Dairy Farmers of Canada present Fuelling Women Champions

October 17, 2017

Fuelling Women Champions: Fedelia Omoghan Feature

In 2017, Fedelia Omoghan had a successful season at both the club level and provincial level. With her Toronto Saracens, the Scarborough-native won the Ontario Women’s League Cup and with the Ontario Blues, Omoghan helped lead the team to a perfect Canadian Rugby Championship campaign and a gold medal. The road to success usually has a few figurative potholes and twist and turns though and Fedelia’s sports journey is no exception.
Omoghan began playing sports in elementary school. Throughout school, she dabbled in almost every available sport, including soccer, basketball, track & field, volleyball and even gaelic football. In high school, her focus switched to basketball and track & field. In an unlikely scenario, it was actually basketball which brought her to be introduced to the sport of rugby.
“I was pretty aggressive and knocked people over on the court (unintentionally) and that is when my basketball coach, Eva Roser – who was also the rugby coach – told me that I needed to give rugby a try,” Omoghan recollected. “I started playing rugby and never looked back.”
Once introduced to rugby, Fedelia took to the sport quickly. In grade 12, playing at the OFSAA Finals, she was introduced to provincial rugby through Beth Barz. That year, Omoghan tried out and made the Under-17 provincial team and later was offered an Athletic Scholarship to play rugby and attend York University by coaches Joe Costello and Bob Periard.
“At that point, I realized that I had the potential to really go far in the sport,” Fedelia explained.
She took advantage of those opportunities to excel at the provincial and university level. Fedelia was named an OUA Russell Division all-star in 2012, 2013 and 2014. She has played seven years with the Ontario provincial program and began playing with the Senior Women’s team in 2014. She has been a mainstay for the team since then, as a member of the second row.
She also represented Canada at the U20 Nations Cup in 2013. On top of representing Canada at the Nations Cup, Fedelia has taken the next step in her journey of playing rugby league with the Canadian national team. On September 30, Fedelia was named to the Canada Ravens team which will travel to Australia for the Women’s Rugby League World Cup. The team also includes Ontario natives Nina Bui, Mackanie Fane, Megan Pakulis, Sara Svoboda, Natalie Tam, Tiera Thomas-Reynolds and Petra Woods.
Omoghan’s journey to high-performance has had its share of challenges. One of the main challenges Fedelia faced was a financial barrier. Coming from a single-parent family with three siblings, money was always tight. Many school sports were free, but the money just wasn’t there to join sports clubs.
“Growing up, I was embarrassed at times to admit that I could not afford certain sports equipment because I did not want my team teammates or coaches to look at me differently or pity me,” said Omoghan.
Fedelia recalled one season of high school rugby where she was playing with a used pair of cleats:
“I remember in high school I found a pair of used, old rugby cleats on the school pitch. Each cleat only had one metal stud in them, so it was obvious that someone had thrown the cleats away. I played with those cleats for an entire rugby season and got away with it because during cleat check when the referee would line us up and check our studs, I would hide on the side of the pitch and pretend I was looking for my mouth guard. At the end of the season my rugby coach Eva Roser saw my cleats and could not believe I was playing, and playing well with one metal stud in each boot for an entire season.”
Omoghan was quick to recognize the strong support group that rugby gave her, though. Even years after she graduated from high school, Fedelia’s coaches from Cardinal Newman – Sandro Mancino and Eva Roser – held fundraisers to help cover the costs of her participating in the U20 Nations Cup with Rugby Canada.
“Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have that kind of support,” she said. “I still go back to my high school to help coach the girls’ rugby program and to promote the sport.”
Omoghan had the most support during one of her hardest moments. Nine months ago, Fedelia’s younger sister passed away. This was devastating for Omoghan and she thought that she would never walk on to a rugby pitch again.
“My teammates and coaches have been extremely supportive of me and urged me to get back to playing the game again,” she explained. “My provincial coaches past and present – Kevin Jones, Paul Loader and Sonia Sennik – were all instrumental in keeping me in the sport I love and at such a high level. My club coach Andy Ireland was also very patient with me and allowed me to return at my own pace. The love and support I received from the entire Rugby Ontario community when my sister passed away and the encouragement from my teammates on the Toronto Saracens is what kept me in this sport. I cannot imagine how I could have gotten through these past few months without rugby.”
Omoghan also noted an abundance of female role models including her mother, Eva Roser, Sonia Sennik and Tavia Van Damme. Van Damme is her ‘crossfit’ coach, helping her to get in shape for the upcoming Women’s Rugby League World Cup.
Omoghan recognized that some things need to change in women’s sport.
“I would like to see more financial support for women in all levels of competition especially at the University/College level,” she noted. “I would also like to see more women coaching women in higher levels of competition such as provincial and national.”
“I think during my first three years at York University, all of our coaches were male coaches, so it was nice when the coaches introduced Jenn Russell as our assistant coach. It was very encouraging to see a woman coaching women.”
Lastly, Fedelia left us with some advice for young girls aspiring to play rugby at a high level.
“I would tell young girls to never accept no for an answer. You’re not too small, too big, or too weak to play. Rugby is for girls all shapes and sizes and if you work hard, if you are tenacious and if you are willing to put in the work, you will achieve your goals.”

ABOUT FUELLING WOMEN CHAMPIONS

As champions of healthy living, providing nutrition and playing an active role in our communities, Canada’s dairy farmers’ mission is to see that no hurdle exists that might hinder the passion for the game. The goal: to support women’s sports so they will become more watched, more appreciated and more financially stable, from the grassroots level to the elite level.

Visit womenchampions.ca to learn more

ABOUT RUGBY ONTARIO

Rugby Ontario is the provincial sports governing body responsible for the organization of rugby in Ontario. Our mission is to establish a stronger identity for rugby in Ontario by promoting the sport’s core values and by fostering a culture of inclusiveness and excellence on and off the field of play.

To learn more, visit https://www.rugbyontario.com/