By Casey OÇonnor
Quite often elite sportsmen and women are retired from their chosen game or perhaps their families must wait until they are no longer with us before there is recognition of the contribution they have made to their sport.
Fortunately, that is not the case for the undisputed Queen of Rugby Sevens, Stanthorpe’s Charlotte Caslick.
The Charlotte Caslick Cup will be played across three tournaments during October and November. The first rounds were played last weekend at Bond University.
Other games will be played at Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club in Brisbane and will culminate with the Queensland Sevens State Championships at the Noosa Dolphins Rugby Club on the Sunshine coast in November.
At 27, Charlotte Caslick has established herself as a Sevens legend. That there is now a Cup named in her honour is a measure of her impact on the game and her many achievements.
“I’m a passionate Queensland girl and I love the fact there has been so much support for Sevens in Queensland and I love seeing so many girls come through the pathway,” Caslick said.
“It’s pretty cool to have a trophy named after you. “ It is early in my career so it’s not something I ever expected. “I’m definitely very humbled,” the star player said.
Caslick says she love sevens and grassroot rugby and is very happy to lend her support to what she sees as a great initiative from Queensland Rugby.
“This can only help the Aussie Sevens programme which has already benefitted from the inclusion of many Queensland players”.
Reg Tayler, (Queensland Academy of Sport Sevens head coach) has applauded the new initiative saying it gives extra structure to the Queensland Sevens circuit.
After a spectacular season which saw the Women’s Seven’s Team win the HSBS World Rugby Sevens Series, a Commonwealth Gold medal and the Rugby Sevens World Cup in 2022, Caslick and her teammates enjoyed some down time recently but returned to training earlier this month.
Charlotte said there would be no place for complacency in the group following their success this season.
“We had an amazing year but there has been no Olympic gold medal since Rio in 2016,” she said. “The team’s motivation will be building towards rectifying that situation in Paris in 2024.”
