Six years ago the International Olympic Committee announced that men’s and women’s rugby Sevens would debut at the 2016 Olympic Games. Back then Amy Turner was 25, living in New Zealand and World Rugby's Women's Sevens World Series didn't exist.
Now, together with an entire squad of professional Australian Women’s Sevens teammates, she is on the cusp of cementing the opportunity to vie for a chance to win a Gold medal for Australia.
To say it means a lot to our Aussie Women’s Sevens is an understatement.
“I’m obviously one of the oldest in the team, I’ve put my life and having kids and stuff like that on hold, so to qualify would mean the world to me, to go that one step further to the Olympics would be an absolute dream come true for me,” Amy said.
For anyone who’s spent even just a little time with the Aussie Women’s Sevens, it’s not hard to tell they are a close-knit team, which is an important factor for a group striving for Olympic Gold.
“How you relate off the field and how close you are affects how well you play on the field, so it’s important to have a culture amongst the team where you feel like you’re playing with and for your sisters,” Amy said.
Away from the rugby field, however, Amy reveals their preparation and down time is quite varied.
“Some like to go home to family, others like to chill and take some time away. When you come to training you make sure you work hard and that you’re switched on, but it’s important to switch off as well I think.
“Whenever I get the opportunity to, I go home to my family. I’m pretty family orientated. It’s hard sometimes as I’ve got two sisters and a brother who live in different cities to me so I try to go home and catch up with my mum and cousins to relax when I can. I’m always away so it’s not often that we get to spend time together,” Amy said.
Born in Tokoroa New Zealand, Amy's sporting ability, having represented both the New Zealand Maori Sevens and the New Zealand Touch Football teams before moving to Australia, was destined to lead to something big.
Taking up residence in Queensland's Mount Isa, Amy worked in the mines, an occupation she continued in her days as an Aussie Sevens representative, where she trained on her own, travelling to the coast each month to take part in training camps.
Amy made her Australian Sevens debut in February 2013 during the USA leg of the inaugural Women’s Sevens World Series in 2012/13, after Australia were announced as one of the core teams.
Having made a successful start to her national Sevens career, notching seven tries in just four tournaments, Amy earned her spot in the Australian team for the 2013 Sevens World Cup in Moscow in June. She also participated at the Oceania Women’s Sevens Championships in Fiji that year before again being included in the following 2013/14 World Series. There, she was part of the squad that won the Dubai and Brazil legs during the Aussie Women’s Sevens most successful series thus far.
With two tournaments left in the current 2014/15 Sevens World Series, the Aussie Women are sitting in third spot on the World Series standings, behind New Zealand and Canada and ahead of France. The team need to ensure they remain in the top four to automatically qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Amy is one of three players, including Emma Tonegato and Tiana Penitani, who are set to earn their 10th Women's Sevens World Series caps during the London tournament this weekend.
The final round of the 2014/15 Women's Sevens World takes place the following weekend in the Netherlands.
“We finished seventh in the last round so it’d be good redemption for us to get on top. We’ve got to try as hard as we can to win the last two tournaments obviously to make sure we qualify for the Olympics,” Amy said.
“We talk about qualifying every day; it’s obviously one of the main priorities for us.”
Despite this, Amy says the pressure to qualify personally hasn’t really affected her. She believes it’s important to keep those kinds of pressures out and remain focused on the team’s task.
Should the team qualify, Amy said a celebration would definitely be on the cards.
