ALL Saints’ College student Teagan Miller admits that when she first got a taste of rugby, she didn’t take to it.
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In fact, that would be an understatement.
“I hated it with a passion,” she said with a laugh.
“I didn’t want anything to do with it, but after getting a few games under my belt I started to enjoy it and then wanted to just keep playing it.”
The versatile sporting all-rounder was recently named in the NSW under 17s sevens squad, from which two teams will be chosen to compete at the Australian Championships in Wagga Wagga in December.
It is a solid effort considering she’d never played the sport until 18 months ago.
“I started out by playing with the school at a gala day in Dubbo and from there got picked in a Central West team to compete at a carnival in Coffs Harbour,” Miller explained.
“We didn’t win a match and I wasn’t even really aware that there were selectors at the carnival, but at the end of it they announced a squad and I was a part of it.
“Now they will divide the group into a red team and a white team, but we don’t know who is in which yet.
“I only began last year, but I had played a lot of touch footy before then, so that helped.”
True to the unpredictable nature of sevens rugby, there is nothing conventional about Miller’s role in her various teams.
She alternates from prop to hooker to fly-half, as well as fullback from time to time – which is helped by her touch background as well as her ability to kick.
Miller hasn’t played with any of the other members of the state squad aside from one Brewarrina-based player, while schoolmate Hannah Nobes was part of the Central West team which went to Coffs Harbour but missed out on the state group.
Miller doesn’t know much about what she’ll be up against once she gets to Wagga, but she has a few goals in mind over the coming years – one of which is a major goal given where sevens rugby is headed.
“I’ve always wanted to give league tag a go and thought about it this season, but that didn’t happen. I’m keen to have a go at it next year, though,” she said.
“I suppose the big thing with sevens now is the fact that it is at the Olympic Games.
“That is obviously a few levels above what I’m playing, but it is something to try and aim for in the future.”
The NSW squad will have a training camp for a couple of days leading into the Wagga carnival, which will take place on December 4 and 5.
