ll do about a week there to get acquainted with the team and get to know everyone and then we’ll go back for a two-week training camp at UBC. Then classes start and there’s a game next week.”

As she makes the jump to the university level, Hinch is fully aware of the game pace she’ll be stepping into.

“One thing with rugby is there’s really no stopping,” she said. “But in high school there’s more whistle-blowing and stopping. But at those higher levels everyone is at such a higher skill set it’ll be fast-paced with no stopping, just continuous.”

However, Hinch has been preparing for that challenge.

“I have a trainer in Cardston and I’ve been with him for about a year now,” she said. “We’re starting lots of strengthening and hopefully by mid-summer we’ll start to focus on my cardio and endurance.”

A former football player and rugby player at the University of Calgary who graduated last November, Liam is also making sure his younger sister is prepared for the Canada West.

“He’s really been pushing me on the working out side,” said Hinch. “Especially with another jump from going to high school to the university level. I believe it’s 10-minute longer halves. So he’s been really pushing me on the cardio side to get into peak shape.”

Of course, the pandemic throws a big question mark into the season.

“The hope is when I get there everything might just get pushed back a few weeks, but it sounds like games and regular training schedules will be a go,” said Hinch.

Whenever the games start, Hinch is looking forward to taking the next step in her student-athlete career.

“I started at such a young age, especially with rugby being more of a high school sport,” she said. “Because I started so young it just really sparked my interest and it was something I wanted to continue on with. I’ve played at a bunch of different levels. The Cardston level was below the Fort Macleod was and then I played with a southern Alberta team and that was a step up. Then when I went to Team Alberta that was a crazy jump. I’m excited to see what that jump will be from Team Alberta to the Canada West level.”

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