Tokyo Olympics: Teen Tia Hinds’ shock at making Rugby Sevens team

This teenager was playing rugby league with the boy’s at age six. So it’s no surprise the big hits and physicality of her Olympic sport are what attracted her to it.

Young Rugby Sevens gun Tia Hinds was never really expected to be pulling on an Australian kit and playing at the Tokyo Olympics and she knew it.

A talent for the future and earmarked as 2022 Commonwealth Games potential, she was happy to be training alongside Rio Olympians and stars of the game, soaking up their knowledge and expanding her skill set.

So when she was unexpectedly named to play with the women’s Rugby Sevens side in Tokyo, Hinds was floored and desperate to share the news with her family.

But that didn’t exactly go to plan.

Tia Hinds up against a Fijian rival at the recent Oceania Sevens Challenge match in Townsville.

“I face timed mum and dad to tell them but I couldn’t get my words in,’’ said Hinds, set to make her Olympic debut after the women's Rugby Sevens competition kicks off on July 29 when Australia take on Japan in their opener.

Tia Hinds was a member of the Maroubra Saints growing up.

“Mum was talking about the dog and I was trying to tell her about my selection.

“She thought I was going as 13th man and when I explained I was in the starting 12 she screamed and started jumping up and down.

“Then we rang dad and he cried. He was proud.”

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Hinds grew up in Maroubra but now lives in Gymea in Sydney’s south with mum Janine, a former Australian touch football player, sharing her love of sport with her daughter from an early age.

Hinds, the youngest member of the women’s rugby team at just 19, said she grew up watching her mum from the sidelines and playing football with her in the backyard.

Tia Hind is the youngest member of her team at just 19.

“I remember playing league when I was little with the boys. I was six and loved it.

“I played touch, did athletics, played AFL, a bit of everything.

“I always played touch because of mum as well.

“I always wanted to be an Olympian, I just didn't know what sport.’’

Hind, who always expected to be watching the Tokyo Olympics on TV, started playing sevens after the Rio success of Australia and loved it from the start.

“I liked it because it was an mix of rugby and touch and I loved the contact aspect of it,’’ she said.

The men’s competition in Tokyo kicks off before the women’s with Australia’s first Pool A outing against Argentina on July 26.

Originally published as Tokyo Olympics: Teen Tia Hinds’ shock at making Rugby Sevens team