She “absolutely had to play rugby” and now she’s on her way to the UPEI Hall of Fame

When Shannon Atkins was a student in 1992, the University of Prince Edward Island didn’t have a rugby team, so she started one.

Now the university will honor Atkins by making her the first female rugby player in the school’s Sports Hall of Fame.

“I really had to play rugby,” Atkins said of her drive to eventually make a varsity team at UPEI. “I literally just called my friends and said, ‘Do you want to play rugby?'”

She gathered enough players to form a club team, then had to find a league and organize schedules and referees.

But she wasn’t finished yet. In 2000, Atkins had convinced the university to make rugby a varsity sport.

And then she rose to the challenge as a player. At the varsity level, she was a two-time First Team All-Canadian and AUS MVP in 2001.

“A very powerful sport”

Atkins enters the Hall of Fame as a builder, player and coach. When the team was founded, she served as player-coach and sat on the bench as head coach from 2011 to 2015.

“It was a whole group of people who made it happen,” she said.

“There were people who helped me build up and when I was playing there were other great players all around me who made me look good. And when I was training, there were other girls who were just so passionate and hard-working, and they made me look good too.”

Rugby is a tight-knit community, said Atkins. That’s what drew her to the sport and that’s what keeps her there.

“Rugby is a very powerful sport and that’s why I love it so much,” she said. “We have all these young women doing things they didn’t know they could ever do.”

After spending time in B.C., Atkins is back on the island coaching the sevens team for the Canada Games.

The team placed fifth at the last Canada Games and she expects to lead the group to a similar result this time.

The official induction ceremony into the UPEI Hall of Fame will take place on Saturday.