Alex Ward has been reflecting on a brilliant rollercoaster of an experience being involved with Glasgow Warriors during the recent Celtic Challenge competition.
Between mid-December and last weekend Edinburgh and Glasgow squads were involved in the high level event with Irish and Welsh teams.
25-year-old loosehead prop Ward, who is the Perthshire co-club captain and who has also turned out for Arnold Clark Premiership outfit Garioch this season via dual registration, enjoyed stepping up a level and testing herself when she got the opportunity during the campaign.
“It’s been a rollercoaster for sure and a brilliant experience,” she said.
“I have met so many brilliant people, experienced high level coaching and learnt a lot more about the semi-professional set up. Don’t get me wrong, it was gruelling and there were times where I was internally saying ‘why am I doing this?’ but thankfully I could bring myself back down to the ground and say ‘it’s because you want to be the best rugby player you can be’.
“I learnt how to conduct myself in a more professional way, focusing on discipline and execution of specific skills. It’s easy to skip corners when you’re playing regional rugby and harder to do so in Premiership, but if you’re not executing skills fully and successfully then you’ve not finished your job. I learnt how to finish my job pretty quickly in the Glasgow environment.
“There is a lot I can take forward from the experience, absolutely. The skills I’ve developed and the friends I’ve made will make playing in the future a lot more enjoyable. I have a deeper understanding of rugby now and what it means to be a prop, so I’m excited to get back into it at club level and cause havoc with my enemies-turned-friends-back-to-enemies!”
Ward, who has clocked up the miles driving from Perth to Glasgow in recent weeks alongside Eilidh MacGilvray, grew up playing for Dubai Hurricanes based at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai.
“I was solely a sevens rugby player until I moved back to Scotland when I was 16 and begrudgingly jumped into 15s rugby with Murrayfield Wanderers,” Ward, who also played swimming, water polo, football and netball in her youth, recounted.
“Then I headed up north to Aberdeen for university and I played for Robert Gordon’s University and got picked up to play for Garioch quite quickly. I played for them for about three years and then the pandemic hit.
“I moved back home to Perth and started playing for a developmental Perthshire side to try and help grow them into a stronger team. I was made captain and was able to lead the girls into a semi-final at the Hive at Murrayfield which was brilliant.
“I quickly fell in love with the team at Perthshire, they are so determined and passionate about playing. I made lifelong friends there and still play with them occasionally. Since getting picked up by Glasgow Warriors I needed to prioritise my playing time with a slightly higher level of rugby hence the effort to play back up north at Garioch and against teams in the Premiership.
“I resigned from being captain of the Perthshire women’s team as it was not fair being captain and not playing for the team anymore.
“I still wanted to be heavily involved though so I applied for the role as club captain at Perthshire. Fortunately, I share the role with Dan Rae so we’re able to cover more areas of the club together and it is great being involved there and at Garioch which are two great clubs.”
All sportspeople need great support off the pitch and Ward’s mum has give her that during the recent busy spell.
“I work for our family business Strathearn Interiors and I run our Perth shop and do our accounts, logistics, ordering and client communication while learning about patterns, colours and fabrics,” Ward explained.
“My mum has been incredible with letting me bunk off work early in the last few months to break the Glasgow traffic. She has done everything she can to make sure I follow my rugby dreams from a financial and employment point of view.
“I owe a lot of my success to her – and probably owe her a lot of hours working!
“Seriously though, she is a great support to me.”
Alex Ward is pictured with family and friends
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