Charity Williams – A New Experience With the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix

Three-time Olympian (having won a silver and bronze) with Canada 7s, and with more than 100 tries on the HSBC World Rugby SVNS, Charity Williams has been playing international rugby for a decade, having first been selected as a young teenager. This season, she signed on for the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix in Japan as she is looking for a fresh environment and challenge in the Taiyo Seimei Women’s Sevens Series 2025.

Photo Credit – Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix

From Rugby Roots to Fulfilling Olympic Dreams – Charity Williams

We’re always intrigued by how anyone first picks up that oval ball that we love. Charity was playing multiple sports growing up in Canada, but what got her into rugby, and why was it the sport for her?. 

“I started playing rugby in my second year of high school, so around 14-15. I was a gymnast and I was playing lots of sports, but gymnastics was my main sport. I really wanted to go to the Olympics, and I realised fairly young that I wasn’t going to be the next Simone Biles. So I just had to leave that dream behind. I fumbled around until I found rugby. It was love at first sight. I didn’t know what I was doing at all at first, and actually, I had never even heard about the sport before. 

A friend told me to join, and they just told me to catch the ball and run straight and then touch it down in the end zone, and that’s basically all I did. ‘Okay, this is the sport for me’. I could mix in all the things I was good at – I was really fast and, being a gymnast, I was really agile and could get really low and make some good tackles. I was like, ‘Oh my God – where has the sport been all my life!’”

It was only a few years later that she made her debut for the Canada 7s women’s team – we asked if that was something she had targeted, or was it a bit of a surprise?

“It was a bit of both. When I started playing rugby, in maybe 2013, it had just been announced that Rugby Sevens was going to be in the Olympics in Rio. Knowing it was going to be an Olympic sport made it my goal. I didn’t really understand how to get to that place, so I just played in high school and I played club rugby, and I played a year or a Summer of provincial rugby with Team Ontario. Then that summer of 2014, I got picked up by Team Canada. 

It all just happened really fast, and I remember when I did get picked up, I didn’t even really know what was happening. They just invited me to come and live in BC and play rugby. I was not going to pass up that opportunity, and I was only 16.”

Photo Credit – Mike Lee / World Rugby – Charity Williams Canada 7s – Paris 2024

She has achieved so much, and the pinnacle was playing at the Olympics, all three to date that have included Rugby Sevens; in Rio, Tokyo, and Paris. Were there any ‘pinch me’ moments?

“There are so many. The day that I got called to be on the national team, I was on the bench playing with Team Ontario and playing fifteens. I probably would have played maybe five minutes of fifteen’s rugby, which is nothing. But I did some testing, and they called me up, and that was, like, my first pinch-me moment. 

When I got called to the Olympic team, that was the other. I was 19 when I found out that I was going to be at my first Olympics and in such a historical moment for Rugby Sevens and for Rugby Canada. There are so many moments when I look back and realise that’s my life. The things that I dreamt of actually came to fruition, which is so special.”

We asked Charity if she could pick out memorable moments that stand out in her career so far.

“There are probably two big moments. One was from Rio 2016, and it wasn’t even playing at the Olympics, but it was when I was told that I was going. I had a really tough year, and I was just really battling. But I was so young, and I was still a rookie at the time, so it wasn’t really on the cards for me to go to the Olympics. 

The day that they were calling to tell everyone, and we came into the office to tell us if we got the call or not, I didn’t even want to go into the room. I didn’t want to hear it and just wanted the day to be over and try again in another four years. One of my S&C coaches came out to me before I went in, and said, ‘You have to go in, you can’t sit here all day. You know what, you’re 19. Whether you go or not, just being here is an accomplishment, and you’re so young, you have so many years left to offer to this game.’

Photo Credit – Mike Lee / World Rugby – Charity Williams Canada 7s – Paris 2024

I said to myself, ‘Yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t matter, it’s fine. And so I went in there, I was just like, whatever.’ I just wanted the meeting to be over. And then they said I was going, and I just burst out into tears. That’s probably a highlight of my life. That was so many years ago now, and I remember it like it was yesterday. 

The other one, of course, was winning silver in Paris 2024, which was just such a huge accomplishment. It was just really special to do it with that team, because we were so close and so confident in each other and just really loved one another. So it just felt good to win that with those people.”

A New Environment with the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix

Williams flew into Tokyo and was greeted by her new teammates from the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix, but also a new challenge in the form of hiking up the iconic Mount Fuji.

