JADE Konkel is determined to show young girls that rugby union is a flourishing sport in Scotland for females to take up after she was named the first full-time player. When she was in her late teens Konkel, now 22, used to drive from the Black Isle to Glasgow each weekend for matches with Hillhead/Jordanhill. All those miles clocked up now seem worthwhile to the international No.8 after Scottish Rugby handed her the landmark contract.
Konkel was one of 16 females involved in the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy at stage two level on a part-time basis in 2015/16, but she will now undertake a full-time programme at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld. “I want to show young girls that rugby is a path that you can take in Scotland and I want to be a role model to them both on and off the field,” she said.
“To be made a full-time player is huge for me. This will give me so much time to become a better athlete and focus on what I need to do going forward.
“The Academy have been very helpful over the last 12 months to make things work, but it can be tough to balance rugby with other work. Now I have much more time to look at things such as recovery and rehab and that will help make me the best player I can be.
“It is a big step being the first female player to be full-time in Scotland, but hopefully many will follow me going forward and I don’t see it as a pressure more just something that I want to grasp with both hands and make the most of. I think back and I laugh about when I used to drive all those miles to club matches. To think how far I have come since then really is quite amazing and this is a massive opportunity for me.”
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