Before her final game, six years after she first stepped on the rugby field for the Carleton Ravens, Roberta Drummond sat on a bus in Montreal typing a speech on her phone for her teammates.
This has been a part of her game-day routine since she was named team captain. Drummond did everything she could to make this game day feel no different than the countless others she’s experienced. She didn’t want to psych herself out.
It was the morning of Nov. 7, 2021, the date of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) bronze medal game against the University of Montreal Carabins. The Ravens had a chance for the best finish in the 10-year history of the program.
The importance of the game, both personally for Drummond and to the team, crept in more and more as game time approached.
Finding footing on and off the pitch
Drummond’s rugby journey started many years prior. Basketball was her sport of choice growing up, as her parents didn’t allow her to play rugby.
All this changed in Grade 10, when her art teacher in her hometown of Belleville, Ont. dragged her to a tryout. This teacher was also the coach at another school in the area known for its rugby program.
“I was like, ‘My parents aren’t letting me play. I can’t play rugby,’ and he was like, ‘You’re coming to tryouts,’” Drummond said.
From there, she instantly fell in love with the sport.
“I started playing and it was like an instant family,” she said. “I found it was a lot less political than basketball. The girls were a lot nicer.”
Drummond held on to this sense of family through to her days at Carleton. Her pre-game speech in Montreal, about leaving a mark and legacy on the team, reflected that.
“I swore a lot and I started crying. It hit when I put my jersey on, I think for the last time, while talking to the girls,” Drummond said.
Drummond’s desire to leave a mark at Carleton ultimately got her involved off the field. In late 2019, Carleton Athletics announced the launch of a gender equity committee, led by Drummond.
“She’s very passionate about that and I think the impetus presented itself when there was not a whole lot of recognition for women’s sports at the university level,” said Vicki Drummond, Roberta’s mother.
This passion is not exclusive to Roberta, Vicki said.
“I have three children altogether and they’re kind of their own Justice League in different ways in different branches and [gender equity is] Roberta’s thing,” Vicki said.
Drummond said working with the committee has been a fulfilling experience.
“It’s rewarding because people on the outside don’t necessarily always know, but I know that I’m making a difference. I know my work is helping to make a difference for the girls that are coming in after me,” Drummond said.
One of her goals is to leave the school in a better place than when she first arrived.
“My time here is not just going to leave when I’m done playing rugby. I left an impact on and off the field, which is the ultimate goal,” Drummond said.
Her dedication to her legacy at Carleton is partly rooted in the female role models she had coming up in the program.
“There’s a lot of women that put in a lot of work for the Carleton rugby program and there’s a lot of women that got me passionate about rugby and passionate about sports,” Drummond said. “I had role models I could look to and say, ‘Yeah, I can play sports at the next level and it is doable.’ To not give back, I think, would be a waste.”
Balancing emotions and performance
Drummond wears her heart on her sleeve when competing. Her parents said she gets that from them, although her dad, Russ Drummond, said he thinks it comes more from him.
One of Drummond’s biggest challenges throughout her rugby career has been harnessing her emotion on the field and using it to her advantage, rather than her detriment. Melanie Judges, an assistant coach for the Ravens, played with Drummond in her first year at Carleton.
“It blows my mind. I still remember the summer between her second year and third year,” Judges said. “She went away for the summer after the end of the school year as a pretty good rugby player and she came back a phenomenal rugby player.”
Judges said she is most impressed by Drummond’s emotional maturation.
“Her temperament on the field has come a long way,” Judges said. “I know she’ll roll her eyes but agree with me when I say it.”
Judges said Drummond would get frustrated in her first few years with the Ravens, when they weren’t as strong a rugby team.
“There was a little bit of, you know, swearing at her opposition and potential situations where we had to maybe break her up from having a little bit of a fight or a couple here and there,” Judges said. “That’s completely gone now.”
Becoming a leader
Helping Drummond turn that competitive fire into leadership was an important milestone for the program, Judges said. This growth culminated with Drummond being named team captain in her fourth year.
One of the biggest tests Drummond faced as a leader was during the 2020 summer. The world was in the midst of a pandemic and no one knew the fate of varsity sports for the upcoming fall. To make matters worse, Carleton head coach Patrick Thompson stepped down unexpectedly in June 2020 to become assistant coach of uOttawa’s women’s rugby team with no planned replacement.
“We were kind of all shell-shocked,” Drummond said. She remembers thinking to herself, “Well, somebody has to rally the troops.”
“I’m sitting in the kitchen with my old roommates and I was like, ‘I guess we better have a meeting,’” she said. “It was really, really hard and it was probably the biggest test I’ve ever had in university.”
Her roommate at the time, Jessica Joubarne, played for Carleton rugby from 2014 to 2018 and is now a coach for the team.
“I was just watching her pour all of her energy into the team. She was leading everybody. She basically had to be the coach until our now head coach [David Luong] stepped in,” Joubarne said. “She was overwhelmed, don’t get me wrong, but she gave it everything she had … It was very inspiring.”
Finishing strong
The maturing Drummond endured during her time at Carleton culminated in her final game in Montreal on Nov. 7, 2021 for the RSEQ bronze medal. The Carabins are one of Carleton rugby’s biggest rivals and they had already faced each other twice that season, splitting the series with one win each. Everything came down to the final game.
Regular time was not enough to determine the game and the Ravens fell behind early in overtime, with the first bronze medal in program history slipping away. After the Carabins scored to go up by nine points with 12 minutes left, Drummond gathered her team in the end zone.
“We got this. It’s fine. We’re going to figure this out,” Drummond recalled saying.
In the dying seconds of overtime with the Ravens down by one try, fellow sixth-year and team co-captain Anastasia Bourka had a chance to score. After an incredible run from Bourka, there was only one defender left in her way.
“Ana just blew her over and I instantly started crying. I started crying before she even touched the ball down because I knew she was in,” Drummond said.
With the game tied, all Carleton needed to win was a conversion kick from none other than Drummond to seal victory.
Drummond’s mind was racing as she prepared to kick the ball. “In my head, I’m like, ‘This is it. This is the last play of my career,’” Drummond said.
At that moment, Drummond’s fire returned. She remembered the taunting her team suffered from opposing fans all game long.
“If I don’t make this, they’re going to be really satisfied. So I better fucking make it,” Drummond recalled thinking.
Drummond remembered a moment of calm on the field as she kicked the ball and watched it soar through the uprights. Tears start pouring as the Ravens burst into celebration for achieving the best finish in program history.
Drummond knew she’d soon have to start thinking about life after Carleton and what that would mean for her. For the moment, though, she soaked it all in. She called her mom, sobbing together in victory. Everything her and the program had gone through in her six years at Carleton was made worth it by that one kick.
“I just cried for like three hours after the game. You just couldn’t write a better ending,” Drummond said.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
