The Ontario Women’s Football League is beginning its playoffs this weekend. Kingston’s team, the Sharks, is heading to London for a road game in the semifinals, but they’ll have a different look than they’ve had so far this season.
The Sharks took to the field for their final practice before their first playoff game.
But this time they’re not wearing the gold and blue hand-me-down jerseys they’ve had all year. Instead, they’re sporting their very own colours and are finally starting to look like their namesake.
“I’m really excited because before we just has tape on it that said ‘Sharks,’ and now we can show that we’re the Sharks,” wide receiver Caila Alvarez said.
“They’re really nice,” Victoria Elkington said. “It’s cool to not have to wear the wrong size for all of us. It’s a different feel but it feels like it’s more meant for us.”
And that’s a good thing because they say their loose jerseys were becoming a competitive advantage for the other teams.
“They would grab onto it so we couldn’t run with the ball, which is legal, but it just sucked because it could have been prevented. So it just feels like we’re more official as a team.”
And it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Sharks head down the 401 West on Saturday to play in their first-ever playoff game against London.
The Wolfpack finished one game ahead of Kingston in the standings and the Sharks’ coach knows they’re in for a battle.
“They’re a well-coached football team from top to bottom and some really good depth,” Cam Davidson said. “Maybe a deeper roster than we have so it’s going to be on our girls to understand that they’re underdogs, to understand that late in the fourth quarter we’re going to be a bit more tired, a bit more beat up and we’re still going to have to overcome and pull one out. We just gotta go out and be road sharks and get the win.”
Win or lose, just making it this far in their first season of play is plenty to be proud of.
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