Goss gearing up for season opener
Shortlisted for this season’s Sevens World Player of the Year accolade, Sarah Goss has quickly become a household name in the women’s game.
Published by Alison Donnelly, November 24th, 2014
6 minute read
Ahead of the start of the World Series in Dubai, we caught up with one of the game's leading players. New Zealand, the reigning champions, will be favourites once again for the series.
How did you get into rugby?I started playing rugby when I was 13 years old. I was a first year at Feilding High School when I only went along to training because my friends were going but I ended up staying because the coach Robert Jones convinced me that it would help my fitness. I haven’t stopped playing since. My journey into the New Zealand sevens team first started In 2012 where I attended a ‘Go for Gold’ screening in my region – Manawatu. This was set up by New Zealand Rugby to scout talent across the country and different sports to see if they had what it took to become an Olympic athlete. Fortunately for me I was accepted to attend the next camp and It has all kind of progressed from there.
What have the last few months been like in preparation for this series?These last few months have been quite busy for us in a training sense. As it has been off- season we have spend a lot of time working on developing our bodies for the up coming season. We also took a team to Noosa where we won the Oceania Championships recently.
Over the past few months we have not been training together a lot as we all live in our own regions so when we do get the opportunity to train as a group, which is generally around a week every month we learn a lot!
What’s a typical day as a New Zealand Sevens player?A day for me is a lot different for others in my team as we all do something other than just playing and training for rugby. A usual day for me is training in the morning for a couple of hours before recovery and then going home My house is close to the gym so then either I study or do jobs around the house then conditioning and skills in the afternoon. It’s then home again for more study and bed. It is not overly exciting but I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for anything.
What marks New Zealand out as the standard setters in the game?Since the start of our programme over two years ago we have had a very strong culture on and off the field, which we pride ourselves on. We are well known now as ‘sisters’ and that name is continuously said to one another as that’s what we believe we are. Having this family culture means we can keep high standards of ourselves on and off the field in which we are able to keep progressing higher and higher.
What’s your favourite stop on the series?I don't think I have a favourite. I have loved being able to travel to so many different countries seeing different places. I love playing at Dubai though because of the crowd, which we lack in some of our other tournaments.
What players do you most admire in the game and has the game at home received more attention since the World Cup?I admire a lot of players in the game because of the demands that the sport puts on us physically and mentally. I couldn't pin point one person because my list would be very long!
The exposure is growing the more we play and the closer it gets to the Olympics so that's really exciting, but I still feel there is opportunities for it to grow a lot more. As you may have seen there are more women’s rugby players in NZ then there have been ever so this is extremely exciting for the game and yes there was a lot more exposure of the recent World Cup with the Black Ferns.
You’ve been compared in New Zealand to DJ Forbes – that must be pleasing!?I admire DJ a lot - he is an incredibly talented sevens players and leader so it's a huge honour to be matched alongside a man of his calibre but I still feel I have a long way to go and a lot more tournaments to play before I feel I have reached any kind of standard he plays at.
What do you do away from rugby and what do you want to do after?I study at university during some of the season this has been really important for me so that I have something other than rugby and to help grow opportunities for my life after rugby. I also do some coaches with secondary school girls teams and various things like that.
I'm not sure what I want to do after rugby - hopefully I have a few more playing before I actually have to make a decision on that question but ideally I'd for it to be in the field in which I am currently studying at the moment which is a Maori Studies and Sports Science degree.