“It was definitely unexpected. As soon as I came in, we just drove straight to Mount Fuji, but the first thing I heard was that we were running up the mountain the next morning, and I was not prepared for that,” she said, laughing. 

Luckily, they put me in the walking groups, so I only made it halfway up and had to turn around because it took way too long to walk up the mountain. But, yeah, it was really beautiful. And unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, but I ended up getting a better view the next morning from the ground!”

The Canadian has also arrived at the start of the Japanese Summer, which is warm and humid. The domestic sevens season is also heating up as the teams have been involved in some preparation events, but the Taiyo Seimei Women’s Sevens Series 2025 opening leg gets underway from 21-22 June.

• Tournament One – Kumagaya – June 21 & 22, 2025 – Venue: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium
• Tournament Two – Kitakyushu July 20 & 21, 2025 – Venue: Mikuni World Stadium
• Tournament Three – Higashi-Osaka – August 2 & 3, 2025 – Venue: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashi-Osaka
• Grand Final Tournament – Sapporo – August 17, 2025 -Venue: Daiwa House Premist Dome

We asked how the move to the Tokyo-based women’s club came about and why she was looking for this specific challenge.

“One of my teammates from the Canadian team, Florence Symonds, was talking about what we were going to do in the Summer? She mentioned she might come out here, ‘Oh, that sounds really cool. I might just follow you’. 

I’ve been playing with Team Canada since I was 16, and I haven’t really been on another team, so I just want to express myself with new people and new coaches and in a new environment and see what I can make of it. So that’s what it came down to – a friend letting me know her Summer plans. She actually ended up making the Canada Women’s 15s World Cup squad, which is so amazing, but I wanted to get out of Canada for a little bit.”

Photo Credit – Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix

Williams has been with the team in Tokyo for a good few weeks now, and we asked if she had been pleasantly surprised with the club, players and training so far.

“The training is great. I can tell why these girls are just so awesome and skilled. But the thing that stands out the most is probably just how long they train for. And that was definitely the thing that I had to get used to in the first couple of weeks of just being on the field for a long period of time, which really builds up your endurance. I definitely need that, but it was a shock.

Other than that, rugby is rugby, no matter where you go. That’s kind of what I’ve noticed playing at this level: people are so skilled, and it’s just that each person brings something different to the table. Each face, each team brings something different. It has been nice to just kind of slip right into the Japanese style, which is cool too.”

Charity has been playing international rugby for so long, from tournaments in Rio, across the globe on the SVNS series and Rugby Sevens World Cups. But this is her first club environment in a long time. We asked if she had enjoyed the change of scenery.

“It’s been amazing. I was a little bit scared coming to a new place and not really knowing anybody else, but the girls have just been so wonderful. Immediately, when I got off the bus from the airport, they were cheering and everyone was hugging me, and I had just travelled for like 10 hours, but they were so happy to see me. It’s been really good. They have been so supportive with translating and helping out and also teaching me a few words here and there. 

The staff are amazing and they’ve supported me and my partner, who came with me, as well. Anything that I need, they support me in getting that. So I just, I’m so appreciative of all of them. The girls are the absolute best. They’re so funny. I remember when I was asking Yohei (the club’s CEO) what they were like, I think the translation was a bit off, but he said they’re really cute and funny, and they are actually really cute and funny. So it’s been, like, really awesome.”

Photo Credit – Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix

On the field, too, the players at Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix have been impressing Williams.  

So I’ve been really impressed, and I’m so excited to play with them this weekend, and for us this season. I think there is going to be some really good rugby. The first few days were a bit hard to adjust with the language barrier, but they’ve been so helpful and just supporting me and helping me learn pretty quickly.”

“I remember our first scrimmages we did together, the very first kickoff, one of the girls just smoked someone right from the kickoff, and I actually was stopped in my tracks and thought to myself ‘Okay, this is, this is where I’m at. This is where I want to be. This is awesome.’

This season, a number of clubs on the Taiyo Seimei Women’s Sevens Series 2025 have bolstered their ranks of talented Japanese players with some international flavour. But it is a challenge that everyone seems to be relishing.

“There’s lots of good competition and lots of international players coming to the league, which is great, because in the end, it just builds rugby, and that’s what we all want. The better your competition is, the better you have to be. And I think we all just want to grow as players. So I’m really excited for the competition, and I know the girls are. Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix is one of the best teams in the league as well and I’m just excited to showcase with them and see what we can pull up.”

What is Charity Williams Hoping To See, Enjoy, and Learn in Japan?

