IT was only a year ago that Cassie Staples was sitting in the stands, cheering Australia’s golden girls on at the Sydney Sevens.
Australia’s triumph at the 2016 Rio Olympics six months earlier in August 2016 had inspired Staples — and a plethora of other aspiring female athletes — to chase a new-found sevens dream.
But at that point it was just that — a dream.
Until then, Staples had set her sights on forging a career in netball, before being drawn to the pace, athleticism and razzle dazzle of sevens.
“Last year I was actually in the stands with some friends, watching the girls,” Staples, 25, told foxsports.com.au on the eve of the Sydney Sevens, where she is expected to be named for her fourth tournament since debuting at the Langford Sevens in Canada last May.
“I had just started my journey, I was a month or two in and a few people told me ‘we’ll be seeing you out there next year.’
“I thought ‘no way, like give me a couple of years.’
“It was definitely the goal.
“I was just in awe watching them play there.
“I was just intrigued watching the girls, they’d just won the Rio Olympics, it was crazy and we were just watching them and learning.”
Like many in the Australian team, Staples took an unusual path into sevens.
Her trainer, Justin Lang, posted a YouTube highlights reel of her freakish workout feats which caught the eye of Australian sevens high performance manager Scotty Bowen.
Invited to take part in a training session, Staples continued to make an impression as she beat many of her gold medal-winning teammates in the gym and fitness testing.
Asked to refine a number of aspects of her game to get to the required standard, it was only a matter of months before Staples would reach the summit.
The key to her rapid rise, she says, was a training stint with Australian UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
“Prior to getting selected, my trainer Justin Lang just wanted to know what I was like in contact, so we went out to his wrestling gym,” Staples recalled.
“Rob Whittaker does a bit of training with Justin, so I just had a connection to get access to coaching.
“We did one contact session out there and I learnt how to grapple and wrestle.
“I left that session completely drenched in sweat, head to toe like I had showered in sweat, thinking it was the hardest session of my life.
“Contact was definitely the hardest thing I had ever done in my life.
“We did about 12 weeks of that, went there every week and did a couple of sessions on the mats with Justin, learning techniques and watching videos.
“So my contact definitely came from that background.
“Then I came into the ARU and they refined those skills.”
Soon enough, Staples was selected to make her debut in Langford and showed enough promise and spark to be selected for the final tournament of the season in France.
A maiden tournament victory came in the first round of the 2017-18 season in Dubai, with Staples again excelling on the sport’s biggest stage.
Walsh will finalise his squad for the long weekend’s Sydney Sevens on Wednesday night and Staples is once again expected to be named.
Not only will it be the first time she’s run out in front of her home crowd in national colours, it will also be the first time she’s played in front of her family — such has been her rapid rise and the nature of the world sevens series.
* fox sports
