About Us

Upper 6 pupil, Ava deCooper Wride has been awarded a sports scholarship at the University of Quinnipiac, Conneticut. To celebrate this incredible achievement, we caught up with her to ask a few questions! What inspired you to play ruby? I started playing when I was 6 years old at Norwich Rugby Club and it was mostly inspired by my dad! A close family friend played and her brothers used to play so I went along one day and started playing with them! At that point I was playing with the boys and I went through the boys programme until I was 12 years old before the girls section started up. Have you noticed a difference between playing girls rugby and playing boys rugby? I was playing rugby with boys from quite a young age so there wasn’t that much of a difference. As a result, it was quite a smooth transition to then start training with girls. How long have you been at Norwich School? Since Lower 4 (year 7) What sports do you play at Norwich School? I play netball and hockey mainly. How often do you train for rugby? Twice a week, Tuesday evenings and Sundays. Do you do lots of other fitness activities alongside this? Playing other sports really helps and of course there’s the performance gym at the school which I use quite a lot. Is rugby your favourite sport? When I was younger it used to change but I think now I can say that it is my favourite. Have you ever been injured playing rugby? I broke my collarbone when I was younger and this year when I was playing I tore a ligament. What inspired you to take rugby to the next level? I love playing and then new opportunities came up and I went for it! What opportunities specifically have you been offered? I started playing County Rugby and then County Rugby put me forward for the PDG pathway which is the first step of the England pathway; I went to trials I got through! What does that involve? There are around 17 training sessions throughout the season and 4 playing opportunities. We train around London and playing opportunities are all over! How do you fit all of this into your school career, especially being a Red Gown? It kind of just happens! Tell us about your recent university offer. My dad used to live in America and he loved it. A lot of his friends went to American universities and they all had such a great time there. So we decided to look into a few American universities and took it from there. Why specifically Quinnipiac University? I looked around a few American Universities; I visited Brown University, for example, and I had spoken to some others but I really liked the feel of Quinnipiac. The campus is lovely, Brown was in the city centre and I didn’t really like that but Quinnipiac is open and in the mountains with trees around it and everyone was so friendly. What was the application process for Quinnipiac? It wasn’t a formal interview process. I spent time with the team that I would be in and the coaches and just getting a feel of what life would be like there. I didn’t actually have to play any rugby but I watched one of their home matches against Dartmouth which was fantastic. What have you been offered? I have been offered a full scholarship which means they cover 100% of my tuition, so I only have to pay for things like accommodation, food, books and general living costs. How long is the course? It is 4 years! Which sounds like a lot but when I finish I’ll only be 21. What will you be studying? What qualification will you receive at the end? They do it a little bit differently over there so you don’t have to pick one subject. In the first year you can choose from lots of different subjects, which you ‘minor’ in and after that you choose your ‘major’, which is the subject you specialise in. Do you have any thoughts as to what that major will be? Absolutely none! If I was going to university in this country I don’t think I would have any idea so it works very much in my favour; I can just see what I like! What grades do you need to get to secure your place? There isn’t a formal process like in the UK. They have seen my predicted grades so as long as I get something similar then they are happy for me to go. What’s the dream, long-term? I really don’t know, I think I just want to see what opportunities come from that and just enjoy myself. What would you say to any young women who want to take part in women’s rugby? I’d say it is one of the fastest growing sports out there so just get involved. Just think about women’s football and how much that has grown, especially since winning the Euros; I think it’s only a matter of time until the same thing happens for women’s rugby. Has Norwich School helped you on your journey? 100%! In my overall sporting experiences here and my sporting ability, Norwich School has helped so much with my nutrition, psychology, and of course making friends. How are you feeling about the journey ahead? I am excited but I think I’m going to be quite nervous when the time comes around.

At the end of September, I was fortunate enough to be selected to represent the Republic of Ireland U21s at the Netball Youth World Cup qualifiers hosted in Cardiff. We narrowly missed out on qualifying and placed 5th overall. The highlights of the week included our win against the Isle of Man (50-22), sightseeing around Cardiff on our rest day, getting my first U21 cap and our best game against the eventual winners of the tournament, Scotland. Being selected for this squad is one of my biggest sporting achievements to date. Throughout the season I took part in multiple trials and matches as well as training camps in Dublin. There was also the additional challenge of competing for selection against older and more experienced players who were in some cases three years older than me. Having been reselected for this season into the U21/U19 long squad I am hoping to be selected in December for the U19 Netball Europe event. I am very grateful to the sports scholarship fund which has enabled me to continue to represent my country and helped cover the costs of training camps, travelling and competition fees. I am also very grateful to all the sport department who have supported me so far with special thanks to Mrs. Ashton. Mrs. Ashton, Head of Netball comments "I have coached Eva outside of school as part of the County and Saracens Mavericks pathway and knew she was very talented, so I was delighted when she decided to join us for 6 th Form. She has been a key member of the 1 st VII squad since, and this year is Vice-Captain of the team. I am delighted that we have been able to support her in such a practical way, and we are all very proud of not only her achievements, but also the commitment she shows for her sport". Written by Eva Buckley