Rhian Wilkinson's Official Website

SOCCER MEDIA REPORTS:

RHIAN WILKINSON, L'AVENTURIERE

9th February 2007

From a Québec Soccer Report with Magali Morin & Matthias Van Halst

Ottawa player and anglophone, Rhian Wilkinson admits that she is not completely at ease in French, and this may be why she is less well publicized in the media than other Quebec players. Many people don't realize that she comes from our Province, and this is not evident at first sight. Like the other National Women's team players, she just arrived in Vancouver on 21st January 2007.

In the aircraft with Amy Walsh on the way to Vancouver, the two players were surprised when they stopped to land in Winnipeg. The incident is humorously described on Rhian's website, where she regularly recounts sporting and other adventures. What better way to discover the life of an elite athlete?

Wilkinson like her teammates, finds that any rest away from soccer has been very short. "I had scarcely returned to Vancouver when I felt right back in the swing of things. We have had little chance to relax, and I feel that I have already been here a full week." Reading her web site entries, you can quickly see how important team spirit is for her. This former Montreal West Island player told us how important she found this in the Gold Cup and preparation camps. "The team has come together more and more in the last few months, and our preparation matches in the Gold Cup and Peace Queen Cup were enjoyable. Not only did we have good performances on the field, but we really appreciated being together as a team. The Peace Queen Cup was probably the best organized tournament that I have ever played in. The stadia were out of this world. We played in the Seoul stadium, where the 2002 World Cup was played. Also. as female athletes, we are sometimes less well treated than our male counterparts (laughs), but this was not the case in South Korea."

As for the defeat in the Gold Cup, that has motivated us even more. "We understand that the qualification for the World Cup was a critical moment. The stress of this was weighing on our shoulders, but not to win the Tournament - once again - was... Once again we came close. It would have been hard to come closer. I am already looking forward to our next crack at the American Women." For so many of the Canadian players, like Wilkinson, the United States has often been seen as the model team. But the apprentices are all set to overtake the masters, and they want to show the next time that they can win. How are they going to do it? You can find out this, among other things, in reading about Wilkinson's adventures on her website.