Carissa Norsten sits under her Olympic silver medal, hanging on a shelf in her bedroom.

As she talks about her experience with the Canadian women’s rugby sevens team in Paris, it’s clear that the sparkle in her eyes is due to the reflection of this material – one way or another.

But when Norsten, who turns 21 in November, is away from the national team, she will continue to compete at the University of Victoria. His team is one of eight teams that will travel to UPEI for the 15-year-old national championship, which begins Wednesday with live coverage starting at 12 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

For Norsten, the Paris experience would not have been possible without his time in Victoria.

“It was a huge step in my rugby journey,” she said. “Without U Sports, I probably wouldn’t have pursued rugby the way I did.”

The women’s rugby sevens team is one of the few national teams to use U Sports as a development pipeline. Five members of the silver medal group in Paris are active student-athletes, while 11 of 12 have competed at U Sports at some point.

Norsten said his fellow national team Vikes will always take a photo together on the field, as will current and former UBC Thunderbirds players. Most rugby players head west as the rugby sevens team is often centralized in Victoria.

UBC defeated Victoria in the recent Canada West championship game, capping a tournament that included five members of the Olympic team.

“Everyone is so connected at all levels of rugby that it’s a bit like a family. You play with players who have much more experience than you. Some players are just starting rugby and you gain confidence and in experience because of it,” Norsten said.

The link between U Sports and the national team began in 1998, when women’s rugby was first recognized by the national university sporting body as a university competition.

It’s a relationship that has since evolved, with Rugby Canada’s latest development towards a single team philosophy in which players maintain their path to sevens and fifteens teams.

“There’s a lot of communication between all of us and having one team, I mean, that’s what it’s about. We want players to be able to get the most out of their lives and to invest in themselves in different areas of their lives,” said Jocelyn Barrieau, who took over as head coach of the women’s national sevens team in September.

Barrieau, who previously coached at Concordia, has been with Rugby Canada since 2023 and has also been an Olympic assistant.

She said she plans to compete at the national championships in Prince Edward Island and that the annual event is “unchangeable” on her calendar – barring a pandemic.

Part of the reason the U Sports pathway benefits rugby is because athletes peak later in their careers than other sports, Barrieau said.

Norsten’s Vikes teammate Larah Wright had her first experience playing for Canada at the world university championships in June in France.

“When you see this journey and you see all the girls who have made it through U Sports and have improved so much through U Sports and had such a great time with it, and then they get to this level like at national level…it really motivates you,” Wright said.

Wright, the 22-year-old from Calgary, said Rugby Canada’s involvement at the university level has increased over the past two years, in part because the country does not maintain a club system like in England , in France or New Zealand.

She said Rugby Canada’s high-level strategy is usually passed down to U Sports coaches.

Like a family

But above all, she praised the feeling of family that has been fostered in the rugby community.

“That’s kind of what it’s about, right? Like everyone’s having fun and playing and I mean fighting on the field, but it’s just hugs and fun afterwards. We share meals as a team or two teams. And I think that’s what makes it feel like family, when you’re playing against your friends and everyone wants you to improve. “Wright said.

“And you see your friends excel at this national level. You’re like, yeah, I can do that too.”

She called her experience in France “one of the best I’ve had in rugby” and particularly enjoyed teaming up with her UBC rival, Savannah Bauder.

“We were enemies of friends,” Wright joked. “No, I always liked her. But yeah, we always played against each other and we always joked that we liked playing against each other because we got better, even though it was the hardest match. It’s such an honor to play with these girls in jerseys.

Starting Wednesday, Norsten and Wright hope to use their international experience, as well as their bitter recent loss to UBC, to propel the Vikes to their first-ever national title.

Victoria fell one win short last season, losing the championship game to Laval.

So Prince Edward Island’s goal is clear: simply win.

“I think now we have a little more fire under our butts,” Norsten said. “So just going into nationals with something to fight for, feeling like we didn’t make it and we didn’t leave it all behind, I think that’s going to help us feed.”

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also the knowledge that Barrieau and his team will be on the sidelines and that their next national team appearances could be imminent.