Interviewing Jaia Guy is, well, a riot.<\/p>\n
A fifth-year member of the Regina Riot, Guy told her story with considerable humour leading up to Sunday\u2019s Western Women\u2019s Canadian Football League opener against the visiting Saskatoon Valkyries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was constantly fouling out in basketball, so they said, \u2018You\u2019d be perfect for football,\u2019 \u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried it and I\u2019ve never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
She played flag football until taking up the tackle version of the sport as a member of the Regina Victorias \u2014 a Regina Minor Football team for players in Grades 7 to 12. The Riot came calling in 2022.<\/p>\n
A linebacker at first, she moved to the defensive line, then to the offensive line, before transferring back to her original position this year.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the assignment, the mindset does not change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to do everything I did in basketball and not get called for it,\u201d Guy said. \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even when the weather isn\u2019t beautiful, she can\u2019t wait to get to the field for a practice or a game.<\/p>\n
Early in training camp, for example, the Riot held enthusiastic workouts despite a snowstorm.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my gosh,\u201d Guy said. \u201cFor the poor rookies who had never been out there before, we were saying, \u2018OK, wear layers. You don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to need them, but you will,\u2019 \u201d Guy said. \u201cAll the vets were handing out gear, saying, \u2018I brought an extra shirt\u2019 and \u2018I have extra gloves.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have any hand warmers, because I gave my gloves to a teammate. We were doing a drill and I could not feel my hands. All of a sudden, I found a hand warmer on the ground \u2014 already warmed!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just like dropped from the heavens. It was a sign. It made my day. I carried that thing around with me for the rest of practice. It was just a gift. I don\u2019t know whose it was \u2014 and I wasn\u2019t about to return it \u2014 but it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing for the Riot is a full-circle experience for Guy, who grew up going to the team\u2019s games with her mother.<\/p>\n
As a youngster, Guy watched future teammates such as Claire Dore and Aimee Kowalski play for the Riot. Dore is now the team\u2019s head coach. Kowalski serves as the general manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been amazing to watch that program and see it grow,\u201d Guy said.<\/p>\n
Now she is about to contribute to its growth for a fifth season as a player \u2014 beginning on Sunday, 1 p.m., at Leibel Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be great,\u201d Guy said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been circling it on our calendar. We\u2019re so excited to get out on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding to the excitement, Sunday\u2019s Riot-Valkyries matchup doubles as the 12th annual Teal Game, benefiting Ovarian Cancer Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love our ladies at OCC and we\u2019re just flattered and honoured to be able to do this so early in the season, in our home opener,\u201d Guy said.<\/p>\n
The Valkyries\u2019 home opener is set for May 17 against the Manitoba Fearless. Saskatoon will play host to Regina one week later. Both of the Valkyries\u2019 regular-season home games are set for 1 p.m., at SMF Field.<\/p>\n
(The Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation supports all elite football in Saskatchewan.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Interviewing Jaia Guy is, well, a riot. A fifth-year member of the Regina Riot, Guy told her story…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-621339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}