Women of Influence is brought to you by Shoeless Joe’s Napanee.
Britt Benn is a Canadian Olympic Rugby player. Having won bronze in 2016 in Rio, she is currently in B.C., training for the postponed 2020 Olympics, which are now scheduled to take place next year. When asked how she got into the sport, Britt says it happened at an incredibly young age. She has three brothers, and when she was just three years old, she was already on skates because hockey played such a big role in their lives. Her father was a coach, and Britt recalls she had a massive passion for hockey when she was young, and dreamed of playing for the Olympic team.
When she got to high school, more sports were introduced. She tells the story of going to try out for the soccer team and recalls the coach suggesting she might be a better fit for Rugby because she was so physical. She admits she was initially a bit offended, but the coach sent her up to the rugby field and the rest, as they say, is history. Britt calls rugby her “high school sweetheart”. She quickly excelled at the sport, then went to a provincial tryout that led to nationals, and eventually she was invited to train with the Canadian Olympic team in Victoria eleven months of the year, something she’s been doing since January 2015.
Britt is a very family-oriented person and says that has to be one of the most difficult parts of training, being so far away from everything and missing all those milestones. She says she holds all those moments very close to her heart. She does acknowledge that the advances in technology have helped now that she’s able to Facetime and other social media platforms. She says staying in touch with family is definitely one of the most challenging parts of being a semi-professional athlete, but at the same time she says it’s all about the sacrifice, and she doesn’t think she will ever live with regret because she knows she can look back and see that she lived her dreams to the fullest and she pushed her physical and mental limits to the fullest.
When asked about the biggest challenges she has faced in her career, Britt says that it has been a mix. She says that mental health is an important element for athletes, though she adds that during her time studying and playing at the University of Guelph she discovered a lot about herself not only as an adult, but also an athlete. She says she experienced a lot of anxiety at the time, adding that was tough to admit, coming from a family of all boys, where you don’t talk about your feelings, you hide them. Mental Health was not something that was talked about a lot back then, and Britt thinks it’s very important for young athletes to know that it is okay to go through changes or experience some level of anxiety or depression. She says it’s important for young athletes and everyone for that matter to realize it is okay, to not be okay.
She says she saw an incredible sports psychologist that “changed her world”, but she adds the biggest obstacle to getting to that point was admitting that something was wrong. She says that ever since then, it has been a breeze, noting that obviously she has days that are darker than others, but for the most part she says she is living the dream and is happy with it. Britt stresses how important self-love is, and she says if she could give any kind of advice to people who are struggling, it would be to talk to someone. There are so many resources out there. Don’t suffer in silence.
Britt adds it’s important to believe in yourself, and she explains that self-belief is huge when determining what you want to do and setting yourself up for success. She says If you don’t believe in yourself, you are going to have a hard time getting out of those ruts. She says that you have to know that anything is possible, anything is achievable. It comes down to you, your self-dedication, and your commitment.
When Britt was asked if she has any advice for women, she had this to say… “Believe in yourself. Never stop chasing the dreams, because there is going to be one day that you wake up and it might be too late. So, live in the present day, and if you have a dream, go after it.”
