It wasn't that long ago that we did a short interview with Caroline Cook after she had committed the Cardiff Met.
The Charlotte Cardinal center/flanker, who is sometimes listed by her given first name, Elizabeth, but prefers to go by Cookie, was moving to Wales for college and was embarking on a new part of a journey that she hoped would put her in a USA jersey.
She has been a central piece to the Cardinals girls team and the club as a whole, and she was a standout performer on tour with Eagle Impact Rugby Academy. That high-level tour was a big part of a journey that was now taking her to Wales long-term.
That journey, she knew, would probably see her move to the front row. She could then combine her mobility and attacking ability with her power.
Power ... so, funny story. At Cardiff Met, "Cookie" as she is known to everyone, even her parents, arrived for her first weight-training session and began with her normal startup weight. She struggled with it, however. Still she moved up to the normal weight for her to do squat sessions, got under the bar, and ... nothing. The bar didn't move. What was wrong.?
She tried again. No-go. So Cook backed off, stormed around a little bit like those Olympic weightlifters who get themselves hyped up for the lift, got under it, and, with a lot of effort, did the squat.
She was complimented by teammates but her response was that she normally lifts these many pounds without too much effort. Pounds? They responded. No, mate, there are KGs. Having forgotten to convert to kilograms, Cook had unwittingly lifted 2.25 times her normal squat weight, and just about twice her personal best.
It was a lesson in the metric system, of course, but also a lesson in what is possible.
That kicked it all off. Cook was impressive with a very good Cardiff Met and she was invited to train with the Bristol Bear, just an hour over the Bristol Channel.
Without her being capped, playing for them would be a long-shot, however, Cookie also qualifies for Wales through her family, and while she had been on the USA U20 team a couple of years ago, there wasn't a lot of repeat interest from the Eagles system.
Who was interested? Wales. They put her on the U21 team for the European Six Nations, in which she started against Ireland. It wasn't a team that committed her to Wales, but it certainly turned heads.
