HIGH ACHIEVERS: Love of rugby spurs newly-minted RBC Future Olympian Grace Dingwall to ‘incredible’ season

By Martin Cleary

Grace Dingwall comes by her love of rugby quite honestly as her mother and father both played the sport and taught the elements of the game to their children at an early age.

And that introduction, combined with her long-time dedication, has steered her onto an elite pathway, which has given the 18-year-old University of Ottawa freshman the potential to experience greatness in the combative team sport, whether it’s the 7s or 15s game.

The calendar year 2025 was a remarkable journey for the Nepean High School grad, who plays her community ball for the Barrhaven Scottish Rugby Football Club.

Competing for Ontario at her first Canada Summer Games in August, she played a vital role in helping her provincial side win the silver medal in the women’s 7s competition. After handily winning its four preliminary-round games, Ontario blanked New Brunswick 46-0 in the quarterfinals and got past Quebec 22-7 in the semifinals before losing to British Columbia 22-10 in the championship game.

Read More: Rugby’s Grace Dingwall stars in front of Newfoundland grandma

In her first year at the University of Ottawa, where she’s studying visual arts, Dingwall made an immediate impact. Not only did she start all six RSEQ regular-season games in the Quebec conference, but also she led the Gee-Gees with 10 tries and tied for second in that category for league play.

Playing a back position with strong defensive and playmaking skills, Dingwall was selected the RSEQ rookie of the year and named to the first all-star team. Her determined play helped the Gee-Gees place second in the league, reach the RSEQ playoff final against the Université Laval Rouge et Or and qualify for the U Sports national championship in Vancouver.

Dingwall was uOttawa’s seventh player to be selected a conference rookie of the year behind Sandy Simpson, 2002; Tegan Bradshaw, 2006; Lauren Minns, 2017; Claire Gallagher, 2018; Madison Grant, 2019; and Mercedes Cole, 2022.

The Gee-Gees lost the consolation final to nemesis Laval and finished sixth overall, but Dingwall also earned more individual recognition. She was pinpointed as the first Gee-Gees player to be named the U Sports rookie of the year for rugby. Dingwall also was a second-team national all-star.

In mid-December, she was invited to play for the British Columbia Bears for the annual Global Youth Sevens tournament in New Zealand. Following round-robin play, the Bears lost their quarterfinal in the Division 1 Plate bracket, but rebounded to win the Plate runner-up semifinal and final and place 13th overall.

While Dingwall was working on her rugby skills, playing games and attending academic classes last year, she decided to attend one of the many RBC Training Ground tryout sessions to be tested on her speed, strength, power and endurance.

The overall goal of the more than 2,000 athletes from across Canada was to make the list of the top 100, who would come together for a final round of testing at the national championship. The top 35 would be designated RBC Future Olympians, receive access to top coaches in their new or existing sport, funding and mentorship over two years.

Dingwall’s test scores ranked her among the top 35. The elite list of athletes also included three other athletes from Ottawa – Brielle Durham, skeleton; Henrik Neuspiel, rowing; and Jiggy Schonfield, rugby – as well as Abbigail Harris of Almonte, sprint canoe-kayak; and Lachlan Faraday of Carleton Place, slalom canoe.

Read More: Skater-turned-slider Brielle Durham 1 of 6 new local RBC Future Olympians

“I was very shocked to hear that I had been selected,” Dingwall wrote in an email interview, while she was in Auckland, New Zealand. “There’s so much talent that attended the RBC events, so I am very honoured to have been selected one of the top 35.

“Overall, I am very grateful and excited for this opportunity.”

During her regional testing, she was approached by technical officials from Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. But she declined the invitation to attend a bobsleigh camp because it conflicted with a rugby tournament around the same time, “although it (bobsleigh) definitely piqued my interest, being such a unique sport,” added Dingwall, who was inspired by ShonDreya Smardon to attend the RBC Training Ground tryout.

Dingwall and Smardon, a past RBC Future Olympian, are teammates with the Barrhaven Scottish and were members of the Ontario team for the Canada Summer Games.

Read More: Rugby sevens player ShonDreya Smardon named RBC Training Ground Olympian

It also would have been hard to say no to stopping her pursuit of rugby, which she has played for 13 of her 18 years.

“As a (mainly) pay-to-play sport, the funding from RBC will help me a lot in my rugby career,” she continued. “It will help me access resources to help me perform better and attend competitions to better my skills.

“I believe the mentorship will help me a ton with learning from their experiences (and) performing at the top level of sport.”

Dingwall also had a taste of top-level coaching in her first year with the Gee-Gees as Jack Hanratty led the team. Hanratty was the Canadian women’s sevens team head coach from 2022 to 2024 and a silver medallist at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games. He recently left the Gee-Gees’ program to become head coach of the United States women’s sevens team.

Read More: Jack Hanratty departs uOttawa Gee-Gees for USA Rugby women’s 15s head coaching job

“I chose the University of Ottawa for two main reasons. The first was because the university offered a perfect program (visual arts) for me,” Dingwall explained.

“They also have a great rugby program with tons of resources and support. I knew some great people on the team already, which also helped with my decision.”

Dingwall used one word to describe her first season with the Gee-Gees women’s rugby (15s) team – incredible.

“I had the opportunity to play a lot in my first year (starting every game), giving me some amazing experiences, like going to nationals,” she wrote. “I learned a lot from my coaches as well as my teammates about being a better player and how to manage a high-level, student-athlete life.”

She also was grateful that her play on the field was worthy of several awards.

“I was incredibly excited when I received these awards,” she added. “There were many great rookies this year on the Gee-Gees as well as across the country.

“I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to show my skills and am very thankful to have received the rookie-of-the-year awards as well as the (selection to) the all-star teams.”