After reaching a large milestone in his career, a professional rugby player is celebrating how far the sport has taken him.
A 2014 graduate of G.P. Vanier Secondary School in the Comox Valley, Foster Dewitt can consider himself amongst the best in the sport. Dewitt currently plays with the New England Free Jacks in Major League Rugby.
Earlier this month, his team would become the new champions of the league by defeating Chicago 25 – 24 after overcoming a 17 – 13 deficit at half-time.
It is a win that is still sinking in for him, after starting with humble grassroots.
“It feels really good and I’ve put in a lot of hard work over the last 12 years so it feels really good to see it pay off,” said Dewitt. “I keep moving forward and keep working hard so I’ll see what’s next on the agenda for me.”
Dewitt says he first got into the sport through high school, having been surrounded by many others who championed the sport. He adds what grabbed his attention was the flow of the game.
“My dad, he played when he was there and he kind of pushed me towards it and once I started, I never looked back,” he said.
“I guess when I was younger it was a contact sport and everyone is involved on both sides of the ball, so everyone gets to touch the ball, everyone gets to tackle. It’s continuous. There’s a lot of flow to the game, it doesn’t have a lot of stop, start.”
He adds he was hooked by the time he was 14 and qualified for a provincial team.
Following the win, Dewitt will be travelling to the pacific islands with Rugby Canada to play on the international stage, battling Tonga on Aug. 10 and 15 which he says is a bit of a step up.
“The international stuff is definitely a higher standard, but there’s a lot of good players in the MLR,” he said. “But these pacific island teams will be very strong.”
He says for anyone looking to pursue the sport, or any others, to put your head down and go for it.
“Just keep working hard and don’t let anyone tell you that you won’t make it, you just got to keep putting your head down and put in the hard yards and it will pay off,” said Dewitt.
He thanks his coaches at Vanier, Pete Park and Ken Erikson along with his dad, Garry Dewitt, for getting him into the sport.
