Women’s sevens star Emilee Cherry returning after birth of her first child
Emilee Cherry returned to training with the Australian women’s sevens team at the start of the year. And after the birth of her daughter, she’s ready to tackle whatever comes her way.
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All first-time mums feel like they are flying into the unknown without having to work out if they can still tackle, fend and sidestep at Olympic standard.
Welcome to the new world of Emilee Cherry, who will make her comeback to the Australian women’s rugby sevens team in Hamilton on January 25-26.
Cherry is upbeat that her body is ready just seven months after the birth of daughter Alice.
“I slipped straight back into full team training at the start of the year and feel really excited to head to Hamilton with the girls looking sharp,” Cherry said.
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It has been a smart, long and supervised build-up for Cherry, who kept up non-contact training during her pregnancy and gym work after the six-month mark.
She was back having a run three months after giving birth and is now embracing the full-on challenge like elite sporting mums Laura Geitz (netball) and Serena Williams (tennis) before her.
The Roma-born Cherry, 27, is a true weapon with 128 career tries in the Sevens World Series and five tournaments ahead to sharpen up for the Tokyo Olympics.
Emma Sykes, Dom Du Toit and Demi Hayes are also in the Aussie squad for Hamilton which will groove everyone for the Sydney Sevens (February 1-2).
“I think we’ll see the benefit of the experience gained by a really young squad at the back end of this series,” Cherry said.
“The Kiwis are always tough but playing them on their soil is thinking too far ahead when we have a tough pool game against the US to work at first.
“For us, building on day one, not peaking there, and giving the finals a crack on day two is the consistency across tournaments we are chasing.”
Nicole Beck had three-year-old daughter Sophie on the sidelines at the Rio Olympics when they kissed her sevens gold medal together.
Beck was a trailblazer and the first official pregnancy policy for female players was agreed by Rugby Australia and the Rugby Union Players’ Association in the Collective Bargaining Agreement of early 2018.
Prop Hilisha Samoa is making her own return to the Reds’ women’s team in XVs after the birth of her fifth child.
Originally published as Women’s sevens star Emilee Cherry returning after birth of her first child