HAVING turned away from the sport as a teenager, Sevens flyer Ellie Boatman is now revelling in the newly formed Great Britain team.
England, Scotland and Wales combined to form Team GB ahead of this season in a move to try to make the team stronger for the Paris Olympic Games next year.
GB are joint sixth with Fiji in the women's standings with 68 points and 26-year-old Boatman says the main goal for this year is to secure qualification for the Olympics.
She said: “It's been an up and down season but it's definitely progressing in the right direction.
“The change has brought a different dynamic but it means we're able to access the best players from different countries, so players like Jaz Joyce, Rhona Lloyd, Lisa Thomson and others mean we have a better pool to choose from and has created another level of competition. You're never secure in your position which is a really good atmosphere to have.
“To have Great Britain full-time with the Olympics in mind is definitely the better way to go. Rather than having the change back from England to Great Britain each time and bringing girls from Scotland and Wales etc. who haven't been playing Sevens full time, it's better to gel together as a team beforehand as we'll have been a team for a year before the Olympics.”
Boatman fell out of love with the sport when she was 14 due to difficult relationships with her coaches and asked herself if the sacrifices she was making at such a young age were really worth it.
She added: “When you're a teenager and one of the only girls playing rugby at your school, I felt like a bit of an outcast feel like that towards a hobby or a sport at that age, you shouldn't be forced to do it.”
However, Boatman's love for rugby was reinstalled while she was at Southampton University due to a close friend who persuaded her to play for the team. “I started on the equestrian team, so wasn't even playing rugby,” said Boatman.
“My friend kept trying to convince me to play and I thought I was completely done with it. I decided to play in a game against the local uni and we both scored a hat-trick which gave me this buzz and feeland didn't always have the support from people.
“I was trying to play county and regional rugby and was giving up a lot of my time and social life for training and matches as a teenager. I wasn't getting much positivity around it and I just fell out of love with it.
“I had a few coaches at the time that I struggled to get along with as they weren't as positive as I hoped they'd be. A combination of factors meant I completely fell out of love with rugby. I was turning up to training thinking why am I here giving up my time? As soon as you ing I hadn't experienced in such a long time and loved it. I started playing for the uni and then the local club side Trojans. It was a bit of an accident but I rediscovered my love for the sport.”
Boatman balances her GB 7s duties alongside playing for Harlequins, whom she joined from Wasps last summer, but has been unable to turn out for her new side as much as she'd have hoped due to a series of injuries.
She said: “In December I did my ankle ligaments in Dubai so was out for a few months. I knocked my knee and had to get that drained and then had a viral infection in Vancouver and then a kidney infection. So, it's been one thing after the other but I'm on the up now.
“So many more people are aware of the Premier 15s and how competitive it is. No one can predict who will win it which shows how much the league has grown, whereas in previous years it was always Harlequins or Saracens. It is becoming more competitive with Gloucester-Hartpury and Bristol up there which is exciting and I love being involved.”
■ Ellie Boatman is an ambassador for Wooden Spoon, the children's charity of rugby who fund projects to support vulnerable children across the UK and Ireland.
