For Marci Kiselyk, excelling at one sport just isn’t good enough.
The Athabasca native is a standout on the basketball court and recently completed a successful five-year career on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s team. But now that her days of playing elite-level basketball are over, she found herself in need of another competitive outlet.
And to her own considerable surprise, she found it on the football field.
“One of my good friends kept telling me that after basketball season, I was going to come play tackle football with her. I kept rolling my eyes and saying, there’s no way I’m going to do that, that’s ridiculous,” said Kiselyk. “(But) on the spur of the moment in April, I decided to go out to practice and I loved it.”
Kiselyk joined a number of her friends and former Huskies teammates on the Saskatoon Valkyries, a first-year team in the Western Women’s Canadian Football League. And despite having absolutely no previous experience in tackle football, she found that her natural athleticism and competitiveness helped her adapt quickly.
Learning a whole new sport didn’t come without difficulties, though.
“When I first started playing, it was kind of frustrating. I’m at the point in my life where the things I do with my time, I’m pretty good at. I’ve already discovered what I’m not good at, and I don’t do (those things) anymore,” she said with a laugh. “It was a new experience to pick up something completely new and have it be so foreign to me.”
Kiselyk wasn’t alone in her inexperience. The majority of the new team’s players also had little to no prior football experience, but most of them had played other sports at competitive levels.
“I grew up watching football, and I wanted to see if I could do it,” she said. “I showed up to the first day of practice and we were split up based on positions. I didn’t know where to go so I followed my friend and became a receiver. That’s where I fit with my height and my speed.”
Having so many inexperienced players on the roster didn’t seem to hurt the club all that much. They won all four of their regular season games, earning a trip to the playoffs where they beat the powerful Edmonton club to become league champions in their very first season.
Not bad for an expansion team comprised mainly of football converts.
“Our whole team took it very seriously.”
Kiselyk herself, who describes herself as very competitive, took it as seriously as anybody. Though it was a short season, she approached it with the same effort and dedication that helped her become a standout member of the Huskies basketball team.
In fact, now that the season is over, she finds herself missing the gridiron and anxiously awaiting next season. And when she thinks about it now, she’s not all that surprised she grew to love football.
“I’ve always enjoyed the physical aspect of basketball, it’s one of my favorite parts of the game. So it was really nice to be able to get into a sport where the contact isn’t limited,” she said.
It’s never easy for an elite athlete to suddenly stop competing at an elite level. The basketball leagues that are available to her now would not provide a sufficient challenge, so this fall she’ll try to make due by practicing with the new Huskies team.
Thankfully, she has found another way to get those competitive juices flowing.
“It’s good that I have something to train for and put a lot of my energy into improving,” she said.
It’s good for her and the Valkyries; not so good for the other teams.