The season runs until August, but it’s a less intensive schedule than the HSBC World Rugby Sevens, so we asked Charity what her plans were for any downtime off the field and what cultural learnings she has taken away so far this early in her Japanese adventure.

“There’s not a ton of time off, but there’s definitely lots of opportunity to explore and see new places and just kind of enjoy yourself. 

Everything is just so fun here, and I haven’t been able to do too many of the things on my bucket list yet, but I did go to a baseball game, and that is the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen. Thousands and thousands of people are chanting a song for each person up to bat, and it never ends, like it’s just constant singing and cheering for three hours. It’s so awesome how dedicated the fans are. That was probably just like one experience so far that I just thought was so cool and so different from Canada. I watch a bit of baseball at home, and it’s just quite boring now that I’ve seen Japanese baseball.

I really want to check out the Universal theme park here because I hear it’s pretty cool and fun. I want to go to some of the beaches and take a little flight somewhere. I really want to have a Tokyo Drift moment, but I don’t know if I’m gonna get that. I kind of thought that it was going to be Tokyo Drift everywhere. It’s not, unfortunately,” she said, laughing.

She added of the culture. “I was chatting with somebody whom I met, who is also a foreigner, and he’s been here for a long time. He said his favourite thing about this place is that everyone follows the rules and everything is just quite simple in that way. And I thought he was so right.

There’s just a little bit less confusion or uncertainty, and some simple rules and living in harmony with other people, which I really appreciate. I feel like you don’t get that a lot in the Western world; everyone’s just doing their own thing and not really stopping to think about other people all the time. I’m enjoying that, and there’s a lot I’m learning from everybody, and I hope I can bring it back to Canada.”

We asked what message she would send to any potential players out there who are looking at competing in Japan next season.

“Take every opportunity that comes your way. I spent a lot of time, not necessarily being comfortable, but it’s just easy to stay where you are, and even if you like you might feel like you’re at the top, but there’s always something more. So, take every opportunity and say yes to things. And sometimes they just work out. Sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it does. 

I think that’s just the beauty of life. Take the opportunity to be in a new culture, immerse yourself, meet new people, make new friends, learn new drills, like, just have fun. I just feel really lucky. So anyone’s thinking about making a transition or trying something new, and if you’re a little bit scared, just say yes, because sometimes it just works out.”

Global Opportunities in Women’s Rugby

With the Women’s World Cup taking place in England later in 2025, and Charity has been vocal, as have her Canada teammates about needing funding to support the Women’s 15s squad but the Sevens programme too, we asked her with the spotlight on the women’s game what would changes would she like to see to better support female rugby players and the game?

“The funding is something you could talk about till you’re blue in the face, like you just need more of that. But I also think it’s just the marketing of it all. I think women’s sports right now are at a high for marketability, and we’re all really lucky to be in this phase of women’s sports. But I think it’s just marketing and game time, and the slots that were given, and the arenas that we have. The more it is matched at the same level as the men’s game, the more people are just going to be wanting to get behind and support and see it as this is just as professional, and the same level. 

Where I am, it’s just so easy to watch the NBA or baseball because the times match up, and it is just easy to watch. You turn the TV on, and it’s just on whenever you’re looking for something, whereas with rugby, it’s just a bit harder to find, it’s especially hard to find women’s rugby. So the more accessibility there is in the marketing and the media, and when we’re broadcast, I think that’ll be better for us all.”

Why You Should Pick Up a Rugby Ball Today?

We asked what’s that one message she would send to anyone who is thinking of playing the game, whether that’s touch rugby, sevens, or fifteens? There are so many different formats out there at the moment, which opens the door to let someone play the game for the first time.

Photo Credit – World Rugby – Vancouver SVNS 2025

“Oh my gosh. I would just say if you find the right people, pick up a rugby ball and find a team, you have to play. I find that as a young person, the hardest thing is just finding people you feel comfortable around and finding ways to express yourself, and rugby has done that for me in so many different ways. 

I always say rugby is one of the coolest sports, because literally anybody can play the sport. It doesn’t matter if you’re short, tall, bigger, smaller, slow, fast – there’s a spot for you on the field, which I just think is so special and something that not every sport can offer. 

So if you’re looking for a community, you’re looking for friends, you’re looking for a way to get off the couch, or travel the world or experience different cultures, or literally anything like this is the sport for you. So pick up that rugby ball!”

Rugby Asia 247 has entered a content agreement with the Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix club and will be bringing you player, coach, and staff interviews until 2026.

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