Receiver returns to Lethbridge and fondly recalls football roots
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| Valkyries receiver Carly Dyck (#4) returns kick against the Edmonton Storm. |
When the Saskatoon Valkyries started celebrating their Prairie
Conference title win, receiver Carly Dyck began thinking about going home.
With a 29-14 victory over the visiting Regina Riot last
Sunday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the Valkyries advanced to the Western
Women’s Canadian Football League title game for the fifth time in six years.
This year’s WWCFL title game is set to be held on Saturday in Lethbridge, which
happens to be Dyck’s hometown. The Valkyries (6-1 overall) will face the
Edmonton Storm (6-1 overall), who are making their second straight WWCFL final
appearance, in a match that starts at 1 p.m. Lethbridge time at the University of Lethbridge.
Before joining the Valkyries, Dyck began her football career
playing for her hometown Lethbridge Steel from 2012 to 2014 in the WWCFL’s
Western Conference. It was during that time she developed a love for the game.
The Steel advanced to the WWCFL in all three seasons Dyck
was a member of the team, and the Steel fell in every appearance to the Valkyries.
Saskatoon claimed the first four straight WWCFL championships from 2011 to 2014
before the Riot won the league title last year.
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| Carly Dyck (#4) boots a field goal for the Valkyries. |
“I want to say I am even more hopeful now, because I know
that we can do it. It feels nice playing in front of my family again and my
friends and people who haven’t been able to see me play the last two years.”
The closest the Steel came to winning the WWCFL title was
back in 2013, when the Valkyries pulled out a 27-13 decision. Saskatoon took
the 2012 and 2014 title clashes by respective 64-21 and 53-0 blowout scores.
While the Steel weren’t able to claim a WWCFL title, Dyck
didn’t see herself leaving the team. Opportunities away from the game steered
her in that direction.
After her first season with the Steel, Dyck started
attending school in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan. For two years,
she lived a double life, where she spent nine months in Saskatoon focusing on
her studies and three months living in Lethbridge focusing on football.
“I’d be there for two practices before the first game, and
they would throw me into the game after being at home for only a week,” said
Dyck. “My coaches would be sending me playlists, so that I could study.
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| Carly Dyck tears up field for the Valkyries. |
During her lengthy stays in Saskatoon, Dyck started to
become more rooted in that centre. She started meeting members of the Valkyries
and began playing in the city’s adult flag football league. As the friendships
developed, Dyck decided it was time she made Saskatoon her year round home.
She got her release from the Steel and proceeded to join the
Valkyries in 2015. Dyck discovered a different football world during her two
seasons in Saskatoon.
“Playing in Alberta, we thought we were a really great
football team, and we were,” said Dyck. “Just the caliber of football here that
we have in Saskatchewan is so much beyond what we could even have imagined from
the program that we had in Lethbridge.
“You could tell after being here just the organization of
our program, all the fundraising that we do, the training staff that we have
(and) the coaches, everything here is just so much higher so much better than
what I had known in Lethbridge.
“Coming and seeing the depth we have on our team it is really
not a surprise that we lost to Saskatoon all three years that I played for
Lethbridge. We’d come to the championship game with 20 players, and that is not
enough for a football team.”
With the Steel, Dyck played offence, defence and special
teams. Having grown up playing soccer, Dyck handled the Steel’s kicking duties.
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| Carly Dyck catches a deep pass for the Valkyries. |
“I think the biggest change for me here now is feeling
rested,” said Dyck. “When I go in on offence, I’ve had water. I’ve had a break.
I’ve had a mental break to focus on what I am going to do next.”
Dyck still has a lot of good memories from her time with the
Steel. She enjoyed playing for the team’s then head coach Jamie Fisher, who
rejoined the Steel this season as a defensive coordinator after one campaign
off.
When Dyck went to her first meeting with the Steel, she wasn’t
sure if she was going to play at all.
“I showed up at the meeting, and everybody there was tattoos
and piercings and crazy hair,” said Dyck. “I thought I am not going to fit in
here at all.
“Jamie Fisher, the head coach, came up to me, and he asked
me if I played any sports. I knew nothing about football. He was like, ‘If you’re
an athlete, that is all we need.’
“He made me feel really at home there.”
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| Carly Dyck (#4) celebrates a TD with Marci Kiselyk. |
Still, there were some perks Dyck enjoyed while playing in
Lethbridge that she hopes she will get to enjoy again.
“The Lethbridge wind is what made me feel like I was an
amazing kicker,” said Dyck with a chuckle. “Now I play here, and the wind is
not as strong, so my kicks don’t go quite as far. It is OK.”
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