There is no off-season for Sophie de Goede.

de Goede opened the 2021-22 U SPORTS season with Queen's Women's Rugby, helping them win a national championship in the fall while being named the U SPORTS Player of the Year. Also a member of Rugby Canada's national program, de Goede then went on tour with the team in November before switching focus to basketball at Queen's for the winter semester. The Gaels' two-sport star trains year-round to compete at a high level in both sports.

"Typically in the summer, I have a decent amount of Rugby Canada camps and games," de Goede said. "So lots of Rugby Canada commitments and, I guess what you would consider off-season training for basketball. Then once we get to August, training camp for basketball is usually the week after training camp for rugby, so it starts simultaneously pretty quickly together."

de Goede said she doesn't play many basketball games during the fall rugby season, but focuses on maintaining strength levels and conditioning in the gym for basketball, which can include skills training and weight lifting three times a week.

And when she's competing with the Gaels basketball team, she'll focus on rugby off-season skills and start pushing more weight in the gym. The cycle starts up again after the U SPORTS basketball season ends when Rugby Canada picks up again in April and May.

"It's pretty blended," de Goede said about her training of both sports. "I want to keep up my skills for both while I'm doing the other. I try not to take fully any time off either of them."
 
de Goede's rugby season at Queen's wrapped up on Nov. 14 with a 26-18 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship Gold Medal Game. While she missed the first two games of the basketball season but was back on the court with the Gaels for their third game of the regular season, less than two weeks later on Nov. 26.
 
de Goede said there are areas she can focus on early in the basketball season as she transitions from a rugby mindset to a basketball one in a short period of time.
 
"It's tough sometimes [to flip the switch]. Because I've been practicing all throughout the season, it's not like I'm not playing, but then obviously being in a game is different than training and practice.
 
"I think the easiest way for me to transition from one to the other is to focus on the skills that require less thought, because those crossover in both, and you can really impact winning in both sports by focusing on those skills. That's the hustle and rebounding in basketball, things like that, when the other stuff takes time to kind of get back into a rhythm. Those are things that you can give value to the team right away."
 
de Goede is in her fourth season with the Women's Basketball team. After appearing in 20 games her rookie season in 2017-18, averaging 9.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, she played 14 games in 2018-19, finishing with 7.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. de Goede appeared in 16 games in 2019-20, averaging 12.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, before the 2020-21 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
This year de Goede was named a Second Team OUA All-Star after leading the OUA in rebounding, averaging 12.1 per game while adding 9.8 points per game. She also averaged 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game for the Gaels this season.
 
It was de Goede's second OUA All-Star nod of the season after also earning the honour in rugby in the fall. de Goede was named an OUA Shiels Division All-Star, OUA Player of the Year, U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian, and U SPORTS Player of the Year in rugby after finishing the year with 52 points, bringing her career total at Queen's up to 208 points, just 11 points behind Lauren McEwen, who is first all-time in points at 219. It was de Goede's second-highest scoring season with the Gaels, behind only her 2019 season when she scored 76 points.
 
She was also named tournament MVP after helping the Gaels capture the Molinex Trophy at the U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship.
 
de Goede said playing both sports at a competitive level have helped become a better athlete.
 
"I think I'm a better rugby player from playing basketball and a better basketball player from playing rugby. In terms of basketball helping rugby, things like hand-eye coordination, looking at layers of defense, I think that is helpful. Also, acceleration through contact., like driving to the hoop, trying to drive through small spaces, is similar to trying to cut through a gap in a defensive line in rugby, while maintaining some sort of peripheral vision. In basketball, you might have to kick it out. In rugby, you might be able to get an offload away. I think those translate."
 
After her time at Queen's, de Goede said she hopes to continue playing rugby at the national level and professionally. She's currently a member of Canada's Rugby 15s - Senior Women's Team and during the COVID-19 cancelled 2020-21 season, she played with professional side Saracens Women in England. While rugby may be her focus in the future, de Goede said she'll always find time to get back on the court for basketball.
 
"When things aren't going well for me in rugby, all I want to do is just go shoot hoops and get my mind off things and play some pickup or get a run in. And then if stuff like shots aren't dropping in basketball, all I want to do is go hit someone, go put in a good solid tackle. They're sort of outlets for each other. And in that way, it's been really nice throughout my career here that if I ever feel like I'm in a lull with one sport, I have the other one to go to."
 
"Basketball will always be a sport that I love, the competitiveness of getting up and down the court, and it'll always be a bit therapeutic."
 
de Goede will play in her second national championship this season when the Gaels host the U SPORTS Women's Basketball Final 8 at the ARC, months after having hosted the U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship a five-minute walk away at Nixon Field. de Goede said she hopes the Rugby Championship could serve as inspiration for basketball.
 
"We talked a bit about what it was like hosting Nationals for rugby. And most of my basketball teammates were able to come watch the Nationals games. So they kind of had a feeling for what the atmosphere was like and from what they've said, it got them really excited to have the same opportunity."
 
Getting to compete in two U SPORTS National Championships at home will be a fitting ending for a Queen's student-athlete with a storied career.
 
"I feel so fortunate to have that opportunity. I've absolutely loved my time at Queen's and Queen's Athletics has been so supportive in helping me achieve everything I've attempted to do while I've been here. To have the opportunity to try to help bring a national championship home to Queens after everything that they've done in supporting me, I couldn't ask for a better way to finish off my career. It seems like this should in a novel or something; it doesn't feel real. I just feel really privileged to have the opportunity."

Hanging from the rafters at the ARC during the U SPORTS Women's Basketball Final 8 not far from the Gaels team bench will be the Women's Rugby National Championship banner de Goede helped the team earn just four months ago.

"We've got one down and one to go. We're excited to try to finish off the mission and just kind of cap off the career in a storybook way."

Tournament passes and single-game tickets for the U SPORTS Women's Basketball Final 8 are on sale now and can be purchased here.