The Canadian men’s national sevens rugby team will be defending its gold medal at this summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto, yet team member Lucas Hammond doesn’t know yet if he’ll get the chance to play in his hometown.
The 20-year-old, a Bloor West and Dufferin streets-area resident, is one of 19 carded athletes vying for a spot at the tournament, what would be his first-ever Pan Am Games appearance.
"It’s a huge honour, something I dream about," Lucas told The Villager, "to be able to play at home in front of family and friends. It’s really exciting."
Hammond’s fate is in the hands of his coach who will select the team’s roster. He says he won’t find out if he’s playing in the Games until roughly three weeks beforehand.
"It’s very nerve-wracking; very last minute, but it makes you perform and work hard," admitted Hammond, one of the youngest members on the national team.
Yet, he is a veteran of the sport having been introduced to rugby at just eight years old, along with his siblings – he has two brothers and two sisters – in South Africa. His parents were missionaries there for 12 years. He credits his dad for getting him involved in the sport.
"We’d just moved to a new town," said Hammond. "We were soccer players, but there was no soccer. Rugby was like ice hockey there. We had no idea what it was. After the first couple of practices, we loved it."
It was full contact from the get-go. When his family moved back to Toronto when Hammond was 13, he was leaps and bounds ahead of kids his age.
"I understood the game better," he recalled.
Asked if he ever thought when he picked up the game how far he’d come, how much he would achieve, Hammond said it never occurred to him.
"I’m extremely fortunate," said the Winona Drive Public School and Oakwood Collegiate Institute graduate.
When he’s not travelling to tournaments, Hammond is based in British Colombia where the team trains Monday to Friday (with Wednesdays and Sundays off) from 7:30 a.m. until about 3 p.m. Almost a full-time job, Hammond is taking online classes through the University of Victoria part-time. Rugby, he says, "takes up most of my life."
In Toronto with family over the holidays, Hammond was playing in the Rugby Sevens World Series in Dubai, Dec. 6 and 7, and in South Africa Dec. 13 and 14, the second of nine World Series tournaments throughout the season. The top four teams at season’s end secure a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Both the men’s and women’s teams will get their first-ever opportunity to compete in an Olympics in 2016.
This summer, Rugby sevens will be played at the CIBC Pan Am Park (Exhibition Stadium) downtown Toronto during the Games. The gold medal match is scheduled for Sunday, July 12.
Hammond said he’d love to play in front of his family and friends who have only had the opportunity to see him play on TV.
Tickets to all sports at the Games are available at www.toronto2015.org/tickets
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