Women & Girls

Behind the player: Vicky Irwin

29th May 2020
In our new series, Behind the Player in association with Deloitte, Ulster's Women players share a little bit about themselves, as well as recommendations for coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Up first is Cooke and Ulster Rugby centre, Vicky Irwin, who has recently signed a contract to join Sale Sharks Women from next season. Tell us a little about your rugby pathway and development through the Ulster programme? I was 14 when I started playing rugby at City of Armagh where Ulster Rugby’s Women and Girls’ Rugby Development Officer, Zoe Faloon (Templeton) was coaching at the time. I played in the Ulster U18s East vs. West regional competition, and Zoe put me forward for a training session where I was selected for the Ulster U18 squad when I turned 15. At that time, they played blitzes rather than interprovincial games. In 2016, the inter-pros were launched and I was vice-captain of the squad that year when we won the Grand Slam. I also played some tag rugby and helped introduce girls to rugby at Royal School Armagh during that year, and I was the first girl to be awarded an honours blazer for rugby at school. Once I turned 18, I made the transition into adult rugby and moved to Ballynahinch Rugby Club for a season to gain experience playing senior rugby, as it was a big step up from underage rugby. After that, I moved to Cooke to play in the All-Ireland League. I’ve worked with some fantastic coaches at Ulster; Derek Suffern, Neil Alcorn, Paul Heasley (Diesel) and Zoe Faloon to name a few. They’ve been a great support in helping me develop, as well as my club coaches. What barriers have you had to overcome to reach this point? I was studying for my AS and A2-Levels while balancing playing rugby, which was really difficult. I was going through the Ulster Rugby athletes’ performance programme as well which involved conditioning, gym and pitch sessions. Trying to balance that with club rugby and work was tough. Dealing with my shoulder injury this season has been another challenge for me. I’m only getting back to full strength now since dislocating my shoulder in January.  Congratulations on the contract with Sale Sharks – how did that move come about? I’m going to university in Liverpool for my Postgraduate degree; Sale would be the closest Premiership team to Liverpool. Sale Sharks have a squad of 40 players; they don’t have a first and development team but rather just one large squad of 40. I was offered a place in the squad and I’ll be transferring over. I had to send over a “rugby playing” CV and they emailed me back; when I called them, they offered me a spot in the squad and I accepted. What have you been up to in the last couple of months since the onset of COVID-19? I have only just finished university in the last couple of weeks so I was quite busy with my dissertation and other assignments. I’ve been doing as much exercise as I can at home and now, I have some time to relax and take my dog, Poppy for walks. Image removed. Vicky’s dog, Poppy joining her for a walk How do you stay motivated? Some days are better than others, to be honest! I’ve got a close-knit group of friends who help motivate me. At the moment I’m doing rehab on my shoulder, so it’s very important for me to keep doing my exercises or else it will re-occur. Once you get started, it’s easy to do other aspects of training afterwards. Having other people to tell me get going helps me. I find I can motivate myself as well because I know that if I put the work in, I’m going to reap the rewards of that hard work.  What have you been doing to stay fit – any tips? Diesel, our Strength & Conditioning Coach at Ulster has given us lots of sessions we can do without equipment or minimal equipment, so I’ve been working through those. I’ve been running and getting out on the bike as well; anything really that you can do to get your heart rate up and sweaty, it doesn’t have to be too difficult to keep active. I’m doing as much as I can to not lose any of my strength while having minimal equipment at home. What about any healthy eating tips? What’s the best meal you’ve made at home? I don’t know about healthy but I’ve been baking quite a lot! I’ve made every type of scone you could possibly make, cookies, and - I’m not sure if it counts - but I’ve made pizza as well. Image removed. Vicky’s home-made pizzas What have you been doing to stay calm and enjoy yourself while at home? At the start of the pandemic, I found it quite hard to adjust to not being able to do much because I am quite an active person. I like being outside and going to the gym but that got taken away so I’ve tried different things to keep connected. My friend group has regular Zoom calls which has really helped keep in contact with everyone. Everybody is going through the same thing at the moment so it’s nice to be able to talk to people through video chat. I’ve adjusted now as it’s almost become the norm but it was a challenge at the start. With my club, Cooke we’ve been quite active in our WhatsApp groups and we’ve been doing online exercise challenges. It’s been great to do those as a team even though we’re physically apart from each other. Have you picked up any new skills or hobbies? Before lockdown, I would have very rarely cooked; my mum or dad would have done a lot, but now I’m doing a lot of baking and making my own food now! I’ve also been doing more cycling which I wasn’t doing as much of before. Have you got any streaming or book recommendations? I’ve just finished “The Last Dance” on Netflix which was about Michael Jordan; it was fantastic. Watching it made me want to get up and exercise! Michael Jordan spoke about his whole career starting with hope and it made me think if you believe you can do something, you can do it. It’s incredible to see the work that team put in; it was inspiring. What has been the best advice you’ve received? Even if you are feeling scared and unconfident, don’t let the opposition see that you are because if they see that you’re scared or unconfident, they’ve already won. That helped me a lot because I would have been quite a shy person, especially when I was younger, coming up from U18 to senior rugby, which I found really difficult.  I was so shy and everyone had this running joke that I was so quiet, but I think that helped me to act confident on the pitch, and it does come across in your rugby. What has been your proudest moment in rugby? My first start in the Ulster senior squad when I was 18. I had two games before that when I was on the bench or didn’t get selected; to finally get the start really stayed with me. If I didn’t stick it out through those two games before that, I wouldn’t be where I am today because it helped me break into the senior squad. What are your aspirations for your rugby career? At the minute, my aspiration would be to get back from this injury completely fine and build myself back up. I’d love to play for Ireland eventually but I’m just going to see how it goes and take it as it happens. I’m just going to go over to Sale and give it my all and try to make a dent there. If I get the call-up to international level, that would be one thing I’d want to happen but I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself for it to happen. It will be great to play over at Sale Sharks. Katy Daley-McLean, the English out-half is coaching there so it would be great learning from her and absorbing all her knowledge, so I’m really looking forward to the move.